Future of Wood: Big Fellers
North America's loggers once cut down trees that were so enormous--such as this one, probably located in California--eight men could stand in the notch. Today, the remaining old-growth giants are virtually off limits, and timber companies set up their sawmills for logs that are just six to 20 inches wide. They also employ far smaller crews today, replacing dozens of ax men with a few folks wielding such mechanical helpers as feller/bunchers and delimbers. At the mill, lasers scan the logs so that computers can figure out how best to use, as one company puts it, "every part of the tree but its shadow." Read more
Maneuvering over, around, and even through the machinery at Hancock Lumber's sawmill in Casco is tricky business. Making a profit from sawyering is forcing Hancock COO Kevin Hynes to be just as nimble. Read more
We stood there for minutes, transfixed by the giant dancing before us. Read more
Grade inflation isn't just going on at schools. Across the country, lumber dealers are nearly unanimous in declaring that framing lumber isn't as high quality as it was a few decades ago, even though it bears the same grade. Read more
What kinds of wood can we expect to sell in 20 years? Here's a forecast: Read more
Future of Wood: Kicking the Fiber Diet?
Michael Anschel is one of Minneapolis' leading green builders, and a renowned designer and builder of remodeling and renovation projects. He uses a lot of wood in his work, but he's lukewarm about the stuff. In fact, he once told a group of Wisconsin LBM dealers: "Wood, if it were coming into the market today, probably wouldn't make it as a building material." Read more
USGBC May Let LEED Accept Other Green Wood Certifiers Read more