Anyone read the Dec 03 Wood magazine

[WV_hillbilly]

  I  was reading the Dec  03 Wood magaxzine and there is an article in there on Pierce Lumber Co. in  Belle Plaine Iowa . They produce 350,000 Bd/ft of hardwood a month .   They have 2   200hp headsaws , 2  resaws  with 12" wide bands ,  and 4 large kilns .  In the article it looks like quite an impressive place. Is this an extremely large operation for hardwoods or just another regular sized mill   ?

[Jeff]

Total combined production off our two head rigs per month is around 1-1.2 million feet.

[WV_hillbilly]

  So what your sayin is yours is bigger .

[WV_hillbilly]

      I meant to say that mill isn't so big after all . But I would guess it is still a big player in that market area .

[EZ]

Just seeing one of them 12 inch wide resaw would be impressive enough for me. I'd like to take a tor threw a place like that or were Jeff works, some day. Seen alot of pictures of these mass production places but to see them in action would be something to see.
EZ

[WV_hillbilly]

   I'd like to see one of those  mills like that or Jeff's , and a veneer mill also .  Being in the electrical  construction field has let me see some very interesting processes in person  up close . So maybe we can get Shopteacher to set us up a FF field trip    .  You know we could just slip in with the kids and knowbody would suspect us ..  I .ve been to a pulp mill and if you can get past the smell it's a neat process.

[Norm]

There are three big mills in Iowa if I remember right. Wieland, Big Timber and Pierce. Wieland's is the most modern of the three from what I hear. I have never dealt with Pierce but the other two mills are run by some nice folks that will show you around if they have time. Might even see the Inspector.

Jeff does your mills both cut softwoods or does one do hardwood and the other softwood.

[shopteacher]

Hey WV, I can probably do that.  All you guys have to do so as you won't stick out is:
1. Shave you heads
2. Pierce your eyebrow, nose, lip, ears and probably body parts you would cring at the thought of having a needle stuck through it.
3. Buy a hat 3 sizes to large and wear it sideways over your DO rag.
4. Get a pair of pants to wear at the bottom of you buttocks ( you'll have to figure how to hold them up yourself, cause I still can't figure how they keep them there). Laden them down with dog chains and other hanging paraphernalia.
5. You'll have to learn to speak in some non-comprehensible language, just in case someone asks you a question.
6. Get a permission slip from your parents/parent( if you can find them/one).
But the hardest thing will be trying to find a place to take you seeing as how nothing is manufactured around here anymore.
Field trip to McDonald's anyone?

[Jeff]

If you want to get technical about it we cut only hardwoods as we dont cut any pine or cedar. Aspen is a hardwood. One mill cuts exclusively dense hardwoods such as red-white oak, sugar and soft maple, beech, and so on, and my mill cuts mainly aspen but we also cut everything else but ash. I cut denser hardwoods 3 or 4 days a month. I can only do 10-12 thousand a day on those days.

[Norm]

I have never had the opportunity to see a big circle mill running. I toured the local pallet plant here where my buddy Dave works but they were closed that day. Checked out the sawyer's booth, pretty cool.

I didn't know you cut mostly aspen. That's a lot of bd ft per month.

[Jeff]

RIght around 30,000 feet a day in aspen.  My first numbers might be a little high for now. I was citing numbers from when we were working 6 days. My mill is doing right around 20-30 thousand a day now. thats mostly me squaring to either 7.25 or 5.5 and dumping to the gangsaw for inch and an eighth or 3/4 inch boards. When we have enough boards for the load, I then cut 3 by 8s. or full 4 by 3.5's. With large logs you can cut alot of footage in a hurry gutting 3 by 8s.

[Fla._Deadheader]

  I believe it was Steve MacDonald that posted some info a while back, about the Cummer Mill south of Jacksonville, Fl. They cut SYP and Cypress in the very early 1900's. They could produce 133,000 bd/ft a day

 If you do some searching in the old photos threads, I know the info and pics are there. The mill was built over the water and steam was generated from their slabs.

[WV_hillbilly]

  Shopteacher I could cope with all but #  2  .I not scared of needles or anything  but some of the places they are put Causes  me some concerns .  # 1  wouldn' t be to bad cause I don 't have that much left so people probably wouldn ' t notice anyways .  

[Frickman]

Just a dumb question Jeff B. What are your markets/end uses for aspen lumber? We have very little aspen in our area, and what we do have is very low quality. I have no markets for aspen other than cutstock for very light duty, throwaway pallets.

[Jeff]

Aspen from our mill goes to many places. Biggest users are for clean resilient pallets for the paper cutting industry and also for unfinished furniture. Our aspen grade market dropped right off the last 8 months but as bounced back. We now sell about 15,000 feet a week.

Our biggest customer is International Paper who buy about 60 to 90,000 BF a week. They build heavy duty skids for use in a sheeting plant. Wood I saw is under the paper that becomes Hallmark greeting cards, Tops Baseball cards, and most impressive, fold together dounut boxes

[Jeff]

Another note, most of our mill chips go to the Georgia Pacific plant in Gaylord where they become the coreboard for Sauder Furniture. You know, the kind of put-together stuff that comes in a box at Walmart that your computer is sitting on right now?  

[Tom]

Not my computer!  

[Jeff]

Black gum if I remember correctly?

[Tom]

Sweet Gum   You've got a half-a-mind.

[craigc90]

  Jeff
   I have some Michigan wood products in my house.That is cool to put a little background behind our Sauder furniture. I have an entertainment center and computer armoire in my living room nice to know I am helping pay your paycheck.