Influence of hardwood edging and trimming practices on lumber yield by the best opening face method

Use of best opening face (BOF) technology to maximize yield is currently rare in hardwood sawmills. In the softwood sawmilling industry the use of BOF technology is common. One reason that the hardwood sawmill industry has not adopted BOF technology may be that volume benefits resulting from use of BOF decisions are not known. The objective of this analysis was to provide information on volume yield improvements as influenced by hardwood edging and trimming practices. Hardwood sawmills typically edge their lumber to random widths and trim their lumber to 1-foot increments of length. Softwood sawmills typically edge their lumber to 2-inch increments of width and trim to 2-foot increments of length. This study compared percentage lumber yield increases possible through use of BOF decisions by the two edging and trimming methods. It was found that yield increase from the use of hardwood BOF was an average of 12.9 percent as compared to 14.0 percent for softwood BOF.

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