Fiber Products as a Factor in Utilization

The rapid growth of the fiber products industry has resulted from the suitability of fiber products for a multitude of uses. Fiber products combined with other materials, or modified in other ways, have resulted in a wide variety of new products and processes. Fiber products finding increased use in building construction are sheathing papers, roofing papers, flooring and roofing felts, sheathing and building boards, fibrous softboards, hardboards, and shavings, chip, and particle boards. Fiber containers are replacing wood for citrus fruit and leafy vegetables. Portable in-the-woods chippers can be used to increase the supply of fiber. Smaller top diameter and increased use of limbs and branches are possible, especially if used with air separation methods of removing some bark from chips, with centrifugal cleaners in the pulpmill to complete the job. Slabs and edgings, can be converted into pulp chips. Bark is being used for mulches, insulating materials, resin adhesive extenders, and oil well drilling compounds. Five processes are used commercially in making wood pulp. The mechanical or ground wood process prefers softwood. The sulfite process is best for non-resinous softwoods or hardwoods. The sulfate process is more flexible, while the soda process is most used with hardwoods. The semichemical process removes only part of the lignin, and pulping is therefore completed by mechanical refining. The Inland Empire Region is in a favorable position to take advantage of the possibilities offered by integration because of the preferred pulping characteristics of some of the species which are found there. Some of the species in the Inland Empire suitable for pulping are Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). There is an integration of fiber products with other kinds of wood products in the manufacture of a whole range of composite materials. Paper honeycombs, structural panels, paper honeycomb acoustical ceiling panels, and paper overlays on lumber have been used to overcome some of the disadvantages of the wood products themselves. The new products are a result of research and development. The greatest good for the entire industry will come from close cooperation among lumber, veneer, and fiber manufacturers, research organizations, and all other phases of the forest products industries.

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