Future of Sawmilling in the North Woods

The sawtimber growth in the North Woods area, from Maine to Minnesota, is about 12 billion board feet and steadily increasing. Annual cut of lumber has stabilized at about 4 billion board feet, while total cut of sawtimber has been around 6 billion board feet. One after another of the former “weed species” has found a place in the market with the aid of research on their processing and use requirements. Sawmill men are convinced that decreased costs, not increasing prices for their products, is the solution to competition from wood from other regions and substitutes such as plastics, metals, and fiber products. Today better mills are obtaining better volume yields from low grade logs and have increased lumber grade yield 20 to 30 percent by using more intelligent methods of sawing. The North Woods mill of the future will probably be a composite of several specialized sawmills. The high- and intermediate-grade logs are likely to be sawed on equipment similar to that now used in modern mills–band headrigs with automatic carriages, linebar resaws with a merry-go-round, and automatic edgers and trimmers. Alternate primary breakdown equipment will be employed for special types of logs, i.e., a short log bolter for high-grade crooked hardwoods or additional headrigs, possibly chipper-canters, for low-grade logs. It is expected that the future mills will be equipped with a complete dimension stock mill, complete rough mill equipment, and often planing, turning, shaping, and gluing equipment. The mill will also have residue conversion equipment which may make further utilization of sawdust, shavings, and bark possible. This future mill will primarily come from the expansion and improvement of existing mills and their integration with other types of wood using industries.

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