Hardwood Sawmill Productivity for Live and Around Sawing

This report presents results obtained from a time study of live sawing and around sawing, with and without a horizontal band resaw, in a modern hardwood sawmill equipped with a band headsaw. The sawing sample included 800 hard maple (Acer saccharum) logs (200 in each of 4 diameter classes: 8, 10, 12, and 14 inches). Live sawing hard maple logs completely into 1-inch boards on the headsaw, took from 18 to 32 percent less time on the average than around sawing. A sawmill productivity of 860 gross cubic feet per hour was achieved by live sawing the logs into boards on the headsaw and producing slabs, cants, or both, for subsequent breakdown on the resaw, compared to 600 gross cubic feet per hour for sawing the logs around and using the resaw for cants and slabs. Based on the grade yield from all logs, the average value yield per gross cubic foot was $1.13 and $1.12 per gross cubic foot for live and around, respectively. However, all lumber was edged lightly and therefore the NHLA grade determination was unreliable.

You must be logged in to download any documents. Please login (login accounts are free) or learn how to Become a Member