Timber Recovery and Conversion

Sawing
For most milling operations, processing starts in the forest. Once the tree is felled, the
crown is removed. The crown consists of the upper branches and most of the leaves.
These are often left in the forest as a source of humus for the forest floor and to act as
mulch. The larger branches may be removed and chipped for the pulp and paper
industries.
Timber from saw logs
The logs are sent to a saw mill for conversion to sawn timber and sawn timber
products. Again, there are very many different ways of handling timber in saw mills, but
the steps outlined here are the most common ones:
Logs are stockpiled under water sprays to prevent them from splitting as they
rapidly dry out.
The logs are then sawn into rectangular shapes in the green mill. Here the logs
are fully saturated and the saws leave a rough surface on the wood, as some of
the fibres are torn out rather than cut.
For seasoned timber products, seasoning or drying of the rectangular sections
takes place. This is removal of much of the moisture from inside the timber.
Seasoned products are then machined to give smooth or shaped surfaces.
All sawn products are graded, which entails characterising the likely performance
of the timber and stamping each piece so that it can be identified in a sale yard
or on a job site as having a given grade.

Conversion 1 Log breakdown

Logs are pretty difficult to handle because of their cylindrical shape, so the first steps in
a normal saw mill operation involves cutting the logs to provide flat surfaces. There are
many different cutting patterns used to produce timber the following are two
examples:
Splits The first saw cut is through the centre of the log to give two splits, each of
which has a flat face for registering in further cutting operations. A characteristic of
splits is that the pith is always on or close to one edge of each of the splits. Some
timber cut using this pattern will have the pith on or
near an edge.

Flitch A large piece of log, sawn on at least two

surfaces, intended for further cutting.

The first saw cuts go either side of the heartwood in

the very centre of the log. The pieces that are left on
the outside are called wings, and the almost-
rectangular piece from the centre is called a flitch.
Conversion 2 green sawn
Once some flat surfaces have been established by the breakdown saw, the other saws
in the green mill can cut the various pieces into marketable timber. Each mill
establishes its own cutting patterns for different sized logs, in an attempt to maximise
the number of pieces cut in the most popular sizes.

Types of Cuts
Tangential Cut
A cut made which is tangential
to the growth rings.
They are stronger when placed
correctly edge up and are used
for beams and joists
This type of board suffers from
'cupping' if not carefully
converted, seasoned, and
stored properly. Annual growth
rings form an angle less than 45 degrees.
Radial Cut
Timber sawn on the radius from the central axis of the tree or log to the circumference,
perpendicular to the growth rings.
Less cupping than tangential sawn timber

Sawing patterns
The following describes a number of different cutting patterns. Each cutting pattern
produces timber with a distinct appearance and character. If a particular cutting pattern
is specified (eg quarter sawn), it may require longer lead times to fill an order if current
stocks do not comply with the designated cutting pattern. It can be useful with
appearance products to specify that the majority of timber products supplied should be
of a particular pattern. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages.
Live sawing
The logs are cut into boards by a series of parallel saw
cuts.
In large mills gang saws (similar to a large jig saw with
several blades) are used.
Commonly used in Australia for plantation grown
Radiata Pine.
Advantages
Simplest and most economical method; there is very
little waste and the logs do not have to be turned and returned for re-cutting
Suitable for rapid mass production of boards for standard lines such as framing
material.

Disadvantages
The timber may warp or shrink unevenly
Back sawn timber
Unless specified otherwise, most structural timber and many appearance products are
currently backsawn or close to backsawn. Backsawn timber is characterised by:
The long face of each board is close to a tangential
face, and the short face is close to a radial face.
Growth rings parallel to long edge. The wide face
does not intersect many growth rings. The growth
rings on the wide face appear to be very wide apart,
and some interesting patterns can be seen.
This cut offers more flexibility in that quite large
boards can be backsawn from the wings of logs. Here
the maximum depth can be just less than the diameter
of the log.
Advantages:
seasons more rapidly
good figure on face
less prone to splitting when nailing
wide sections possible
few knots on edge

Disadvantages:
shrink more across width when drying
more likely to warp and cup
collapsed timber more difficult to recondition

Quarter sawn timber

Growth rings are parallel to the short face. The long
face of every board is close to a radial face. A large
number of growth rings can be seen on this face.
If they are to be quarter sawn very large logs are
required, as the maximum depth of board is less
than the radius of the log.

Advantages
best grain shows on face
good wearing surface for floors, furniture
radial face preferred for coatings
lower width shrinkage on drying
less cupping and warp than other cuts
can be successfully reconditioned

Disadvantages:
slower seasoning
nailing on face more prone to splitting