Log trucks were coming in loaded with pine trees and leaving empty during the Suwannee Democrat’s Klausner sawmill tour Wednesday, Nov. 19.

Klausner’s Thomas Mende, president of International Business Development for Klausner Trading USA, was beaming with excitement as he led Democrat Editor Jeff Waters and Reporter Amber Vann through his new state-of-the-art project, located in Western Suwannee County. He pointed out that while the sawmill part of the operation may not be running yet, there was still plenty of action going on elsewhere.

“There will be about 60 log trucks coming in each day per shift,” said Mende. “We are building our inventory now through debarking and trimming and sorting the logs, and the leftover bark and mulch is already being sold to landscaping companies.” According to Mende, the log yard has only been open for about five to six weeks and there are already thousands of logs piling up.

“Because we keep inventory cut-to-length and without bark, we start the log yard before the saw mill,” Mende explained as he walked the Democrat staff through the mill’s process. “The logs are checked for metal before they go through the sawmill. The sawmill still needs to undergo a couple of weeks of test runs, but production will begin by the end of 2014 with smooth production starting in January 2015.”

The cut lumber then gets sorted by size, dried in kilns, and finally shipped to buyers all across the world. Chips, sawdust and shavings and other leftover products are collected throughout each step of the process and sold, leaving nothing to be wasted.

From the Suwannee Democrat: http://www.suwanneedemocrat.com/news/klausner-sawmill-coming-together/article_261f3dc6-74de-11e4-9baf-a7d022ed7af9.html