Southern Pine Inspection Bureau (SPIB) is working with the USDA Forest Products Laboratory to verify all data to establish new design values for visually graded southern pine dimension lumber, for final consideration by the American Lumber Standard Committee (ALSC) Board of Review.

Focused on high quality lumber export markets, Columbia Vista Corp. targets the high-end Japanese post and beam market. Cutting export sizes, the mill (profiled in October 2012 Timber Processing) produces 60MMBF annually on a one-shift basis. The filing effort bolsters Columbia Vista’s top quality focus on Japanese exports in primary lengths of 3-, 3.65- and 4 meter lengths, plus Chinese exports in a variety of metric sizes—and cross-arm stock and additional domestic lumber products.

They say you have to spend money to make money, and that’s a philosophy Balfour Lumber Co. has embraced in its filing room, where one of the company’s primary goals has been to improve its tooling systems. “This is where you make your money or lose it,” says Michael Raybon, who joined the team last year, working closely with head saw filer Bob Larson to upgrade the filing capacity and improve precision and sawing accuracy.

More than 1,000 attendees—including representatives from 115 wood products producing companies and 200 specific mill site operations—from 30 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces traveled to the first Timber Processing & Energy Expo and brought with them a display of optimism that has long been missing in the industry.

Situated 50 miles northwest of Augusta, Maine is the quiet, simple, neighborly town of Strong, complete with modestly attractive 19th and early 20th century buildings assembled neatly among the rolling hills and picturesque views of Maine’s Western Mountains. Just south of town is the Sandy River, which propelled Strong’s prosperity through the 1800s by supporting rich agriculture and attracting numerous mills to the area.

A new high-resolution grading system will soon provide stability and increased profitability to Anthony Timberlands, Inc.’s Bearden, Ark. mill. The purchase is consistent with the company’s strategy to improve its grade yield and respond to increased production demands. Anthony’s latest was to purchase a GradeScan system from Lucidyne Technologies to complete the move to full automation of their grading process.

The primary forest industry has been experimenting with chrome saws for decades; however, saw manufacturers have struggled to make chrome saws the premier choice for leading North American sawmills, until now. The Cougar XX Chrome saw from Cut Technologies has been in development for three years and combines chroming of the saw plate with the patented Cougar XX proprietary heat treatment.