Major wildfires burning in southeast Georgia and northeast Florida have merged into one massive fire burning in the Okefenokee Swamp area, on both public and private land. The fire, now called the Georgia Bay Fire, is pushing a half-million acres and has burned more than 350,000 acres in Georgia and 123,000 acres in Florida.

Millwrights, machine operators, filers and management at H.W. Culp Lumber Co. had plenty of reason to smile on March 26 of this year. It marked the culmination of nearly two years of planning, evaluation, installation and startup of the company’s first curve-sawing gang—a USNR horizontal shape sawing (HSS) system.

On the outside, it’s business as usual for the employees at New South-Camden. On the inside, the work culture remains mostly the same—long established and successful. But since the mill was purchased by Canfor Corp. in early 2006, small incremental changes have been taking place which mill Vice President Steve Singleton says have been good for them all around.

Making fuel from solid plant materials is no longer the stuff of science fiction. As fossil fuels take greater economic and environmental tolls, the methods by which cellulose can be processed to make alternative fuels and other bioproducts are currently on a research and development fast track.

Weyerhaeuser installed Iggesund Tools power heads on its sharp chain canter in Plymouth, NC. The mill’s curve-saw gang has also been outfitted with Iggesund’s chipping heads. The Plymouth facility has also ordered an Iggesund TurnKnife conversion with helical face technology for its mill chipper.

ASM will be displaying one of five recently sold ASM High Speed Line Shaft Trimmers featuring the new Rexroth Ideal Cushion saw ladder air cylinders. These new cylinders significantly reduce impact and allow speeds of up to 200 lugs per minute.

Manufacturing at central Finland’s Keitele Forest Group, a large family owned and operated wood products company, starts with deciding what products its customers really want. Those needs drive the entire production process, from forest planning and harvesting through log sorting, mill processing and product packaging.