Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014 by Forestnet Media

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August/September 2014

Tracking down energy savings at Weyerhaeuser’s Princeton sawmill First Nations band gets into sawmilling Major mill upgrade for B.C.’s Gilbert Smith Forest Products

CWF Contractor of the Year: Newfoundland’s Northwest Forest Resources With this issue… The Edge!

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FEATURES On the Cover:

August/September 2014 Volume 45 • No. 5

Greg Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Gilbert Smith Forest Products in Barriere, B.C.—and grandson of the founder of the family-run company—is proud of the resourcefulness the mill and its employees showed in carrying out a major mill upgrade on a tight budget (Photo by Paul MacDonald).

Editor Paul MacDonald Contributing Editors Jim Stirling Tony Kryzanowski George Fullerton

4 Spotlight: Landmark

Tech Update Editor Tony Kryzanowski

Alberta forestry agreement

Publisher Rob Stanhope E-mail: stanhope@forestnet.com Phone: (604) 990-9970 Fax: (604) 990-9971

A deal with Northern Alberta Métis that involves long-term commercial rights to 200,000 hectares of forestlands is said to be a landmark agreement and could be worth millions of dollars to the community, say its backers.

Sales Associates James Booth (604) 990-9970 E-mail: jbooth@forestnet.com Perry Rosehill (604) 613-3001 E-mail: rosehill@forestnet.com

12 Resourceful mill

Circulation Manager Maureen Cole (905) 201-0853 Fax: (905) 294-8645 E-mail: mcole@idirect.com

upgrade

The Gilbert Smith Forest Products sawmill in the B.C. Interior has just wrapped up a multi-million dollar upgrade that included some new equipment, a lot of used equipment—and involved a whole lot of resourcefulness.

Design & Art Production Manager Sheila Ringdahl E-mail: artwork@forestnet.com Office Manager Betty Rosales E-mail: brosales@forestnet.com

20 Tracking down energy

Office PO Box 86670, 211 East 1st Street North Vancouver, BC V7L 4L2 Phone: (604) 990-9970 Fax: (604) 990-9971 Website: www.forestnet.com

savings at the mill

Subscriptions: Canada $58 a year; two years $70; three years, $85. Group accounts, six or more subscriptions, $25 per subscription per year. Outside Canada, $95 per year. Airmail $165. Single copy, Canada $6; elsewhere $10. Reproduction prohibited without permission of the publisher. ISSN 0226-7572. Indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index by Micromedia Ltd. Back copies from 1996 onward are available through our website www.forestnet.com and in microform from Micromedia Ltd., 416-362-5211. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064045 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to CIRCULATION DEPT. PO Box 86670 Stn Main North Vancouver BC V7L 4L2 e-mail: mcole@idirect.com POSTMASTER: Send US address changes to LSJ Publishing Group, PO Box 610, Edmonds, WA 98020-0610 Published August/September 2014 Printed in Canada on 20% recycled paper. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Logging & Sawmilling Journal is a member/associate member of the following industry organizations:

Weyerhaeuser’s Princeton, B.C. sawmill is seeing some big-time cost savings from a number of energy initiatives the mill has introduced over the last several years— and the operation is continuing to track down energy saving opportunities.

30 Newfoundland’s

Northwest an award-winner

Newfoundland logging contractor Northwest Forest Resources—now run by the third generation of the Reid Family—recently added to their award hardware collection, being awarded the Canadian Woodlands Forum’s Contractor of the Year for 2014.

36 Old iron on the Internet

B.C.’s Todd Smith is on a mission to photograph and video old logging equipment—

and he’s now sharing his work, and the rich history and heritage of B.C. logging, on the Internet at Youtube.

42 First Nations band gets into sawmilling

The Hupacasath First Nations band on Vancouver Island is now in the small sawmilling business, having purchased a portable Super Scragg sawmill from D & L Timber Technologies, and is looking at other opportunities in the forest industry, including getting involved in logging.

48 Ready for the upturn

With increasing demand for wood products, Nova Scotia’s Consolidated Forest Owners Resource Management stands ready to meet an increase in activity in the woods, with its high level harvesting and forest management services.

55 The Edge

Included in The Edge, Canada’s leading publication on research in the forest industry, are stories from Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Alberta Innovates - Bio Solutions, Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, Forest Innovation Investment (FII), NRCan and the Woodlands Operations Learning Foundation (WOLF).

82 The Last Word:

Court ruling a possible game changer

The recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the Ts’ilhqot’in Nation vs. British Columbia case could be a game changer for the forest industry, says Jim Stirling.

DEPARTMENTS

Calendar.......................................................................................................10 Tech Update: Grinders ..................................................................................66 Suppliernewsline..........................................................................................74 Classifieds / Employment Opportunities.......................................................80 Ad Index ......................................................................................................81 Reader Service/Subscriptions.......................................................................81 Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

spotlight

Landmark forestry agreement in Alberta A deal with Northern Alberta Métis that involves long-term commercial rights to 200,000 hectares of forestlands is said to be a landmark agreement and could be worth millions of dollars to the community, say its backers.

By Tony Kryzanowski

he lives of 2,800 Métis people living in three communities in northern Alberta are about to change dramatically. Their Métis groups recently signed a long-term exclusive commercial rights agreement to about 200,000 hectares of forest with a joint venture company that includes a British multinational partner

in exchange for an interest in the joint venture. Named the KAQUO Forestry and Natural Resource Development Corporation, which means “All Together” in the Métis Cree dialect, it has been created to commercialize this vast forest resource. It has been described as a long-term deal that is unprecedented in Canadian history, and it could work as a template

for other Canadian First Nations communities and result in billions of dollars flowing into the communities. The agreement is between the Peavine, Paddle Prairie, and East Prairie Métis Settlements and British-based multinational

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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spotlight from page 4 Active Energy Group Plc (AEG). It took over five years to negotiate. “The joint venture is mandated to seek investors who wish to purchase the longterm tree farming permits over portions of the forest on the three Métis settlements,” says Richard Spinks, AEG Chief Executive Officer. “The company’s shareholders will share in income from the sale of these tree farming permits and in addition proportionately from any other subsequent downstream activities, all of which will be carried out by the joint venture company.” In an interview with Logging and Sawmilling Journal, Spinks says the exact size of the area is turning out to be a lot more than they initially thought, with the initial estimate in the 100,000 hectare range. Now, he says, it seems closer to the 200,000 hectare range and in terms of value, the partners have come to realize that they have something of “great value”—in the range of several thousand dollars per hectare to as much as $7,000 per hectare, with most “closer to the higher end”.

The goal is to negotiate the best deal possible with potential purchasers of tree farming permits, while preserving the integrity of the forest resource. This is how the joint venture will generate a considerable amount of its income; for example, if it were to sell a tree farming permit to 25,000 hectares at $5,000 per hectare, that would generate $125 million for the joint venture. “But there is no guarantee how soon that will be,” Spinks says. It could happen as soon as this fall or it may take more than a year. The goal is to negotiate the best deal possible with potential purchasers of tree farming permits, while preserving the integrity of the forest resource.” He adds that the hope is that the joint

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venture partners will decide to re-invest some of the proceeds from the sale of these tree farming permits back into wood processing facilities that provide jobs to individuals in and around the communities. AEG is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is an international supplier of industrial wood chips, timber products and forestry management and development services. It is the largest producer and exporter of MDF-quality wood chips in Ukraine for export to Turkey, produces biomass-to-energy wood chips in Spain and Montenegro for use in European power plants primarily in Italy, and also operates a research and development facility for its new biomass fuel granulating systems in Northern Ireland. The company has agreed to commercialize the forest as part of its equity stake in the joint venture and says that the 200,000 hectares of prime forest consists of about 70 per cent hardwoods such as aspen and poplar and 30 percent softwoods such as spruce, pine, and fir species in the 50 years and older range. They expect to yield more than 200 million cubic metres of commercial standing timber from the forestlands.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

spotlight AEG is funding the start-up costs of the new joint venture, and has also agreed to pay an advance against future revenues of $300,000 to the settlements “so we can begin immediately to improve the social and economic situation within our partner communities,” says Spinks. The Métis are descended from First Nations and European families and are considered an aboriginal group under the Canadian Constitution. Alberta’s Métis live in eight settlements scattered throughout the province and are the only Métis in Canada with a legislated land base covering a total of about 567,000 hectares. A key figure in these negotiations resulting in the commercial rights agreement and joint venture company was Ronald M. Derrickson, voted Grand Chief of British Columbia for Life by his peers and Chairman of RMD Group. Derrickson says he was approached six years ago by Iner Gauchier, Chairman of the Peavine Métis Settlement, about helping the communities commercialize their forest resources. Kelowna, B.C.-based Derrickson has numerous business interests in real estate, ranching, farming, and construction in both Canada and Europe. Derrickson says he agreed to become part of the discussions only on condition that a fair deal for the Métis group could be negotiated. His accomplishments include fighting for the rights of First Nations peoples across Canada, including the establishment of the Canadian Native Legal Fund to protect and serve native laws and treaties. “It was probably the most difficult agreement I ever did, but it was the most fulfilling one, to see people who are living in abject poverty, to suddenly see hope come back into their eyes,” he said of the Métis/AEG agreement. “I first became aware of Richard Spinks, Active Energy Group’s CEO, through his ground-breaking work with Landkom International in Ukraine, where he successfully created a co-operative agricultural business that transformed the lives of many thousands of private landowners,” he added. Derrickson says that he and Spinks were able to negotiate a deal, “that finally gives the Métis an equitable share in the economic development of their forests”. “And I know that it will set the standards and terms for further agreements with other Métis, First Nations and aboriginal groups across Canada, to enable them to develop and commercialize their assets in an equitable and sustainable manner to bring long-term economic

growth, employment and stability to their communities and their peoples.” Spinks says exactly how this will be achieved has yet to be determined. “While we have the capability to bring funding and production under the KAQUO umbrella in terms of processing and production, including our overseas partners from Europe who have shown a strong interest in partnering on such downstream production facilities in further joint ventures, it is not yet a given for

anything other than the biomass power generation segment,” he says. AEG intends to build biomass power generation infrastructure on its own through KAQUO within the settlements, or in partnership with buyers of tree farming permits, which Spinks says will allow them to generate improved

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

spotlight from page 7 yields from their operations through the utilization of the waste and non-sawlog production. The plan is for considerable thinning and pre-commercial thinning to take place around the merchantable fibre, which will be the feedstock for the biomass-fueled power plants. He has noted, in particular, the power demand being generated by Alberta’s development of the oilsands and his belief that the joint venture company could profit from that demand. What else is developed remains wide open. Derrickson says the goal is to use the approximate 30 per cent of unmerchantable wood fibre as fuel for two, 30 megawatt power plants located within the settlements. There is no intention to harvest and market raw merchantable timber—but instead develop manufacturing facilities locally to process it through such facilities as sawmills, chipping plants, pellet plants and charcoal plants. “There will not be one raw log leaving the settlements,” says Derrickson. “Everything will be produced on the settlements.” Spinks agrees with this assessment, adding that, “we don’t want to be exporting logs.” As a first step, an independent firm of surveyors has been appointed by the joint

The 200,000 hectares of prime forest consists of about 70 per cent hardwoods and 30 per cent softwoods. They expect to yield more than 200 million cubic metres of commercial standing timber from the forestlands. venture along with a team of Métis and international timber experts to prepare a detailed mapping and valuation report on the forestry assets, including an analysis of the existing transportation, manufacturing, logistics and utilities infrastructure. The joint venture has three partners. The Métis settlements and AEG will each hold a 45 per cent equity interest in the joint venture, with the remaining 10 per cent held by Chief Derrickson, who has also been named Chairman of the KAQUO board. Spinks is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The Chairman of each Métis settlement will have a seat on the

Forestry deal would mean further economic development for Métis

“

e need to do something that is self-sustaining and not dependent on handouts. We are a proud people eager to contribute to the Alberta economy.” That is how Iner Gauchier, Chairman of the Peavine Métis Settlement, described the motivation behind three northern Alberta Métis settlements joining forces to negotiate a deal granting commercial timber rights to a joint venture company of which they are 45 percent owners. Gauchier says that settlement residents are in the process of transitioning from traditional practices to participating in the wage-based economy, and have already been quite successful participants in the oil and gas sector. They acquired fee-simple ownership of their lands, which includes all surface

rights, in an out-of-court settlement with the Alberta government related to a disagreement concerning petroleum extraction funds that were supposed to be shared between the settlements and the province, but went into government coffers instead. The province’s eight Métis settlements acquired ownership of their land as part of the Métis Settlement Act that was passed in 1990. Gauchier described the settlements’ granting of the commercial timber rights and subsequent stake in the KAQUO Forestry and Natural Resources Development Corporation as a major step forward for the Métis communities. It would enhance economic development of their resources. What’s particularly attractive with the approach taken by the settlements with this agreement is that they won’t simply

board, AEG will have three seats, with Derrickson holding one. The joint venture has the authority to enter into sub-leases for a period of approximately 200 years with third parties, which may include Timber Investment Management Organizations (TIMOs), joint venture partners, and timber industry firms. Derrickson says that he expects that many jobs in forest management and

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be suppliers to the joint venture company, but will be significant owners of it. “It certainly would be nice to have 45 percent ownership of West Fraser Timber, wouldn’t it?” Gauchier says. That’s the level of participation this deal offers to the communities. A huge amount of detailed planning and public consultation is taking place within the communities to discuss how the funds flowing to them will be used, to the point where community leaders are showing up on people’s doorsteps to ensure that adequate public consultation occurs. Gauchier expects that there will be investments in housing, where settlement members will be able to finance the purchase of homes, investment in the development of tree nurseries to replenish harvested timber, and also the establishment of legacy funds for children and grandchildren to use in future. “By no means are we writing cheques to individuals,” he says.

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spotlight from page 8 production of wood products will be filled by residents of the Métis settlements. The agreement states that all commercial transactions that the joint venture may enter into will include an obligation to provide local employment for Métis citizens, and a commitment to contribute to corporate social responsibility programs that benefit Métis communities. The intention is to aggressively seek out

tree farm license purchasers and investors. “We are in negotiations with a number of the most prominent timberland and natural resource investment organizations and institutions,” Spinks says. “There are a number of financial options open to KAQUO. All developments and investments will involve the Métis, our partners, and will benefit them equally with AEG’s shareholders.” The forest will be managed under strict sustainability guidelines by both the joint

venture company and its sub-leasees, and will remain sensitive to Métis traditional practices. Agreements with licensees and investors will spell out in detail what they are and are not allowed to do, with such practices as clearcutting not being permitted. There will be no “pillage” in the forest says Derrickson. “This is a business deal to last centuries.”

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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millupgrade

Resourceful

mill upgrade The Gilbert Smith Forest Products sawmill in the B.C. Interior has just wrapped up a multimillion dollar upgrade that included some new equipment, a lot of used equipment—and involved a whole lot of resourcefulness.

By Paul MacDonald

T Greg Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Gilbert Smith Forest Products (above), says that planning for the upgrade had been in the works for quite a few years, and that the operation had been accumulating used mill equipment for an upgrade for about 10 years. 12

he headrig carriage at the Gilbert Smith Forest Products sawmill in Barriere, B.C. is well travelled. When the carriage was taken out this past fall as part of a multi-million dollar upgrade at this Western Red Cedar mill, employees were trying to figure out the equivalent of how many times the carriage had travelled around the world, in its decades of service. The conclusion: many, many times around the world. These days, the carriage has been retired to a place of honor, in front of the Gilbert Smith FP office, just off the Yellowhead Highway, which runs through Barriere, about 70 kilometres north of

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

Kamloops, in B.C’s Southern Interior. But it has a worthy successor—as part of the upgrade—in the form of a new-toGilbert Smith FP headrig system, made up of a combination of components. After close to a year-long upgrade, the mill is running more smoothly and efficiently—with more efficiencies on the way, as the inevitable post-upgrade tweaking is completed. Greg Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Gilbert Smith FP, and a grandson of the founder of the family-run company, explained that the upgrade was in the works for quite a few years. “It really goes back a ways—we’ve been planning the upgrade in a significant way for about six years, but we’ve been accumulating used mill equipment for an upgrade for about 10 years.”

Gilbert Smith FP is one of the handful of mid-sized independent sawmills left in B.C. And while it may not have the deep pockets of the large forest companies, it takes pride on being resourceful—and the upgrade illustrated that in spades, with the careful and strategic purchase and installation of used mill equipment. “As a small company, we have to be resourceful,” says Smith. And that meant running the mill’s small log line right through the upgrade, a challenging feat in itself. “It was a bit of a leap of faith for us, because we became a one-line mill again, as we were before we installed the small log line with the HewSaw, back in 2003.” The purchase of used mill equipment goes back more than a decade, when

Gilbert Smith FP purchased cut-to-length log decks from forest company Tolko Industries after a forest fire swept this area, and destroyed much of Tolko’s Louis Creek sawmill. In fact, the Smith Family, and its employees, were extremely thankful that their mill was not destroyed in the fire. Installing the CTL infeed was part of the latest upgrade program. While Gilbert Smith FP processes a fair bit of tree length wood to meet customer needs for longer cedar pieces, a good amount of their timber comes in the form of CTL wood from the logging operations of companies such as Canfor, which is 100 per cent CTL.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

to page 14 13

millupgrade from page 13

“We certainly did not need to increase production at the sawmill at that time—what we When Weyerhaeuser’s Kamloops sawmill needed to do was create products that people Corley Manufacturing closed in 2008, an iron opportunity again preneeded in the downturn,” said Smith. Lewis Controls sented itself, and the company purchased the These were low capital, good payback projKamloops mill’s Newnes-USNR board edger ects that were done by their own crews. “It kept Andriz Iggesund Tools Canada Inc system and chip handling system. They knew our crews busy and it’s paid real dividends. As they needed to get some edger improvements the mill has come up in production, we have Samuel Strapping for the small log line—which is anchored by a strap-on packaging and dunnage.” The twin Joshua Friesen very dependable and productive HewSaw R200 band re-saw is not used much right now. “But Electrical Services unit. it’s still a very effective sawmill tool—you can MB Construction “The flow had to deadhead through our reend up being a bit of a re-man with it.” NDF Enterprises Inc saw—it created a bit of a bottleneck and some Accumulating further equipment, Smith said Premier Bandwheel recovery challenges—and we had a manually they had a good “war chest” of mill equipment & Equipment Ltd. fed board edger.” to do the upgrade, and achieve their goal. While Hollins Industries But before any of the upgrade happened, they employed consultants on a limited basis, by the downturn hit, and plans were put on hold. far most of the work was done by Gilbert Smith They hunkered down, and just worked away at FP people, carrying out what Smith modestly producing whatever the market needed. “But we were still on calls “napkin engineering”. the lookout for used equipment,” says Smith. “Our goal is to have the mill produce the most efficient cedar They did some small mill upgrades during the downturn, blank—we need to get the right product coming out of the mill he says. These were more “close to the customer” upgrades, for our customers.” They use the cedar blank as a building block and strongly focused on customer needs. “We put in a Weinig for turning out the exact products their reman customers are WACO BKW twin band re-saw so we could produce metric sizlooking for. ing, and get into more of the offshore markets.” “We’ve developed relationships with a variety of different And interestingly for what had been a strictly cedar operation, remanufacturers, both in Canada and the U.S. And through they produced some Douglas fir. They put in a Samuel Strapping understanding their business and the products they turn out, we packaging line, so they could tailor the packaging more for the develop a blank that fits their requirements.” He added that the offshore markets. installation of the HewSaw small log line in 2003 has really been instrumental in allowing them to meet the needs of that market. Although their older headrig and carriage had served them well—doing the equivalent of many trips around the world—a newer headrig had been on the company’s radar for years. But all the changes had to be well-planned out, Smith explained, as space was very tight in the mill. “The original mill was very close coupled—it was a very busy place. To do the new headrig properly, we needed the space of the old board edger. So, as a piece of the puzzle, we needed to install a new board edger, and take the old board edger out, freeing up that real estate, and then putting in the headrig.” The new chip system had to fit in well with this, too. “We wanted to make sure the new chip system could handle the flow,” says Smith, noting there had been some bottlenecking there, as the mill had increased production. “It was nice in that

Supplier List

to page 16

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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Thank You Gilbert Smith, F.P. www.iggesundtools.com LAVAL OFFICE: 2891 Boul. Le Corbusier, Laval, Quebec, H7L4J5, Canada • Tel: +1-450-973-4343 KELOWNA, B.C. OFFICE: 1405 Stevens Road, #310, Kelowna, B.C., V1Z 3Y2, Canada • Tel: +1-250-769-1288 More Information? Action Card #111

millupgrade from page 14 we were able to put the chip system where our old beehive burner used to be.” The mill took an innovative approach to installing the new residual wood handling system in the mill. “We built it offline. We got a mini-excavator and dug out and built all the conveyors underneath the existing waste system. So when we were ready for our changeover weekend, we took out the old equipment, and the new system was sitting right there, underneath. “And everyone who has dealt with waste systems knows the more vertical fall you have, the better. And that has certainly worked with the new system—we’re getting some decent fall with it.” In doing the digging for the new system, they found some interesting additions to the foundation—everything from boulders the size of basketballs to metal bandings, to 1.5 inch rebar, mixed into the original footings In addition to achieving other efficiencies, the CTL infeed allows them to make better use of their Nicholson A5 debarker, says Smith. “We were able to make some

After close to a year-long upgrade, the Gilbert Smith Forest Products sawmill is running more smoothly and efficiently— with more efficiencies on the way, as the inevitable post-upgrade tweaking is completed.

gains there—we did not have to speed the barker up. We just closed the gap and put more consistent wood through it.” Again, this part of the mill was tight, creating problems if there was an issue with the cut off saw. “We can now buck and process, and dump the logs into a pit with the set-up we have now.” The Linden step feeder system for the set-up was purchased from the Federated Co-op mill. “The step feeder was a piece of equipment we had been looking for and waiting for,” says Smith. “It was a good deal, and it has frequency drive control and electric drive, and not many hours on it.” Even though they purchased almost all used equipment for the upgrade, Smith cautions that you need to be very particular about what you buy, and what kind of condition it is in.

More Information? Action Card #112

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

millupgrade “Sometimes you will buy something used and it will drive your whole program—you need to be careful about that. Also, you can buy something used and spend so much money converting it to something that you can use that you might as well have bought it new.” They purchased some new equipment, notably on the technology side, as part of the new headrig set-up. Some of the outfeed lumber decks were new, and a new headrig slabber from Corley was included. True to their used equipment approach, the Corley carriage and framework came out of the former Pope and Talbot sawmill in Midway, B.C., and had low production hours. But the bandmill with it was not what they wanted, so they ended up getting a Letson/Kockums bandmill set-up from Interfor Adams Lake. “It was in Interfor’s boneyard, so it needed some work. We put a new bottom wheel on it and did some other major work. And it’s turned out be a beautiful band mill and is running very well for us.” The work was done at Premier Bandwheel & Equipment Ltd. of Surrey, B.C. As noted, a good deal of the investRosta VC2749 1/16/04 2:52 PM Page 1 ment went into technology-related items.

“A lot of the equipment we looked at, especially the headrig, there might be some new valves or cylinders, but mechanically there has not been a lot of changes in heardrigs or carriages. “We thought that we would go with used equipment that way, and invest in the optimization, which is where it has all changed and advanced.” Another major change involved installing an Andritz Iggesund Tools PH-27 powerhead on the Corley slabber on the large log line. “We’d already gone through converting chip face slabber heads to a saw face with the HewSaw on our small log line, because of the knot tear-out with our cedar. We sell an appearance-type product, and the knot tear-out was sometimes resulting in quarter-inch tear. So we decided to go with the saw face on the slabber head, and the finish is outstanding.” Smith noted they did some upgrades to the carriage, with some Brownsville log turners and a Corley sumner style dog that

to page 18

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millupgrade from page 17 is better able to handle the bigger and frozen wood. Gilbert Smith FP acted as the general contractor on the project, though Smith noted they had a lot of help from suppliers, both local and further afield (see sidebar story for supplier list). Major contractors on the project included MB Construction of Chase, B.C. and NDF Enterprises Inc., of Coquitlam, B.C.

The timing for doing the upgrade was good; after the wrenching downturn, they saw signs that the market was getting better in 2013, says Smith. “Once we saw things starting to turn around in lumber markets, we wanted to get the project done while people were available, before things took off.” Smith said there were several keys to the project being successful. “You have to do it safely and you need to be able to communicate well with your crew

The upgrade project at Gilbert Smith Forest Products kind of took on a life of its own. Initially, it was just going to be the CTL and edger upgrade. But they decided to just roll one project into the next, and keep the momentum going—and did the headrig project, as well. 18

because you now have this construction project going on, on a working mill site—it’s not a greenfield situation. With the small log mill operating, we still had log trucks, lumber trucks, and chip trucks moving around the site, and all these construction people on top of that.” There was a lot of communication between the construction people and the mill production people on when was the best time to do work, and where. Overseeing this was mill superintendent Dan Doyle, who was project manager. Smith credits Doyle for shepherding the project through its twists and turns. An assistant project manager and safety coordinator were also hired for the project. As much as possible, they did fabrication and prep work on the used equipment in a designated area, equipped with electric welders, water and air, away from the running mill. “That way, we were able to reduce the amount of hot work going on close to the mill, and we could bring new equipment that was already set up to the mill, and put it in place.” The end result was as a successful project—40,000 man hours without a lost time accident. And the project kind of took on a life of its own. Initially, it was just going to be the CTL and edger upgrade. “We thought, well, if we are going to be in build mode and have cranes and construction people on site, let’s just roll one project into the next and keep the momentum going, so we carried on and did the headrig project, as well.” The upgrade has positioned them well for the improving wood products markets. And, Smith adds, despite all the equipment coming from a variety of mills, it’s all 100 per cent Gilbert Smith Forest Products equipment now. “I can look at parts in the mill, and know that it came from this mill or that mill. But once you put some new paint on it, it all blends together.” On the supplier end, while companies would have preferred if Gilbert Smith FP had bought brand new equipment, they also now know that the mill will now be a steady customer for parts and service. “Corley, for example, was great. They took the used equipment we have and supported it, and it’s great to have them on board.” And with the construction work behind them, the focus has now changed. “We’ve put all these dollars and equipment into the mill, and now we’re doing everything we can to have it perform as safely, effectively and productively, as possible.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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sawmillenergy

Tracking down energy savings at the mill

Weyerhaeuser’s Princeton, B.C. sawmill is seeing some big-time cost savings from a number of energy initiatives the mill has introduced over the last several years—and the operation is continuing to track down energy saving opportunities.

Since the energy upgrades, Weyerhaeuser’s Princeton sawmill has saved 2.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity, and now has the highest energy efficiency of any of any of Weyerhaeuser’s facilities with dry kilns.

By Paul MacDonald

t the Weyerhaeuser sawmill in Princeton, British Columbia, they have seen the light—quite literally. Over the last several years, the sawmill has done a major lighting re-lamp, which helped the operation reduce costs 20

through the downturn, and continues to generate big-time cost savings. The two-line sawmill processes enough logs to produce 294 million board feet of SPF lumber every year. A lot of logs means a lot of power is needed for lumber production and support facilities; 23 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year to be exact.

When the U.S. housing market—the main destination for a lot of Weyerhaeuser Princeton lumber—was in a slump, the sawmill was in lean times and needed

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

to page 22

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sawmillenergy from page 20 to reduce fixed costs. With support from mill leadership, employees recognized that energy reduction would be an effective solution. And their natural gas and electricity utility, FortisBC, proved to be a helping partner in achieving that. “With help from the FortisBC PowerSense program, we did a full lighting relamp in 2010,” says John McLeod, electrical supervisor, Weyerhaeuser Princeton. With the energy savings and rebates made available by the PowerSense program, the mill’s return on investment for the lighting upgrade took less than one year. “Plus the employees love the brighter LED lighting,” adds McLeod. “It makes it much easier for them to do their work.” With the LED lighting, they have installed some 200 LED lamps. The wattages on the LEDs vary from 30 watt to 200 watt, and replaced High-intensity discharge (HID) and Sodium lamps up to 1000 watts in output. “Since the lighting upgrade and with the support of FortisBC, we installed a refridge air dryer and have received lighting rebates on our LED upgrades ,” said McLeod.

In addition, Weyerhaeuser Princeton has upgraded its capacitor banks to run tight power factors of from 95 – 97 PF, installed energy timers on production equipment and has built efficiency into equipment upgrades. They installed a Hankison HES 3000 scfm refridge air dryer to remove moisture from the compressed air system. “The refridge air dryer was huge in itself in energy savings—that shaves 75 kVA off our system during the summer because we don’t need to run the less efficient desiccant system to dry the air.” Older motors were replaced with new Toshiba high efficiency motors. And the energy improvement efforts are continuing, notes McLeod. “Weyerhaeuser has energy champions company-wide and our corporate energy team are actively engaged to find opportunities to further improve our energy efficiencies,” he explained. “And I really believe that engaging employees in energy efficiency and encouraging small changes to maximize savings brings home results. Changing one light to high efficiency may not make a big change, but change 100 and get 100 employees to turn them off

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sawmillenergy John McLeod (far left), electrical supervisor, Weyerhaeuser Princeton, with Perry Feser, technical advisor and Certified Energy Manager with the FortisBC PowerSense program. Overall, the mill has been able to achieve energy savings of upwards of 12 per cent.

when not needed, and you’ve made a big impact.” That impact McLeod refers to can be verified. Since the upgrades, the mill has saved 2.4 million kilowatt hours of electricity. The Princeton mill now has the highest energy efficiency of any of any of Weyerhaeuser’s facilities with dry kilns. McLeod started work at Weyerhaeuser Princeton in 2008, and since then he has headed up an energy effort, supported by mill management and employees, that has been thorough at tracking down, and implementing, energy efficiencies. “We started out looking for opportunities, making changes that did not require spending a lot of money.” FortisBC notes that energy use at the mill has gone down, by about a million

kilowatt hours. But to meet the demands of the recovery in the lumber market, it’s important to note the mill is now producing 18 per cent more lumber. This means the mill is using a lot less energy to produce every thousand board feet of lumber. McLeod explained that the re-lighting efforts started when an electrical products supplier said it would like to do a lighting survey of the mill. The company essentially sponsored a program for retrofitting the lighting in parts of the mill. “We went from 400 watts to 330 watts on our high bay lighting, and that was a huge return on investment—the ROI on that was only eight months. FortisBC helped out with that project, too,” noted McLeod. “At the time, we were already looking at energy saving opportunities throughout the mill, going after the low-hanging fruit in terms of making changes,” says McLeod. The changes included taking a 350

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sawmillenergy from page 23 hp main motor running on their hog system, and making it more of a helper drive. They had been running two 350 hp electric motors concurrently. “That shed 100 to 150 real hp off the system,” says McLeod. “Doing that was huge for us, energy-wise.” The mill then went on to eliminate or downsize a number of 100 hp motors in the mill. “When we ran out of the 100 hp motors, we started going after the smaller motors. After we ran out of those, we went to energy timers, shutting things down when they weren’t running.” In 2010, the mill installed an ION Metering system made by Schneider Electric, which monitors power and mill electrical usage, as well as kiln gas use. In 2012, they initiated a pilot project concurrent with FortisBC Electric/Gas and installed an EEM, an Enterprise Energy Management system, which monitors variables. The software has been moved to Weyerhaeuser operations in Federal Way, Washington, to service the Weyerhaeuser network and is still in evaluation. This system models energy and provides a hierarchal approach to energy management. “It does advance modeling and pulls data off our metering systems,” says McLeod. “Using production data, you can add variables and work up energy projects, and paybacks.” McLeod explained that as part of a Weyerhaeuser company-wide effort to

achieve energy efficiencies, each operation has an energy champion—and McLeod, being electrical supervisor, is the energy champion for the Princeton sawmill. But he noted that it is very much a

team effort, involving all mill employees. “It’s the people who turn the equipment on and off who make the difference,” he says. “They can tell us when a blower is running when it does not need to. We can put motion sensors on lights—but we get input on exactly where we should put them in the sawmill. You need to empower people in the organization.” Sometimes, the changes are very straightforward; shutting down some conveyors and chains between shifts for example. “It’s one energy savings move, but if you make 20 moves, you achieve something substantial.” While clearly the savings are in the details, it’s important to have a big picture approach, too, he says. “Part of saving energy is that you need to understand the overall utilization of energy in an operation to find the best solutions because in a mill, work is still work—it takes x amount of work to produce a thousand board feet of lumber. And at the end of the day, it’s all about how you do that work,” says McLeod. It takes so much work to process a log and produce lumber, and that does not change, he notes. How it changes is how

to page 26 24

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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sawmillenergy from page 24

O P T I M I Z AT I O N • A U T O M AT I O N • E N G I N E E R I N G

you do it and what equipment you process that log with and how you support that with other assets. In the case of Weyerhaeuser Princeton, the processing begins with cut off saws by Custom Design. The equipment on the large and small log lines includes two Nicholson A7 debarkers, and Kockums CanCar (now USNR) chip ‘n saw units. On both chip ’n’ saws they use Cougar XX round saws from Cut Technologies. The Cougar saws, which are manufactured at the Cut Tech plant in Penticton, B.C., are a good fit with Weyerhaeuser’s overall energy efficiency approach. They’re said to offer longer running times because the saws do not lose level and tension in operation. MPM Engineering, of Surrey, B.C., has been involved with a number of projects at the Princeton mill, both in terms of equipment and optimization software. There are MPM Scanners on all log infeeds, primary breakdowns and trims. The mill edging equipment is Newnes, (also now USNR). The planer is a Stetson-Ross. The mill has six Wellons double track 120’ dry kilns, from 13 MBTU to 20 MBTU, with single/ double pass air flows. As with all sawmills, the equipment and systems have evolved over the years. Several years back, Weyerhaeuser Princeton contracted North Vancouver-based LNS Services to design, supply and install a new log processing system for short logs. This new system allows the mill to process a wider variety of logs and meet the demands of a changing marketplace. LNS worked closely with Weyerhaeuser to design an efficient system that integrated with its existing infrastructure. Back in 2008, Lucidyne did five GradeScan installations for Weyerhaeuser with systems in British Columbia, Alberta, and North Carolina. The B.C. application required Lucidyne to integrate information from a Metrigard CLT machine and a Northern Milltech moisture sensor to grade machine stress rated (MSR) and dimension lumber. The mill requires the scanner to process lumber at speeds up to 2,250 ft/minute. Weyerhaeuser Princeton inherited this scanner system from another company operation in B.C. There have also been some changes out in the millyard; they recently installed a trailer reload from Mussell Crane Manufacturing, of Chilliwack, B.C. Current projects at the mill include the installation of three Comact wave feeders at the front end, two -24 foot and one 60-foot, to help better process the smaller wood the operation handles. Installing the wave feeders will allow the operation to switch out some heavy duty hydraulic equipment, for variable frequency drives. They’ve also made a significant shift to variable frequency

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to page 28

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sawmillenergy from page 26 drives on the sawmill lines, as well, installing a number of Mitsubishi VFDs from Arrow Speed Controls. All of the above changes, while efficient, still require energy. Sometimes, McLeod explains, their energy conservation efforts involve finding substitutions for hydraulics and air. “We might want to use electrics rather than hydraulics because of the efficiencies it delivers when you are doing work on demand.” Over the last half-dozen years, they’ve kept track of all the changes. Big and small, there have been about 120 projects, or tasks, as they’re called at the mill. Some are big like the lighting changes and variable frequency drives. “Some just involved work orders,” says McLeod. “But they all count.” That effort towards saving energy is still there, says McLeod. “The first four years were huge for us, and we’ve tapered down, but the philosophy and mindset is still there. It’s important to go after the low hanging fruit in energy savings, but you still go after the branches, too, after the low hanging fruit. “You make some major moves, but you don’t stop,” he added. “Each opportunity saves a bit of money, and it all adds up.” And with energy prices, both natural gas and electric, being unpredictable, it helps them get a handle on a very large fixed cost for all sawmills. Overall, the mill has been able to achieve energy savings of upwards of 12 per cent, which McLeod said is realistic on a practical basis. “Based on our studies

and equipment queries, there are projects that will realize larger returns—but then these systems typically have large capital investments with longer paybacks.” McLeod said that it’s important to implement energy saving initiatives, but it’s just as important to stay on top of them. “With any program, if you don’t

own it and maintain it, it’s going to fall by the wayside as other priorities inevitably come up. We need to stay focused on it— and it can be as simple as something like monitoring your air usage in the mill.” Going forward, it’s clear there is going to continue to be a focus on energy savings at Weyerhaeuser Princeton.

Funding available for energy projects in B.C. sawmills

.C. sawmills that work with utility company FortisBC to optimize their energy use can qualify for funding towards energy studies and significant rebates once an eligible project is complete—from $1,000 for small energy efficient lighting projects up to $1 million for large-scale equipment upgrades. Plus, energy efficient sawmills can cost less to operate and provide a more comfortable environment for staff, FortisBC notes. The process most often starts with an energy study to identify where investing in energy saving upgrades will yield the best return. The study also provides a baseline for calculating potential savings and rebates. Once a project is complete, the rebates are granted based on verified savings. These rebates can reduce the payback period for some participants to as little as one year. “Contacting FortisBC right from the planning phase of your project is key to qualifying for programs and incentives,” said Perry Feser, technical advisor and

Certified Energy Manager with the FortisBC PowerSense program. Feser helps sawmills like Weyerhaeuser Princeton throughout their entire upgrade or building process, from accessing energy study funding to verifying savings. “Sawmills can find significant electricity savings by installing more energy-efficient systems, equipment and technologies, redesigning processes or implementing controls on existing energy-using devices,” said Feser. “For natural gas savings, sawmills can look to their wood drying processes and whole building space heating systems. “Sawmills aiming to meet carbon reduction or other environmental stewardship goals can also choose renewable natural gas, which is captured from organic sources in B.C.,” added Feser. Sawmills considering new and retrofit projects can contact a FortisBC PowerSense technical advisor to apply for audits, energy studies and incentive programs.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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eastcoastlogging

Employees of Northwest Forest Resources are celebrating the company’s 30th anniversary this year, and they have some nice new hardware to show for it, having been selected the Canadian Woodlands Forum Contractor of the Year for 2014. Above are Trevor Reid (left), Chris Durew and Dave Reid, of Northwest Forest Resources.

Newfoundland’s Northwest an award-winner Newfoundland contractor Northwest Forest Resources—now run by the third generation of the Reid Family—recently added to their award hardware collection, being awarded the Canadian Woodlands Forum’s Contractor of the Year for 2014. By George Fullerton

his year has marked a couple of significant milestones for Northwest Forest Resources. The Deer Lake, Newfoundland-based contractor celebrates 30 years since its founding—and it also celebrates being selected as Canadian

Woodlands Forum (CWF) Contractor of the Year for 2014. Northwest’s co-owners—and cousins—Craig and Trevor Reid received their award at the CWF Spring Meeting held in Moncton, New Brunswick in April. The Reid’s add the CWF award to some other award hardware: their 2013 Contractor

of the Year award from their employer, Kruger Publication Paper, owner of Corner Brook Pulp and Paper. In nominating Northwest Forest Resources for CWF Contractor of the Year, Tim Moulton, general operations superintendent with Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, noted that Northwest had

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

eastcoastlogging very high achievement on their KPI (Key Performance Indicators) inspections evaluating safety, quality, production, environment controls, utilization and operating efficiency. In fact, Northwest Forest Resources was Corner Brook’s most improved contractor in terms of their KPI in 2012-2013. In 2013, Northwest had no reportable injuries in their Occupational Safety and Health Administration rating. They also passed all three Occupational Health and Safety inspections with an average score of 98 per cent, and a score of 98 per cent in all three Emergency Medical Service inspections. Moulton noted Northwest consistently exceeds weekly Behavior Based Safety observation targets and has the participation of all their supervisors and operators in the program. The contractor was also recognized for having excellent relations with outside forest users including Western Snow Riders, and is actively involved in community support, achieving highest fund raising team in the Log a Load for Kids Hockey Tournament. In addition to their remarkable achievements in safety and efficiency, Moulton said that on a personal note, “the Northwest crew are always a pleasure to work with”. Canadian Woodlands Forum Executive Director Peter Robichaud congratulated Northwest on their award, saying that the Contractor of the Year award continues to be an important way for the forest industry to recognize a contracting business that has achieved exceptional performance in their work. The award, he said, recognizes contractors for their significant contribution to the industry and their vital place in the value chain. Robichaud added that in an effort to streamline the contractor of the year award nomination process, CWF has developed new application requirements as well as a new candidate assessment process. Northwest was established in 1984 by Eli Craig as a chainsaw contracting operation, and Eli brought his sons Guy, Doyle and Melvin into the business. Guy’s son Craig and Doyle’s son Trevor stepped into the management shoes around 2000, when the second generation owner/managers retired. The business began the transition to mechanical harvesting in the mid-1990s. Initially, the mechanical harvesting consisted of a feller buncher, followed by processors and forwarders. In a short time, they decided it would be more practical to

move to harvesters felling and processing at the stump, following with forwarders to get the wood to roadside. Currently, Northwest contracts to produce 140,000 cubic metres (last year doing 143,000 cubic metres). In addition to providing pulpwood to the Kruger mill, Northwest also produces twelve foot saw logs to the Burton’s Cove sawmill in Hampden, Newfoundland. Their operations are generally within 80 kilometres of their Deer Lake headquarters. Currently Northwest’s saw log production constitutes between 10 to 25 per cent of their total harvest. Northwest employs thirty people in their operations. The equipment team includes a good deal of Tigercat gear, especially on the

harvester side, with two 822’s with 7000 Log Max heads, three 845 machines with 7000 Log Max heads, and a John Deere 753 with a Waratah 616 head. In lateJune, Northwest added a new Tigercat 845 with Log Max head. The forwarding team consists of two John Deere 1510 units, and a Tigercat 1065. “With the terrain we work in, we definitely need tracked harvesters,” said Craig. “We see a lot of steep ground and a fair bit of soft ground, and tracked harvesters are the answer. We also run two sets of tracks on the forwarders, year round.”

to page 32

The Northwest Forest Resources equipment team includes a good deal of Tigercat gear, especially on the harvesting side, with two 822’s with Log Max 7000 heads and three 845 machines with Log Max 7000 heads. In late-June, Northwest added a new Tigercat 845 with a Log Max head.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

eastcoastlogging from page 31 Craig added that they have excellent dealer support from both Wajax, who handle Tigercat from their Pasadena shop, and Nortrax, which provides John Deere sales and support from their Corner Brook store. “They both give us great parts and technical support.” Commenting about working with the big Log Max 7000 head for relatively small diameter wood (8”-12”), Craig explained: “We work in some pretty rough terrain and the heads face a lot of obstacles and challenging operating conditions. We like a big robust head for those conditions, even though a smaller head would handle the size of trees we work in. We want the strength that the 7000 provides. The Log Max 7000 performs well for us, and it handles wood very well right down to 3.5 inch tops. We also get great dealer support from Log Max Forestry in Moncton, New Brunswick.” Growing up with a keen interest in forestry and the family business, Craig decided to pursue formal forestry education following high school and he attended the College of the North Atlantic, graduating

The forwarding team at Northwest Forest Resources consists of two John Deere 1510 units, and a Tigercat 1065 machine. Currently, Northwest contracts to produce 140,000 cubic metres of timber. In addition to providing pulpwood to the Kruger mill, Northwest also produces twelve foot saw logs to the Burton’s Cove sawmill in Hampden, Newfoundland. in 1998 with a Forest Technologist diploma. He then headed off to Sioux Lookout, Ontario, to work as a logging foreman. “That was a very rewarding work

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experience,” said Craig. “It was an opportunity to work with a talented group of people—a very positive work and learning experience.” In 2001, Craig returned to the family business, to handle layout and logging supervision while Dave Reid was sidelined for a hip replacement. As it turned out, the move was permanent. In 2009, as the second generation Northwest owners were looking toward retirement, Craig and Trevor began the process of assuming management tasks and buying into the business. In the current operation, Craig focuses on business management, while Trevor handles supervision of mechanical operations. Craig’s brother, Chad, joined the business about five years ago, working as a mechanic, while Dave Reid (no direct relation to the owners) continues to be a core talent with Northwest, handling multiple assignments from mechanical support to assisting on harvest layouts. Logging supervisor Chris Durew has a relatively short two-year history working for Northwest. As a more recent graduate from the College of the North Atlantic forestry program, Chris handles much of the layout and logging supervision tasks, in addition to applying his technical talents to the like of FPDat and GPS. His tasks include flagging block boundaries, and watercourse and wetlands

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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eastcoastlogging from page 32 buffers, guided by mapping provided by Kruger. His responsibilities also extend to identifying and flagging caribou and pine marten travel corridors. All of the production machines are equipped with FPDat recorders. In addition to tracking machine productive time, the system also provides GPS mapping and tracking. Each week, Craig downloads data from each machine and presents a report to mill staff. Additionally, each machine and service and supervisor truck is equipped with a VHF radio. “Our contract obliges us to meet at least 75 per cent machine utilization,” explained Craig. “Last year we achieved 84 per cent. I have set our target to 80 per cent utilization. If we fall below that 80 per cent threshold, I figure we have a problem and we have to get it fixed.” Northwest works with a union crew, running two nine hour shifts. The day shift runs 7 am to 4 pm, followed by 1.5 hours of maintenance. The night shift begin at 5:30 pm and finish at 2:30 am, providing a longer maintenance period for the mechanics. Most of the crew are from the

region; some come from the Northern Peninsula to Deer Lake for the week, and then go home weekends. Operators switch day and night shift weekly. All of Northwest’s mechanical servicing and overhauls happen in the woods. As part of the union contract, Northwest is required to provide transportation to the worksite, and they operate two Chevy Suburbans to shuttle the operators into the operations. Contractors in Newfoundland face the same challenges as forestry contractors all across the country in regards to keeping talented operators in the seats. “In the past few years, we’ve seen operators heading to Labrador and the oil patch in western Canada for higher pay. Until things in Labrador opened up, a union job operating harvester was a high paying job in this end of the country, but we now lose operators to higher pay in Labrador.” In Newfoundland, harvester operators must attain basic track and engine Class 8 certification before they begin training as harvester operator. Kruger handles harvester training, beginning with classroom and simulator training, which is evaluated

weekly. At the end of the six week training period, the candidate operators get an overall evaluation, and if they pass, they can begin working for a contractor. Northwest moves operations three to four times per year, essentially working in areas with a lot of wet ground after freeze up, better-drained ground in the spring and steeper and more challenging ground through the summer. Kruger handles permanent road building, basically burying debris with native material from ditches, and then hauling ballast to finish it off. Northwest operates a Cat 320 excavator to build temporary winter roads, following up with decommissioning the temp roads following the harvest. The forest resource Northwest operates in runs 75 to 80 per cent balsam fir and the balance basically black spruce. Craig explained that in central parts of the province there tends to be a bit higher proportion of black spruce. Northwest’s harvest blocks are typically 60 to 70 year-old fir with volume somewhere around 170 cubic metres per hectare. Because stands are even aged and in a mature state, practically speaking, all harvesting is a total removal clearcut. Reforestation is for the most part by natural regeneration. Cutovers are assessed a few years following harvest to determine if fill planting is required. Cutover stands that had a high component of spruce are a likely candidate for scarification and planting. White pine and yellow birch are considered rare forest species and are left on harvest sites to shed seed and sustain species on the landscape. Provincial regulations also require the retention of at least 10 wildlife trees greater than eight centimetres dbh per hectare. There is speculation about a wood pellet business starting on Newfoundland’s east coast involving the former Abitibi woodlands; Craig says this would be a positive omen for the entire Newfoundland forest industry, since low grade fibre demand is a central part of the forestry industry. While Newfoundland has witnessed a decline in the pulp and paper industry with both mill and paper machine closures, Craig continues to have confidence in their business future with Kruger, stating that their business relationship remains strong— and the future looks promising.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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logginghistory

Oldoniron the Internet

B.C.’s Todd Smith is on a mission to photograph and video old logging equipment—and he’s now sharing his work, and the rich history and heritage of B.C. logging, on the Internet at Youtube. By Paul MacDonald

odd Smith is a man on a mission— and anyone who loves old logging equipment can be thankful for that. Smith, who lives in B.C.’s Fraser Valley just east of Vancouver, has taken on the mission of photographing and taking videos of old logging equipment, which has been fast-disappearing in recent years due to high scrap prices overseas. For years, Smith has been ranging around the backroads and logging roads on the B.C. Coast. At first, it was for his own interest.

But with the Internet, he now posts photos and videos to his YouTube site, www. youtube.com/user/skadill He has over 1200 videos on his site, and adds a new video every week. Many of Smith’s photos are on the YouTube heavy equipment forum, under the forestry equipment section in a post called ‘BC logging equipment left to rust’ and he’s known as ‘Skadill’ online. Smith had an interest in heavy equipment at a young age. He recalls taking logging magazines to school, and reading them during band practice. “I’d get in

trouble, reading about line loaders and logging trucks. But even then, I remember thinking, ‘that’s the kind of stuff I want to work with’.” Smith recalls being into heavy equipment right from high school—rather than the usual bikini pin-ups most guys had in their lockers, “I had heavy equipment pictures in my locker. Nobody really got it.” Once he was old enough, Todd started working with his Dad, Ken, who had a logging business, and they cleared many large acreages in B.C.’s Lower Mainland through the late-1980s and early 1990s.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

logginghistory “I thought it was the greatest thing, being out on some acreage clearing it. A logging truck would come on site, and I’d be all eyes watching it getting loaded with logs.” Smith also ran skidder, hoe chucked, bid on jobs, ran a sawmill with his dad, and loaded the logging trucks. He also logged, working as a faller, sometimes taking down trees that were nine feet across. True to his interest in equipment, Smith can quickly recall what their equipment was: a John Deere 540A line skidder, and a Timberjack 404 skidder, the latter picked up used in Chehalis, Washington. “The Timberjack had one of those Esco 510 grapples on the back—we thought we had gone to heaven when we didn’t have to set chokers anymore,” he recalls. They were operating mostly around the Fraser Valley area, which still has fair bit of land in farm acreages. From there, Todd and Ken purchased some small sawmills, to try and add value to some of the hardwood logs they were

taking down in the clearing operations. They set the mills up on a paved site in Maple Ridge, about 45 kilometres west of Vancouver. They had a D&L Double Cut sawmill and a TimberPro (now Timberwolf) band saw. They were sawing hardwood, and it was a tough market; they had to compete at the time with Weyerhaeuser-owned Northwest Hardwoods. “We were just a small volume producer, we’d cut a truckload of wood a day—but in addition to the wood we were harvesting, we had to compete with Northwest for wood—it was all we could do to find wood and buy it,” recalls Smith. They did some BC Timber Sales, “but it was a tough go getting the wood.” Eventually, they got out of the mill side. The economics were just not there, says Smith. “Our overhead was just too high. We were producing 5,000 to 6,000 board feet a day, and you really need to be in the 10,000 to 20,000 board feet a day and up range, to generate good cash flow.” Added to that, the regulations for the industry and the area they operated in changed considerably. Most of the areas they were operating in then, now require permits to take down trees. And as margins diminished and the industry became more bureaucratic, Smith moved out of the logging business. Smith now runs a rental equipment business; he has about 16 pieces of equipment, from mini-excavators to full size excavators. He does a lot of the maintenance work on the equipment from a

small shop in Mission. But his passion for B.C.’s logging industry remains strong. Smith has been taking pictures of older equipment for more than 20 years. “Before the age of the Internet and YouTube, I was kind of on my own.” But on his YouTube site, he has hundreds of videos of old logging equipment. Each Friday, he posts a new video on the site, and usually gets a quick 1,000 visits from people, eager to see his latest equipment find. Smith has stepped up his efforts in recent years, as older logging equipment has been scooped up for scrap. “What really sparked things is the price of scrap has gone up a lot over the last five years,” he says. There is a lot of steel in old logging equipment, and China—in addition to being a very good customer for Canadian lumber—seems to have an insatiable appetite for scrap metal. And in some ways, to page 38

For years, Todd Smith has been ranging around the backroads and logging roads on the B.C. Coast, looking to take photos and videos of old logging equipment.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

logginghistory from page 37 the scrap is coming full circle. The melted-down scrap may be used to produce a piece of heavy equipment in China or Korea, that is shipped back to B.C. Added to that, there are fewer hidden areas with equipment. “Urban development has encroached on a lot of areas around southwestern B.C., and all the old trucks and equipment that had been sitting around on that land is being sold—there aren’t those hidden areas any more. It’s getting harder for that old equipment to sit and retire and grow in the weeds. “And once it’s gone, it’s gone.” As a British Columbian, Smith takes great pride in the history and heritage this logging equipment represents. “B.C. was where the biggest logging went on, and it had the biggest equipment. Much of it was purpose built for this region.” Though this older equipment might have required more monkey-wrenching than its modern counterparts, for logging veterans names such as Hayes and Pacific in trucks, and Cypress and Madill in yarders, and Chapman in log loaders, bring back fond memories. Madill, of course, is still in the business of supplying the industry. “It’s kind of a shame that it’s all carted off, and gone forever. I don’t mind the scrap guys—I’d just like to get to it first and preserve its image, so people now and in the future can see it.” In the last couple of years, Smith discovered a great logging equipment find up the coast. “It’s a neat mix of equipment, some off-highway trucks, some early

hydraulic log loaders and some old line machines—there are parts and pieces of all kinds of equipment. The guy who owns it has never let go of anything—he has the first skidder he bought when he was 15. “I was on Cloud Nine when I saw it—it was like stepping back 30 or 40 years in time, seeing all that equipment.” Such finds are rare, he said. “Often it’s just one piece of equipment.” Smith politely declined to say exactly where all this equipment is, referring anyone interested to check out his YouTube site to see equipment details. And there is still more out there. In the Fraser Valley, which Smith has pretty well covered at this point, there are supposed to be a handful of steam donkeys, and a logging

locomotive. He noted some old loggers in the Fraser Valley are sitting with dozens of pieces of equipment—everything from boom boats to skid mounted yarders--on their acreage. “It’s neat when the equipment has trees growing through it. It makes for kind of a postcard shot.” And there is still the occasional find that hikers will come across. “There is still equipment out there—but it’s way back in the weeds. I’ve gone through all the easy pickings. Driving around, I’m seeing the same pieces of equipment out there, and that isn’t cutting it for me.” At this point he receives—and actively solicits—leads on where old equipment might be, so he can check it out and take some new photos and video. “I’m looking for new equipment leads to find anything fresh, and add to the YouTube site.” He can be reached by e-mail at slstks@telus. net Smith would like to make it up to the former Queen Charlottes, now called Haida Gwaii. “There’s some equipment up there, I’m told. It was all big timber up there, so there would be some big gear.” What’s really interesting, Smith says, is when equipment is found exactly where it finished. “It’s one thing when they are sitting in a yard. But when a truck is exactly where it was when the last guy who turned the key walked away from it, it really adds some mystery to it. It’s like stepping back in time. Someone shut the key off 38 years ago—and it’s been there ever since.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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logginghistory from page 38 “You wonder—who was that last guy to operate that truck? Did he think he was coming back the next day? What happened?” Smith says it’s sometimes difficult to explain his fascination with older logging equipment. It seems to be something you get—or you don’t get. “Some people might look at an old yarder as a piece of junk. But it represents a piece of B.C. logging history. Guys worked with that yarder for 20 years, fed their families, provided timber for sawmills on the B.C. Coast. It fed the economy in this province. There is so much behind that one machine.” Smith notes that today’s equipment is modern, productive, and safe—but it lacks the rich history of this old equipment. That history, of course, includes the loggers themselves. Back in the day, the logger going down the main street of any forestry town with suspenders, stagged-off pants and cork boots was respected—and feared in any bar fight. “The logger of today is so different,” says Smith. “He has a laptop, maps and GPS, is well dressed, and there is a cell phone in the cab, with computers in the feller buncher printing out how many stems were cut that day. “Years ago, it was all about the man, not the equipment. Was he a good hook tender, or a good chokerman, or a good rigging slinger?” Things have changed dramatically in Vancouver, which used to be a hub for logging equipment manufacturing. Opsal Steel used to be one of the major companies producing logging equipment from a location near Vancouver’s False Creek.

False Creek itself, south of downtown Vancouver, used to be ringed with sawmills back in the day. It is now home to soul-less high rise condos. And outside of Vancouver, the McDonald Cedar mill site in Fort Langley is occupied by townhouses. Such is progress. Some have criticized the city of Vancouver for having gone from being a muscular manufacturing centre for the forest industry to a city full of latte-sipping hipsters glued to their laptops. Though he’s busy with his business these days, Smith notes that he still has his hand in logging from time to time, helping out a local log yard, and doing some land clearing. His equipment was used to do some clearing recently on a 40-acre site in Maple Ridge. “It had some nice Douglas fir,” says Todd. And though he may spend time on the weekends working on the equipment for his business, he quite happily drops that to check out a new old equipment lead— and the history that perhaps comes with it. “I think logging is still the number one industry in B.C. I don’t know whether it is in dollar terms. But that’s how British Columbia began.” And it’s a passion that still extends to sawmilling, too. “There’s just something about opening up that log, and smelling it,” says Smith. “It’s like opening up a present, seeing what is in there. With our operation, we were cutting the trees with our own hands, taking it out of the forest and milling it into a board, and perhaps a finished product that could outlast yourself. There’s great reward in that.” There still is.

More Information? Action Card #132 Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

smallsawmilling

First Nations band gets into sawmilling The Hupacasath First Nations band on Vancouver Island is now in the small sawmilling business, having purchased a portable Super Scragg sawmill from D & L Timber Technologies, and is looking at other opportunities in the forest industry, including getting involved in logging.

By Paul MacDonald

upacasath First Nations (HFN) Chief Steve Tatoosh would like nothing better than to see more members of his band working in the forest industry in and around their home town of Port Alberni, on B.C.’s Vancouver Island. The HFN is on its way to achieving that, having been awarded a forest licence as part of an agreement signed with the B.C government, as well as having its woodlot expanded, creating more opportunities for band members to work in the woods, on the logging end. The HFN has 300 band members across five reserves in the region. “The agreement will provide many new opportunities for Hupacasath in forestry, tourism and other initiatives, all of which will lead to much needed job creation,” said Tatoosh. Perhaps the most significant recent move in this direction for the band came with its investment in a new portable sawmill that will allow the HFN to mill wood from its own forestry operations, and from the forests of others in and around the Alberni Valley on Vancouver Island. Late last summer, the HFN took delivery of a new portable T.S 36DTH 8x12 Super Scragg sawmill from D & L Timber Technologies, of Lac La Hache, B.C. The funding for the mill purchase came from the band itself, as well as from two federal government programs. “The agreement with the B.C. government resulted in the forest tenures of the band being expanded significantly, so the band thought a sawmill would be a great complement to their forestry program,”

to page 44 42

The investment by the Hupacasath First Nations band in a new portable Super Scragg sawmill from D & L Timber Technologies will allow the band to mill wood from its own forestry operations, and from the forests of others in and around the Alberni Valley on Vancouver Island.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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smallsawmilling from page 42 explained Rick Hewson, Chief Executive Officer of the HFN. The band is looking at using the mill to primarily produce heavier wood products such as telephone poles, railway ties and bridge timbers, the last for forest companies operating in this region of Vancouver Island. They looked at smaller portable sawmills, but decided to go with a larger mill from D & L. “The thinking was that if we had equipment with that kind of capacity and mobility, we would be able to look at taking on a variety of larger projects,” says Hewson. One of the larger projects on the horizon for the HFN is a float home development on Great Central Lake, just west of Port Alberni. The lake now has about 40 float homes, which have no legal standing in terms of a water licence or other tenure, and have no sewer or water. Essentially, people have put floating homes on the lake wherever they want. The B.C. government, though, wants to see float homes on the lake regulated, with standards of construction, size and where they are located.

So as part of the agreement with the provincial government, the band will be doing a joint venture to develop regulated “float home parks” on the lake, where float home owners will have tenure, and which will be serviced with sewer and water. “This project opens the potential for the band to actually construct some float homes, as well as the infrastructure, the docks, the platforms on shore, using wood from the sawmill,” says Hewson. So far, the band’s D & L mill has completed some smaller projects around the area; it’s expected to hit its stride this year, as people become more aware that the HFN is now in the sawmilling business. “We’re positive it is going to be a great addition,” says Hewson. “There is a lot of interest here in Port Alberni about the mill.” The HFN has talked up the mill to the town of Port Alberni, the AlberniClayoquot Regional District, the large local player in the forest industry, Western Forest Products, as well as to other businesses. The band also has contracts with the B.C. government for repair and maintenance in some local parks, and they have

talked with them about producing the thicker picnic tables used in the parks, as well as some smaller buildings. They have also discussed producing utility poles with BC Hydro. The D & L Super Scragg is being operated as a two person operation; five

More Information? Action Card #134

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

smallsawmilling An agreement with the B.C. government resulted in the forest tenures of the Hupacasath First Nations being expanded significantly, so the band thought a sawmill would be a great complement to their forestry program, explains Rick Hewson, Chief Executive Officer of the HFN.

people from the band have been trained on the mill, four on the operations side, and one as the lead hand. The training, which was extra in addition to the purchase price, was done by D & L Timber Technologies. “We were happy with the training—it

was costly, but it was well done and necessary,” said Hewson. The mill has required some tweaking, but he added that it’s a good design. “It’s working out well.” The six week training program proved to be of benefit in a couple of ways; band members got used to operating the equipment, and they received some muchneeded community profile through a free milling program—people with logs in the local area got to see their wood milled, and the equipment in operation. “People brought their logs in, supplying us with wood for the training program and we milled them for a modest charge,” says Hewson. “It was great because the band members working on the mill were

able to get training—they were turning out everything from 2 x 4s to 10 x 10s, and custom orders in between. And local people got their logs milled at little cost.” And the band really got a sense of what the D & L can do in operations mode, and what else they might need. The Super Scragg was efficient, and they know now that it can easily go through eight to ten logs per day; and we are talking about Vancouver Island logs, so they are large. It also became clear that a Bobcat or a similar piece of mobile equipment was needed to handle the logs and wood. D & L Timber Technologies updated the Super Scragg in 2013. The mill is capable of turning out wood products from logs up to an 18” diameter and up to 13’ in length. The sawmill comes equipped with a 55 hp diesel and 40” saws. The saws can be hydraulically set from 4” to 10” To manage slabs, the mill comes with a slab conveyor and there are slab belts on each side of the saws. An automatic air to page 46

More Information? Action Card #135 Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

smallsawmilling from page 45 kicker removes cants from the outfeed. The sawmill also comes with a four strand live hydraulic infeed and outfeed. It’s expected that most of the wood the HFN is going to be milling will be coming from the band’s woodlots. But other First Nations bands in the region have woodlots, as well, and the regional district has an educational woodlot, so they represent potential opportunities, especially since the D & L sawmill is portable. It can be easily attached to any of the band’s pickups and moved. If they end up cutting bridge timbers for Western Forest Products, they would likely be using trees on Western Forest Products’ tenured land, so again the portability would be essential. Hewson said the band has good variety in their forestlands, with second growth fir, pine and some old growth red and yellow cedar. Most of the cedar, because it plays a central role in the spiritual beliefs and ceremonial life of coastal First Nations, will be used for cultural purposes by the HFN. “With the rest of the wood, we have enough to keep the mill busy,” says Hewson. But as noted, the band would like to broaden out its activities in the forest industry. They’re looking to harvest their forestlands with First Nations-staffed logging crews. Band members have been trained as certified tree fallers, and other members are being trained for operating heavy equipment. The HFN was one of the first First Nations bands qualified to bid on BC Hydro contracts and contracts for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and it has successfully completed contracts for both. The HFN recently completed a project for BC Hydro that involved tree falling and clearing. The project had a five month timeline—and they completed it in five weeks. The band has received letters of recognition for the solid work it has done, says Hewson. At some point, the band would like to move into harvesting as a contractor. “There is great opportunity to do that, and we are building ourselves in that area. In this part of Vancouver Island, there is quite a bit of work harvesting, and at this time, there aren’t any First Nations companies doing that,” says Hewson. The ideal would be if the HFN had the capabilities to do it all: it would have the infrastructure and skills to do clearing, 46

The Super Scragg sawmill from D & L Timber Technologies is capable of turning out wood products from logs up to an 18” diameter and up to 13’ in length. The sawmill comes equipped with a 55 hp diesel and 40” saws. roadbuilding, falling—and then move the timber to their own sawmill. “In a perfect world, that’s what we would like to do,” says Hewson. “And we are working towards that. But we need to do it in small steps.” One of the benefits HFN would have over non-band logging operations is that they would have a longer-term workforce. Their workforce, made up of band members, prefers to stay in their community and seek local jobs. Just an aside, through the Forest Products Association of Canada’s (FPAC) Vision2020 plan, the industry is looking to renew its workforce with the additional 60,000 workers it is going to need in the years ahead. And the large numbers of young people in First Nations communities, many of them in forestry dependent areas of the country, are prime candidates for working in the woods, and mills. The FPAC has set up a number of programs to encourage First Nations members to receive training in the industry. Hewson believes the Hupacasath First Nations can be a leader in this area, having all the elements needed to succeed in the forest industry. “I think the band has the right pieces in place to move forward—it has a very progressive and economically and entrepreneurially focused

leadership with a supportive and engaged membership. “A lot of it is going to come from being qualified and being able to bid on contracts. And the expectation with the band is that there will be no favouritism, that they will be competing and bidding against companies that have more experience. But the band also believes there are opportunities for strategic partnerships, with companies that are already out there. We have structured many of these already and will continue to partner with the companies seeking the same business model as the band.” Regardless of whether the work is in logging or with their new sawmill, the HFN understands that they have to distinguish themselves in the marketplace, with superior work or finding niche markets, for example. “Again, these businesses have to stand on their own. They have to be economically viable,” says Hewson. With the new mill now in place, and training completed on the mill side and the logging side, Hewson says the HFN community is moving towards a very strong financial foundation, and can capitalize on business opportunities. “With a community that is supportive and leadership, you can do amazing things.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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forestmanagement

Ready for the

With increasing demand for wood products, Nova Scotia’s Consolidated Forest Owners Resource Management (Conform) stands ready to meet an increase in activity in the woods, with its high level harvesting and forest management services.

upturn

By George Fullerton

ncreasing market demand for wood products is improving the prospects for Conform (Consolidated Forest Owners Resource Management), a forest management company located in the Musquodoboit Valley east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Conform was established with 15 shareholders in the late 1970s, providing woodlot management services and aggregate marketing capacity for the group. The business operates out of their headquarters in Middle Musquodoboit, serving shareholders and doing contract work in a geographic radius of 35 to 40 kilometres. Over the past eight years, Conform shareholders, along with other regional woodlot owners, had reduced their harvesting and management activities, as the lumber business slowed considerably and mills across Nova Scotia cut back on production, many closing permanently. But Conform General Manager Ed MacDonnell says the demand for wood products has increased in the last several years, and mill production has picked up markedly. As a result of the upturn, shareholders and other woodlot owners are looking for woodlot services and putting

Conform offers either a full-suite harvest and silviculture contract or it may handle only one or two aspects of a harvest or silviculture operation. For example, a woodlot owner may wish to cut their own wood, and contract Conform to forward wood to roadside. more wood on the market. MacDonnell says Conform is ready to serve the improving market, and they have the talent and the technology to meet the demand. Conform’s forest management and harvesting kit includes John Deere 1070 and 770 harvesters, an eight wheel TimberKing 458 forwarder and a four-wheel Fabtek 344LB forwarder. In addition, it has a crew of up to five chainsaw operators handling unique silviculture needs and a pre-commercial thinning crew operating from March through to the beginning of snow season, sometime around Christmas.

Conform recently underlined the sense of optimism in the industry by taking delivery of a new double tandem Western Star truck, complete with loader and triaxle pup. MacDonnell said the John Deere harvesters provide proven versatility and performance. “The 770 is a smaller thinning harvester which is targeted to commercial thinning dominated by smaller diameter stems. The 1070 is a bigger,

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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forestmanagement from page 48 more powerful machine and is directed to either thinning or final felling with larger diameter trees.” Conform’s chainsaw crew runs with at least three operators in summer, and typically increases to five operators for the winter season. “We direct the chainsaw crew to primarily harvest blocks with a lot of big hardwoods. Hardwoods are difficult for harvesters to handle because of size, weight and large spreading crowns and we find our chainsaw crew handle those sorts of operations very effectively,” said MacDonnell. During the industry slowdown, Conform had cut back their operation to match demand and rotated only three operators through the four machines, operating on a single shift basis. Since 2013, all of the machines have been operated simultaneously, on single shift, with the forwarders adding to their regular shift schedule if wood needed to be cleaned up. Commenting about the transition to mechanical harvesting, MacDonnell said: “Mechanization was a necessity. A lot of

our operations are partial cuts, carrying out some sort of silviculture where a lot of low grade, small diameter wood is produced. Practically speaking, it is very challenging for a chainsaw operator to make a living in that type of wood.” Since its establishment in the 1970s, Conform has expanded their shareholder base to around 200 landowners which represents some 40,000 acres. Harley Redden was the first Conform general manager, beginning in 1977, and is credited as being a key force in establishing the organization. When the time came for Redden to retire, Keith Elwood, who had worked as a forester for Conform, stepped into the general manager boots. At the end of Elwood’s tenure in 2013, Ed MacDonnell came to the general manager position and brought with him a strong background in forestry and years of experience as a mechanical harvesting contractor. MacDonnell graduated from Maritime Forest Ranger School in 1993, and after five years working for DNR, began managing silviculture for Ledwidge Lumber. He later did contract commercial thinning for Ledwidge with a Valmet tractor equipped with an Arbo head. Following

Hurricane Juan, he upgraded to a Daewoo excavator conversion, with a Viking head, and later upgraded again to a John Deere 2054 harvester with Waratah head. MacDonnell says that Conform’s high standards for harvesting and technical forestry services continue to attract new shareholders. New members buy a share

More Information? Action Card #138

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

forestmanagement Conform General Manager Ed MacDonnell (left) on a temporary water crossing with brush mats on the harvesting operation of a Conform member in the Musquodoboit Valley, in Nova Scotia. Conform has been expanding their shareholder base, and now has around 200 landowners representing some 40,000 acres.

in the company and agree to put a minimum of fifty acres of woodlands under management, which includes preparation of a woodlot management plan. “We are seeing a number of second generation shareholders who have inherited woodland and are continuing their family’s relationship with Conform.

It seems that a good portion of the new generation of woodlot owners have less hands-on connection with woodlot management, but they understand the values associated with the woodland and want to continue to have it well managed and productive,” said MacDonnell. The landowner has final say on what activities will be carried out on their property, he added. “When a harvest is scheduled on any property, including contract harvesting for non-shareholders, a detailed operating plan is developed and agreed to prior to any work getting started.” The plan includes detailed maps of the operating area, condition of roads preand post-harvest, condition of the timber,

stumpage prices to be paid and a stated time period in which the harvest will take place. The operating site is also flagged, to identify watercourse buffers and any special features or reserves in the operating area. Conform offers either a full-suite harvest and silviculture contract or it may handle only one or two aspects of a harvest or silviculture operation. For example, a woodlot owner may wish to cut their own wood, and contract Conform to forward wood to roadside. Conform also contracts forestry services to nonshareholders in their operating region. MacDonnell explained that their mandate is to provide good service to shareholders and to woodlot owners or other businesses they contract with. That philosophy extends to Conform’s Dresser road grader, which is primarily used to maintain the roads of shareholders. But it also contracts the machine out to other woodlot owners for road maintenance and in 2014, it was contracted out to

to page 52

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More Information? Action Card #139 Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

forestmanagement from page 51 do snow plowing for Northern Pulp operations. Silviculture is an important piece of the total forest management picture, says McDonnell. “We encourage landowners to direct wood to markets that give best value, and silviculture must be included in that equation,” he explained. “Different mills have different silviculture focuses, so we juggle the different support from different mills to do the specifically desired silviculture that the landowners want done on their land.” Destination mills include Port Hawkesbury Paper, Taylor Lumber, and Ledwidge Lumber. Conform also supplies some hardwood to an export chip plant and low grade roundwood is delivered to the Scotia Atlantic pellet mill in Musquodoboit. Conform also maintains a strong working relationship with the Association of Sustainable Forestry which funds (Category 7) Acadian Forest - partial cut silviculture that supports multi-age/multi species type management. “Marketing low grade wood is critical to our capacity to carry out good silviculture. Conform has competitive markets for low grade wood from pellet and pulp producers, in addition to a regional eight foot fuel wood market,” said MacDonnell. “The fuel wood market has been very strong, and we have been marketing around 1000 cords. But in 2014, with the increase in overall harvest activity, we may increase fuel wood production towards 2000 cords.” Conform continues to be directed by a seven member board of directors, elected by shareholders at their annual meeting. All shareholders are supplied a package in advance of the AGM reviewing the past year, financial statements and issues for discussion and decision. MacDonnell says that in addition to guidance from the board, he also relies on the knowledge and abilities of field supervisor Brett Decker, and office manager Karen Miller, both of whom are long term Conform employees. John Westalla, a forest technology graduate from Sir Sanford Fleming College, came on board this year, and takes on forestry duties including updating woodlot management plans and mapping. While MacDonnell enjoys the benefit of guidance from the management and administrative team, he says it is the people in the equipment seats and on the saws who meet the clients in the woods— and carry out the demanding, technically 52

A John Deere 770 gets some routine maintenance (above). The equipment lineup for Conform includes John Deere 1070 and 770 harvesters, an eight wheel TimberKing 458 forwarder and a four-wheel Fabtek 344LB forwarder. challenging work—that keep Conform a progressive and profitable forest management company. John Tilley is a farmer and woodlot owner living in Middle Musquodoboit, and has been a member of Conform since the 1970s and a director for the past eight years. “Conform was built on the concept that the company would be profitable, and own equipment and provide services to its shareholders,” said Tilley. “The founders were a very entrepreneurial and innovative group of individuals. They knew hard work, and had made their living from the woods and farming.” Tilley explained that the company grew slowly and cautiously over the years, but always adapted to changes in industry and technology. While they were profit driven, the shareholders were also guided by deeply held stewardship values. He said that while clearcutting might be considered a route to maximizing profits, Conform members very early on recognized it was not the way to go in every instance. “With certain stand conditions, and situations such as the aftermath of Hurricane Juan, clearcutting is clearly the right harvest choice,” said Tilley, adding

that with diverse forest stands and conditions, landowners have many choices for harvesting and silviculture. He went on to commend Conform’s talented staff and commitment to providing good forestry. “We have a great staff, whether meeting them in the office or working with them in the woods.” Looking to the future, Tilley is convinced that quality wood products will drive profitability, but also recognizes that low quality wood products make up a significant part of the product mix. As such, he recognizes the need to support a mix of wood-using industries in the region. He adds that it is a responsibility of government to develop policy in the drive toward quality, and to support silviculture investment by woodlot owners. While Conform continues to change and adapt, John MacDonnell says one thing remains consistent, and that is the AGM agenda. “The financial statements and the bottom line are critiqued thoroughly. We might see cash down, but the equipment assets will be up because we are investing in providing services. We are investing to serve our shareholders and maintain profitability.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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August/September 2014

The Edge Putting Wood First in B.C.

n 2009, a process of intense consultation with the forest sector on the future direction of B.C. forestry culminated in a number of policy decisions that continue to resonate today. Collectively, these decisions were to put “wood first” in B.C. as a means of driving innovation, building demand, and supporting a stronger, more vibrant and sustainable forest industry. The rationale for this direction was straightforward—all British Columbians benefit from a strong forestry sector. After all, forestry touches more communities than any other primary industry in B.C., employs almost 60,000 people and provides the largest share of jobs in the manufacturing sector, and directly supports more than 6,400 local businesses. In terms of total sales, the forest sector generates well over $11 billion annually, making it one of the largest contributors to the B.C. economy. Since the Wood First program was introduced by the B.C. government five years ago, the use of wood in building construction has grown rapidly, particularly in the multi-family residential market and in institutional and recreational buildings. The venues constructed for the 2010 Olympic Winter and Paralympic Games showcased the potential for wood in the non-residential sector in dramatic fashion, with facilities such as the Olympic speedskating oval and the Vancouver Convention Centre serving as central legacies of the Games. And more than 150 mid-rise construction projects are now either completed or under development across the province, up from zero five years ago. These five and six storey wood-frame projects are directly attributable to changes to the provincial building code in 2009 that allowed for taller wood-frame buildings. B.C. was the first province in Canada to make this change. Quebec has since implemented

changes to allow for taller wood-frame buildings. Revisions are underway in Ontario, and the national code is expected to follow suit in 2015. Local governments and public agencies across the province are leading by example in using more wood in new building and capital projects. Reflecting the province’s desire to advance a culture of wood use and innovation, dozens of projects featuring wood have been completed spanning all areas of government construction—education, health care, the justice system, transportation, housing, services for seniors, and recreational and community facilities. B.C. is now looking at building even taller with wood to further showcase the province’s expertise in wood design and construction and wood products manufacturing. When completed, the iconic, 29.3-metre tall Wood Innovation Design Centre, now under construction in Prince George, will be the tallest contemporary wood building in North America. Its design reflects an international movement, led by architects and engineers in B.C., to capitalize on advances in wood products and building technologies to build larger, taller structures with wood. These new approaches to building with wood must be tested to confirm that they meet building code and other requirements. Wood First continues funding research to assist building code and other technical specialists in these reviews. Supporting the market for advanced wood building is an expanding base of manufacturing capacity in B.C. for new products, like cross-laminated timber, and a broadening of the skills to design and build with wood. More than 3,000 architects, engineers, designers, builders and regulatory officials have taken training programs delivered through Wood First. On a project-specific basis, technical experts have provided technical support to

more than 133 projects, directly resulting in $130 million in incremental wood use in building projects in B.C. The result is enhanced production and design capacity that is establishing B.C. as a global leader in wood products and wood-based building systems. Developers, architects and builders from other countries now regularly contact their B.C. peers for advice, project management, and consulting support. Today B.C. is not just exporting wood products, it is exporting expertise. The wood sector today is supported more than ever by industry and the public. Nine out of 10 British Columbians say wood-product manufacturing is important to the provincial economy and job growth. Some 53 communities across B.C. have adopted their own resolutions, bylaws or policies to encourage wood use in municipally-financed construction. To build on this broad support and the gains of the first five years of Wood First, the B.C. government is investing another $2.14 million this year to further advance the use of wood in British Columbia. Funding is being provided to industry trade associations and research institutions with experience in wood products marketing, training, wood products development and research. The focus of efforts is on expanding the use of wood in nonresidential construction, strengthening manufacturing capabilities, and positioning B.C. as a global leader in wood design technologies. The funds are being distributed through Forestry Innovation Investment, B.C.’s market-development agency for wood products.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

More information is available at the Wood First website (www.woodfirstbc. ca). A five-year report on Wood First is also available from the website. 55

The Edge

FPInnovations leverages aerial LiDAR for resource road safety inspections By Matt Kurowski, MSc, EIT Researcher - Resource Roads

as increased traffic on your resource roads created unsafe conditions? Do you need help prioritizing where to make road upgrades? If you have aerial LiDAR, FPInnovations can now use it to reduce the cost of our road safety inspection (RSI) service. The new approach leverages aerial LiDAR to analyze stopping sight distance (SSD)—the distance along a road that a driver requires to stop a vehicle safely after seeing an obstacle ahead. When the line-of-sight to a potential obstacle is blocked at a location on the road, the result is an SSD hazard (SSDH). On a resource road, vegetation or surrounding terrain can create SSDHs at horizontal curves (i.e. tight turns), and the road itself can create SSDHs at the crests of vertical curves (i.e. hill summits). FPInnovations’ Resource Roads Group first started investigating ways to systematically identify SSDHs in 2007 using vehicle-mounted mobile mapping systems equipped with LiDAR. This research led to the establishment of our RSI service in 2008. To date, we have delivered RSIs at 12 locations totalling over 1000 kilometres. Our established RSI approach involves going into the field with a contractor who operates a vehicle equipped with GPS, cameras, and LiDAR scanners. Back in the office, the vehicle’s GPS measurements inform our calculations of road curve radii, while the imagery and our field observations allow us to measure road and pullout widths, georeference signs, and view bridge decks and guardrails. The mobile LiDAR, along with vehicle GPS points, become the input for an automated SSDH calculation model. A final report highlights prominent safety issues and is a decision support tool for prioritizing road upgrades. Recently, we evaluated whether aerial LiDAR datasets could consistently identify

the same SSDHs as found with mobile LiDAR. Before we could do any testing, we first needed to develop a new automated SSD calculation model, since our existing model runs inside specialized mobile LiDAR software and cannot use aerial LiDAR for this. To test the new model, we found two previously completed RSI sites that also had aerial LiDAR coverage. The density of the aerial LiDAR at one site was 12 hits/m2 and 1.2 hits/m2 at the other. At each site, we ran the new SSD calculation model on a test section and compared results to the model that uses mobile LiDAR. The new model successfully located all prominent SSDHs—even when using the lower density LiDAR dataset. The implications of this evaluation are substantial RSI cost savings if aerial LiDAR is available in your area; FPInnovations can locate SSDHs without any field work, and can complete the RSI by collecting georeferenced imagery and making field observations to inform the remainder of our analysis. We anticipate that this approach to an RSI will aggressively cut costs since it sidesteps the expenses of collecting and processing mobile LiDAR. At the same time, our established RSI service that relies on mobile LiDAR remains valuable—especially if, i) aerial LiDAR does

not exist in the region, ii) aerial LiDAR exists but is dated and would not identify current vegetation-caused SSDHs, or iii) collecting mobile LiDAR would also eliminate detailed ground surveys needed for road alignment improvements. Aerial LiDAR has many cost-effective forestry applications such as planning new roads using a derived terrain model, mapping streams and wet areas, and statistically correlating forest plots with LiDAR to produce enhanced forest inventory predictors such as volume and stem size for your entire tenure. Now, another benefit from purchasing aerial LiDAR is the opportunity to utilize FPInnovations’ new lower cost RSI approach. Although there is a capital expense to aerial LiDAR, the accumulating suite of applications and resulting benefits paints a foreseeable future where forestry companies without it will be at a significant competitive disadvantage.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

For further information about employing LiDAR in road safety inspection (RSI) service, please contact Matt Kurowski, Researcher, Resource Roads, FPInnovations, Matt.Kurowski@fpinnovations.ca, 604-222-5727.

The Edge

WOLF invests in four new equipment simulators By Tony Kryzanowski

lberta’s Woodland Operations Learning Foundation (WOLF) has more than doubled the size of its equipment simulator collection by purchasing four new Simlog equipment simulators. It can now offer students many more opportunities to experience what it feels like to operate a larger variety of logging equipment and equipment used in forest products manufacturing facilities. In addition to using the simulators within its own educational programming, WOLF welcomes inquiries from any organization interested in gaining access to the simulators for their own programs, says David Blackmore, WOLF Executive Director. The simulators are intended primarily to help students enrolled in the Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC) Career and Technology Studies (CTS) program accumulate more time as they practice operating harvesting, processing, forwarding, road construction, and equipment used in the mill and woodyards. In addition to the CTS curriculum offered through ADLC, the simulators will also be made available to other WOLF education partners, such as the Northern Lakes College, and to individual school systems that contract WOLF directly to provide educational resources and services. As part of this investment in simulation technology, WOLF is also upgrading the computer and personal computer joysticks for a simulator that travels with the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA) Work Wild program. It makes contact with thousands of students in schools across Alberta every year. The simulators allow students to experience operating a harvester processor, bulldozer, excavator, forwarder and for the first time through WOLF—a forklift. They complement two ORYX simulators already in WOLF’s collection, which allow students to experience the operation of a

feller buncher and harvester processor. “For the most part, the students are completely involved with the simulators and they can’t believe that an hour has passed,” says Bevan Davidson, WOLF simulator training instructor. The instructor sets out specific tasks that students must accomplish while in the operator’s chair. Davidson says both students and instructors find the simulator’s records management software particularly helpful

because they can acquire and evaluate performance at the end of each session and track progress. This is an important feature because a major part of the simulation experience for students is to evaluate if they have the psycho-motor skills needed to operate forestry-related equipment efficiently and safely. This is of great benefit for making career choices. The new Simlog simulators are much more portable, requiring only about 20 minutes to set up, with additional functionality, such as being able to control equipment attachment heads with greater accuracy and in more realistic ways, such as lining up the log butts on a log deck. Most of the Simlog simulators are tabletop arrangements, but one features an actual operator’s chair. Simlog is a Canadian company founded 15 years ago with its roots in providing forestry-related simulators to forestry

schools in Quebec. Today, it supplies generic equipment simulators to customers around the world. From WOLF’s perspective, having the ability to tap into simulation technology using today’s most powerful computer hardware obviously offers students the experience of operating forestry equipment at a fraction of the cost vs. sitting in the chair of an actual piece of equipment. Blackmore says one reason why WOLF opted to expand its collection with Simlog’s simulators was the affordability factor. The company’s approach is to use powerful, off-the-shelf personal computers (PCs), such as those typically purchased by gamers. “The cost effectiveness occurs in two ways,” says Paul Freedman, Simlog President and founder. “Firstly, we let people use off-the-shelf Windowsbased PCs, and secondly, we provide industrial strength, but multi-purpose simulator controls with USB connectors that can be plugged right into your offthe-shelf computer. The same joystick can be used with all kinds of simulation software.” He says the combination of using the most current, high performance PC’s and Simlog’s simulation software enhances the overall experience for students. “What we are building today has much better graphics and much better simulation physics to simulate equipment in a much more lifelike way,” says Freedman. “Because it is more lifelike, the training value goes up. The more you can make the simulated world like the real world, the more the students can learn at the simulator and when they graduate to the real world, the better prepared they are.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

For more information about WOLF, and its resource-related curriculum and services, see the website, https:// www.w-o-l-f.ca. 57

The Edge

Near-infrared chemical composition tool among initiatives supporting pulp and paper sector at AITF By Tony Kryzanowski

Photo by: Scott Lundy, AITF

t’s all about operating more efficiently and finding new market niches for Alberta’s pulp and paper producers as they face challenges resulting from competition for market share and decreased demand for paper products from the socalled digital workplace. Alberta Innovates Technology Futures (AITF) is a well-equipped, well-staffed research organization based in Edmonton that is ready, willing and able to partner with the pulp and paper industry to meet these challenges. Dr. Benji Ahvazi, AITF’s Forestry Program Lead, has a research specialization in lignin and cellulosic material. Along with other colleagues from AITF and FPInnovations, he visited Alberta’s seven pulp and paper mills last fall to identify their biggest research needs. This tour is now helping to drive AITF’s pulp and paper research agenda. AITF also does contract work for pulp and paper producers as well as lignin users situated outside the province. Ahvazi notes some promising and potentially game-changing research projects at AITF that have recently started, and will build momentum over the next few years. One challenge industry faces is the impact of mixing different feedstock in the pulping process; at present, pulp mills experience fibre loss because each feedstock typically reacts differently under specific mixing and cooking conditions. What AITF has developed under the direction of researcher Keith Lau and in co-operation with FPInnovations is an online, non-destructive, near infrared imaging tool that will allow pulp mills to immediately determine the chemical composition of their wood species mix. This will allow them to build calibration models and achieve maximum yield from their feedstock while reducing their chemical consumption. Previously, it could take weeks to determine this. “We have spent more than $500,000 to build the aspen near infrared calibration model,” say Lau. “The next step is to

AITF research scientist Keith Lau (above) has been instrumental in several projects aimed at supporting the pulp and paper industry.

transfer this model to a conventional scale near infrared instrument.” AITF is also partnering with University of Alberta researchers investigating faster growing hybridized wood fibre feedstock that can grow in this environment to compete with wood species currently grown in such places as Brazil. AITF has both the chemical and mechanical pulping research facilities as well as its near infrared technology to evaluate these species for their potential use for producing pulp and paper products more competitively. There is also the potential to blend wood fibres with agriculture fibres, which AITF can do. Furthermore, AITF is developing a bleaching tower system and expects it to be operational next year. It uses pure oxygen to remove up to 55 per cent of the lignin in pulping fibres, bleaching the fibres so that they can be used in paper, toweling, and tissue. This system is unique

in North America because few other organizations have the ability to bleach fibres this way at the demonstration scale. “Companies taking advantage of this system will be able to reduce the use of environmentally harmful chemicals, allowing them to offer greener products and demonstrate their commitment to environmental sustainability,” says Ahvazi. He says that an added benefit to the bleaching tower system is that it can be connected to AITF’s chemical and mechanical pulping pilot plants, which will allow companies to efficiently and cost effectively chop and treat fibre, wash, dry and sort it, and remove the lignin in one continuous process. Speaking of lignin, another promising area under development at AITF is the use of lignin in the production of carbon fibres, which have a variety of potential commercial uses. AITF is equipped with both chemical and mechanical pulping pilot facilities, with the mechanical pulping research lab capable of reducing, washing, and preparing both forestry and agro biomass. “Our chemical pulping batch digester is unique because it resembles what goes on in pulp and paper mills in the real world,” says Ahvazi. “We can use it to remove sugars and perform chemical pulping with and without additives to make or enhance the yield of pulp. We can also test and evaluate the conditions our mills are using, without them having to shut down their facilities.” Complementing both these facilities is a humidity-controlled laboratory capable of evaluating various aspects of both pulp and paper products against industry standards.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

For more information about AITF’s research program, facilities, and support for the pulp and paper sector, contact Dr. Benji Ahvazi at (780) 4505488 or behzad.ahvazi@albertainnovates.ca

The Edge

CWFC investigates innovation stand enhancement/regeneration systems to rehabilitate beetle-impacted stands By Tony Kryzanowski

n an effort to control the spread of the mountain pine beetle, Alberta forest companies have agreed to give priority to harvesting merchantable stands within their Forest Management Areas (FMAs) infected by the beetle, but there are a number of infected sites with unmerchantable timber being left behind. One concern is that by not harvesting and replanting these stands, and given the number of hectares of these types of forest blocks in the beetle-infected forest, industry could experience a mid-term softwood timber supply shortage due to the mortality of the lodgepole pine in these stands. With support from the Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta (FRIAA) Mountain Pine Beetle Rehabilitation Program, the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC) has partnered with forest company Canadian Forest Products Ltd., Spectrum Resources and University of Alberta researchers on an operational trial aimed at investigating the most economical ways to recover value and rehabilitate beetle-affected lodgepole pine mixed stands. These are stands with small diameter mixed wood with over 50 per cent mortality. The specific test site consists of seven forest blocks totaling 450 hectares north of Grande Prairie. The goals of the operational trial are to establish vigorous stands of lodgepole pine and lodgepole pine/white spruce softwood mix, reduce the present and future stand risk of wild fire and beetle attack, as well as develop and test management options for non-commercial beetle-infected stands. “We’re going into these stands with the goal of salvaging as much as we can,” says Tim Keddy, CWFC Wood Fibre Development Specialist. “There’s a minimum 50 per cent lodgepole pine mortality in the stands, but there are live green stems in there as well. We’re looking at harvesting whatever we can either for biomass or other potential products, and the proceeds from the sale of those products

will be returned to the operational trial to contribute to the costs of the operations needed to rehabilitate the stands.” He adds that there may be thousands of hectares of these types of sites in the beetle-infected forests and this operational trial is “to see how much it costs and if it is feasible to economically bring these sites back into production.” CWFC has assessed the stands and has designed a harvesting pattern that is flexible and can be implemented using a variety of harvesting systems. Using parallel, designated, five metre wide access trails, established at 20-metre centres, the harvester will be able to reach and harvest the targeted stems. “The idea is to use a tree length or cutto-length system to reach in and harvest the product that we need and the volume that we need, picking and choosing as we go,” says Keddy. “The designated skid trails also give us access for the site prep and planting to start to establish the next crop.” The harvested stems are forwarded to a landing where they will be processed, sorted, and then trucked to purchaser locations. These are sites that have been infected repeatedly, so sorts will include green lodgepole pine and infected pine at various stages of infection, from green fibre with pitch tubes to red stage pine

and to grey stage pine. “We want to get the beetle off the site so that everything that is green and nonmerchantable has a chance to survive,” says Keddy. The goal is also to recover as much value as possible from the sale of the wood fibre to pay for the harvesting and rehabilitation operations as part of the project’s goal of evaluating the cost effectiveness of taking this treatment approach. The productivity of each machine will be monitored, as well as the volume of wood fibre recovered, and the income derived from the sale of the wood fibre. Once established, there is also potential for additional research components studying such questions as the impact of this site treatment on fire risk vs. leaving the site as is, different silviculture treatments, and investigating strategies to decrease the potential for future MPB attacks.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

For more information about this project, contact Tim Keddy at (780) 435-7212 or tim.keddy@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca or CWFC Regional Coordinator and Program Manager Derek Sidders at (780) 435-7355 or derek.sidders @ NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca

The Edge

Lucrative extract market opens for forest industry with AI Bio support for Radient Technologies By Tony Kryzanowski

he door is now open for forest companies to potentially tap woody biomass and residuals such as leaves and bark for their high value extracts with the launch of the Radient Technologies commercial production plant in Edmonton. The company says its “transformative technology” involves novel uses of microwaves to more economically extract valuable ingredients from such natural materials as bark, leaves, wood fibre, crops, fungi, and micro-algae. There is the opportunity to extract ingredients from commonly harvested wood species, wood waste, undergrowth species generally ignored by the forest industry, or to grow new wood species specifically for their extract value. A good example of a high value extract derived from a wellknown, existing wood species is the cancer fighting drug, Taxol, which comes from the bark of the western or Pacific yew. “There are probably a number of potential value-added ingredients that are currently not exploited—particularly in many of the forest industry’s waste products,” says Denis Taschuk, Radient Technologies president and chief executive officer. “One thing for certain: if these actives have been identified but not commercially exploited, the reason is probably that it has been too expensive to do so. We provide an opportunity to potentially extract these ingredients economically.” Taschuk adds that Radient’s presence in Alberta is extremely important for helping to grow the provincial economy because it provides a commercial-scale world class infrastructure to capture extra value from various forms of biomass, including wood fibre and residuals. “One of the economic spinoffs could be collaboration with the Alberta government on specialty biomasses,” he says. “So Alberta growers who want higher 60

value crops now have a way to take the ingredients derived from these crops to market.” Radient Technologies has invested $23 million to develop its technology and build its commercial-scale production facility, which includes a $1.2 million contribution from Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions (AI Bio) through its Advanced Materials and Chemicals Program. The program focused on supporting companies that were close to having a new product or process ready for market. “One of the important criteria to qualify for the program was the potential to use Alberta-based biomass materials, whether from agriculture or forestry,” says Steve Price, AI Bio Executive Director for Advancing the Bio Economy. “Radient Technologies scored high during our review process.” Price adds that AI Bio may either extend or expand the program, given its success. Taschuk says the timing of the financial support from AI Bio was particularly appreciated. “When AI Bio stepped forward, it came in to help bridge our financing. They played a significant role because that support was big enough to tip the scales forward for a number of investors and other funding agencies,” he says. Extracts are used in a wide variety of products including foods, beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and health supplements. Initially, Radient Technologies will focus its marketing efforts in these areas. For example, one product they will extract is antioxidants from flax. Some extracts are sold for as much as $10,000 per kilogram. The company’s production facility and industrial scale extractor located at 4305 - 101 Street Northwest in Edmonton can continuously extract from up to 200 kilograms of biomass per hour and is the only one of its kind in the world.

The science of extracting ingredients from plant materials is well established. Radient’s technology is much faster and more economical than traditional extraction methods using solvents, it’s more environmentally friendly, and it’s much more versatile. Dr. Steven Splinter, Radient Technologies founder and chief technology officer, says that the microwave extraction method being used by the company is the biggest change in extraction process technology for the industry in many years. In addition to its application to extract valuable ingredients from various forms of biomass, he says that longer term, there is an opportunity to apply the company’s microwave technology within the forest industry’s processing systems. “Clearly, there are some opportunities for using our technology in this way,” he says. The microwave extraction technology used by Radient Technologies was invented by Environment Canada scientist, Dr. Jocelyn Paré. The company purchased the patents and has been working toward ramping up production to a commercial scale. That goal has now been achieved.

Radient Technologies President Denis Taschuk (left) and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Steven Splinter suggest that forestry companies consider the lucrative extract market as a potential new market for their wood fibre.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

For more information about the AI Bio Advanced Materials and Chemicals Program, contact Steve Price at (780) 427-2567 or steve.price@albertainnovates.ca. For more information about Radient Technologies, contact Denis Taschuk at (780) 465-1381 or dtaschuk@radientinc.com, or Dr. Steven Splinter at (604) 970-1685 or ssplinter@radientinc.com.

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addedvalue

Cars made out of …

wood? The BioComposites Group plant in Alberta is very close to bringing its unique product— wood fibre mat produced from refined SPF wood fibre—to industries such as auto manufacturing that are looking for greener materials, and cost savings.

By Tony Kryzanowski

As part of the design of the BCG wood fibre mat plant in Drayton Valley, the company installed a top-of-the-line dust control system as a safety measure. Wood fibre mats produced at the BCG plant in Drayton Valley can be moulded into car door panels (below) or dashboards that the auto industry says are 40 per cent lighter than current petroleum-based materials and 50 per cent cheaper to make.

fter more than a decade in development, the finish line is finally in sight for the commercialization of wood fibre mat production at the BioComposites Group (BCG) plant in Drayton Valley, Alberta, ushering in a new era of wood-based bio-product manufacturing in North America. While the plant will only consume about two tonnes of wood fibre per hour, replication of the plant’s technology throughout the world and the premium price that customers are willing to pay for its wood fibre mats represent a potential new market from waste materials produced from North America’s forest industry. The BCG plant primarily manufactures resin-infused or non-infused wood fibre mat blanks that can be transformed using heat, pressure and moulds into products like automotive interior components such as dashboards and door panels. It is undergoing a certification process with several major auto component manufacturers and anticipates receiving its first purchase orders very soon.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

addedvalue BCG is the first commercial spinoff launched from Tekle Technical Services (TTS). The privately-owned, fee-forservice R & D company, was established in 1998. TTS is headquartered in Edmonton and describes itself as an “incubator for fibre technologies.” Entrepreneur and wood scientist Tam Tekle is President and Chief Executive Officer. TTS is developing products in five areas: engineered fibre mats, structural insulated panels (SIPs), biocomposite panels, fibre-plastic composites, and fibre-cement composites. BCG is owned by Tekle and Dan Madlung, a former vice-president at forest company, Canfor. The BCG plant is the convergence of two business development dreams; it built upon research related to wood fibre mats conducted by Tekle at TTS. This is combined with Madlung’s belief in the business potential of commercialized wood fibre mat production technology that Canfor developed to produce fibre mats exclusively for automobile components, but mothballed about six years ago in New Westminster, B.C. Part of Madlung’s responsibilities with Canfor were to oversee operations at the fibre mat plant, which operated for about six years. The wood fibre mat production system being used by BCG can be described as a melding of technologies from both the wood product manufacturing and textiles industries, with the production line consisting of components from North America, Germany, France and Austria. The key component is the needler, which consists of 4000 barb needles that weave the short and long fibres together to create its strength properties. Tekle and Madlung are friends and were well-acquainted with each other from their work in the forest industry before forming their business partnership. Along with considerable provincial and federal government financial support, they purchased the idled Canfor fibre mat plant five years ago and moved it in 34 semi-trailer truckloads from New Westminster to Drayton Valley. For the past four years, they have been working to re-assemble the plant, learning from those with experience running the production line how to use the technology to its full potential. They are working toward certification from various automotive component manufacturers, with the goal of achieving commercial production. Once fully operational, the plant will employ 10 people per shift. Tekle says the availability of the Canfor

fibre mat production line “was a very important and rather lucky situation.” He says TTS was initially hired by Canfor to provide consulting services to improve the line’s efficiency and to diversify the product line. While they were making gains on efficiency and also proposed a long term product diversification program, the executive management at Canfor changed and the new management wanted to focus on its core business—lumber, says Tekle. “That was lucky for TTS.” Madlung stresses that BCG is not manufacturing a commodity product like 2 X 4’s, but a very specifically engineered, high end building block for use by automotive component manufacturers. That’s why the plant must undergo a rigorous, meticulous certification process to ensure that it can deliver the quality and quantity of fibre mats needed by its customers. “We are on our second and third set of tests and they have run our materials in their plants,” says Madlung. “We’ve agreed on pricing and volumes with some companies and we are now on the final set of tests.” He adds that BCG could easily sell out the plant’s production because it is the only North American-based supplier of wood fibre mats to the auto industry. “One of our challenges is how big to

grow with which companies, because our capacity is two tonnes per hour and their demand is much higher than that,” he says. The wood fibre mats manufactured by BCG have potential applications in many industries. “Besides car interior applications, a lot of other molded products can be made with the mat,” says Tekle. “Essentially, all products made with fibreglass can be replaced, and TTS is continuing to develop such applications. In short, it is a platform for more than 100 different products in a range of industries.” For example, BCG has already expanded its product offering to include both re-usable absorbent mats for use by the oil industry to remediate spills and as erosion control products, with grass seed imbedded within it. While it can integrate other fibres into its production stream, about 95 per cent of BCG’s natural fibres are wood-based. The refined SPF wood fibre that BCG is currently using to make wood fibre mats was supplied by West Fraser Timber from its Ranger Board medium density fibreboard (MDF) plant in Blue Ridge, Alberta. There are several companies in Europe producing wood-based automotive interior components for vehicles such as Audi’s, BMW’s and the Lexus brand—but the BCG plant is the only facility using its specific proprietary method to produce the building blocks for wood fibre components

to page 64

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

addedvalue Dan Madlung (left) co-owner of BCG and a former Canfor vice-president, has invested considerable time developing the wood fibre mat plant in Drayton Valley, including securing supplies of the raw material. This wood fibre was supplied by West Fraser Timber from its Ranger Board facility.

from page 63 for automobiles in North America. Many of the world’s largest automotive component manufacturers, including Canadian-based Magna Interiors and Exteriors, have taken notice. BCG has a sales agency agreement with a company called Techstyles Inc. in Bingham Farms, Michigan to market its products to the auto component manufacturing industry. The reason why auto component manufacturers are excited about what BCG can produce is that their own research has shown that wood-fibre based interior components versus components from petroleum-based E-glass fibres are 40 per cent lighter and 50 per cent cheaper, as well as being biodegradable. Because of the need for greater fuel efficiency—being mandated for the auto industry by governments—component suppliers are also under considerable pressure to deliver lighter and greener components with equal or better performance characteristics. “Wood fibre components have also been used primarily for their sound absorption properties because they absorb much more sound than the plastic materials that most companies currently use,” says Madlung.”But now the attraction for them is more for the weight.” As the anchor tenant in Drayton Valley’s Bio-Mile industrial development, BCG’s goal now is to sell out the plant’s production and attract downstream businesses to the industrial park that can use its fibre mat blanks in a variety of applications, from 64

automobile components to truck canopies to hot tub manufacturers. The product possesses a number of attractive features. The cost competitiveness of the wood fibre mat as a substitute for petroleum-based materials, its comparable or superior performance in a variety of applications, and environmental friendliness have captured the attention of many industries looking for a comparable, greener alterative to what they are using now. The wood fibre arrives pre-processed at the plant with a target length of between 5/8” to 3/4” and moisture content of about eight per cent, either infused or non-infused with resin. Material from three separate lines creates the finished fibre mat product. The first line, which is the wood fibre line, is where the fibre is shredded and put into storage. During production, it is placed into an 8’ wide mat on the forming line of varying density and thickness, as required. A second line of organic or inorganic fibre, depending on the engineered specifications for the final fibre mat, is then created with the intention of placing one layer above the other prior to being mixed together. A third line is called a recycle line where material that doesn’t meet the specifications of either the first or second line is ground up and placed between the layers from lines one and two. The fibres are then mixed and they encounter a device called a needle puncher, consisting of 4000 barbed needles working at a specific speed and depth to weave the material together. “The material that comes out will look like felt material of a specific thickness and density, and then we just cut and package that material and ship it,” says Madlung. The wood sheet former at the front end of the production line was provided by COE Manufacturing Company, with the wood fibre breaker provided by Columbia Engineering Ltd. The wood fibre sargent picker was supplied by C.G. Sargent’s Corp, and the wood fibre bin was supplied by Lowell E. Pauli and Associates.

Data Measurement Corp supplied a wood sheet radiation scanning gauge and a mat radiation scanning gauge. Heading more toward the textile side of the production line, an Austrian company called DOA provided a number of components, including the textile fibre bale opener, fibre saw tooth opener, textile fibre sheet former, the main former for blending of wood and textile fibre, needler, mat cutting table and trim return sheet former. The mat cross cutting guillotine was provided by German company Autefa, and the mat trim openers and waste mat opener were provided by French company, Laroche. At the back end, Murray-Latta Machine Co. provided the mat stacking machine, and ACME supplied the mat unitizer. The equipment line is about 15 years old and when relocated to Drayton Valley, many of the components required reconditioning. Madlung says it was the ready availability of SPF fibre that encouraged BCG’s owners to relocate the plant to Drayton Valley, which has a long association with the forest industry. Weyerhaeuser operates a large sawmill in the community. He estimates that a greenfield wood fibre mat plant based on BCG’s technology would probably require an investment of between $15 million and $20 million. In 2009, the Alberta government— through its Community Development Trust funds administered by Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions through the former Alberta Forestry Research Institute, as well as Alberta Advanced Education and Technology—provided $4.5 million to help support research and development at TTS, with the goal of setting up the commercial facility in Drayton Valley. The funds were spent on site preparation, construction of a 32,000 square foot building, and refurbishment of equipment. In 2013, the Canadian government, through its Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program, contributed another $4.5 million toward commercializing the technology and establishing the BCG wood fibre mat plant. BCG is not pursuing patents at this time because once its technology and process is patented it becomes public knowledge. At this time, it has preferred to take the proprietary knowledge agreement approach with all its employees, consultants, and customers as a form of protection.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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TECHUPDATE

Grinders Bandit Industries

Bandit offers four towable, four self-propelled, and four electrically powered Beast recyclers/ horizontal grinders. These extremely versatile machines can process everything from stumps and slash to construction waste, shingles, tires, plastic pallets and more, says the company. Beast recyclers/ horizontal grinders range in size from 16-inch to 45-inch capacity with engines over 1,000 horsepower. All Beast recyclers/horizontal grinders can be outfitted as electric units, further enhancing the capability and efficiency of the machines. The Model 3680XP Beast Recycler is the company’s most popular waste reduction unit. The 3680XP is successful in a multitude of applications, producing salable products, and exceeds other grinders in its class with noted production numbers of over 500 yards (or more) per hour, according to Bandit. Biomass and bioenergy industries have found a perfect fit for this unit due to its ability to transform woody materials into specifically sized end-products for pellet plants, paper plants, wood-fired boilers, and re-engineered wood products such as pressed board, says Bandit. Operations point to the Beast Recycler Model 3680XP as a solution for creating recycled products out of piled brush, whole trees, stumps, pallets, land clearing waste, palm fronds, logging slash, sawmill waste, construction waste, housing demolition, railroad ties, shingles, and asphalt. It features a 35” diameter capacity with its 35” x 60” mill opening with engine options ranging from 400 to 800 horsepower. www.banditchippers.com

Continental Biomass Industries

CBI created their Magnum Force 5800 Grinder by applying the same principles to a machine designed for contractors dealing with lower production needs or transportation restrictions. The 5800 is a mid-sized upswing grinder built without compromising strength or performance. One of the primary design goals of the 5800 was to decrease the headaches caused by load restrictions and permitting. The offset helix rotor, anvil, and screen designs and dimensions remain

similar to the 6800, while the rotor width has been decreased to less than 8’6”. The end result is a high volume grinder weighing 64,850 lbs with the capability of producing up to 100 tons per hour. The Magnum Force 5800 grinder is engineered for land clearing and logging companies as well as yard waste and demolition wood processors, and mulch yards who demand high-volume throughput and maximum reliability. The 5800 features: a high lift upper roll for ease of maintenance; high torque, hydrostatic feed system; PT Tech hydraulic PTO; and a Caterpillar engine. The high strength drum rotor and screen system are shear pin protected. The entire system is controlled by CBI’s IntelliGrind logic incorporating a variable infeed speed that automatically adjusts to engine load and an optional modem communications system that provides real-time system diagnostics. www.CBI-INC.com

Diamond Z

Diamond Z provides recycling firms world-wide with horizontal track grinders, featuring a tri-axle transporter option to meet the increased mobility requirements of today’s waste contracting firms. The DZH4000TKT is capable of processing in excess of 500 cubic yards of construction/green waste per hour. This mid-size waste grinder with tri-axle transporter has a total transport weight of 98,000 lbs, with a fuel efficient Caterpillar C18 ACERT diesel available in all Tier II thru Tier IV Interim and Final versions. The key benefit of utilizing a Fluid Coupler transmission drive unit is that it produces a long-term service factor compared to competitive clutch options.

The DZ4000TK features a feed opening (54”x 52”) and mill swing diameter (42”) that allow for oversized grinding requirements. The dual screen area is 3,800 square inches total, with screen change-out timeframes of twenty minutes or less. www.diamondz.com

Doppstadt

Doppstadt’s DW-Series Slow Speed Shredders shred various materials such as biowaste, construction and demolition waste, waste wood, tree stumps, municipal solid waste, commercial and industry waste, and aggregates. The company uses a single-shaft roller and a nitrogen accumulator, which allows the comb to break away and reposition during operation, preventing uncrushables from damaging the machine and teeth. The DW shredders feature a hydraulic cooling system and fluid coupling power transfer. Options include Bio-Power, a

to page 68 66

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

More Information? Action Card #145

techupdate from page 66 tougher drive unit, higher throughput capacity, and an aggressive shredding roller offering 42 teeth (twice the standard 21 teeth). Other available options include a powerful Neodym Magnet for iron separation and a remote control for all main functions making it easy for one-man operation. These machines are powered by fuel efficient Mercedes-Benz diesel engines that provide up to 610 hp. Fuel consumption is as low as 11 gph depending on the machine and material being fed. www.doppstadtwestusa.com

Duratech

Duratech’s 9564 Horizontal Grinder is equipped with a 48” wide oscillating stacking conveyor that swings 40 degrees from side to side and allows the operator to load material into a truck or onto an existing pile. An optional aluminum chute removes ferrous material from the finished product. The 9564 is powered by a 1050 hp Caterpillar electronic diesel engine, housed in an enclosed engine compartment to protect the engine and reduce noise. The 9564 horizontal grinder comes equipped with a 64”, 12,100-pound hammer mill with 24 hammers, which is fed by a self-governing floor apron and feed roller though a 60”x 40” feed opening. The high capacity 315 cu. ft. hopper will handle the largest trees and stumps. A rotary self-cleaning screen provides constant air to the engine and radiator while reducing maintenance and providing easy access to the radiator for service. Four hydraulic stabilizer

legs provide a steady platform while grinding. The 9564 horizontal grinder also comes with a PT Tech HPTO-15 self adjusting wet clutch which is controlled by a microprocessor with a built-in torque limiter and brake that provide protection for the engine and drive line. The wet clutch is connected to the hammer mill by a 10-groove belt drive. In addition to the 9564 horizontal grinder, Duratech also offers a complete line of tub grinders. www.duratechindustries.net

Morbark

The Morbark 6600 Wood Hog is an aggressive, productive grinder said to be ideal for processing clearing debris, yard waste, storm debris and other mixed woody feedstocks into saleable products. With engine options up to 1,125 hp, the 6600 has a 66” infeed opening for processing bulky material with ease. Like all Morbark Wood Hogs, the 6600 comes standard with the Morbark Integrated Control System to maximize production and engine efficiency, a lasercut, factory-balanced rotor for durability and an aggressive feed wheel with an internal Poclain drive that has no chains or sprockets for more torque and reduced maintenance. The proven breakaway torque limiter driveline protection system protects against catastrophic damage from contaminants. With the optional Morbark Quick Switch Grinder-to-Chipper Conversion Kit, contractors can use the Morbark Wood Hog to produce highquality biomass fuel chips or sawdust. The popular track option with 330L or 330EL Caterpillar undercarriage provides the flexibility to easily bring the machine to the material. www.morbark.com

Peterson

Peterson’s largest horizontal grinder, the 6710D, is designed for operations that require a durable, high-output machine. It’s powered by an1125 hp Tier II Caterpillar C32 engine (or an optional Tier IVi Caterpillar C32 engine). With a feed opening of 50” x 66”, the 6710D can process large stumps that were formerly reserved for tub grinders. It is said to be particularly suited for land clearing operations or other

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

to page 70

Purpose-built

from the ground up Log Loaders from SENNEBOGEN – 44,000 lbs. to 750,000 lbs. Simple design… Lift more. Move faster. Save fuel. Run longer. www.sennebogen-na.com Tel: +1-704-347-4910 More Information? Action Card #147

techupdate Rawlings Wood Hogs

from page 68 applications where mobility is desired. With the R+ package, the 6710D can be configured as a mid-speed grinder to handle heavily contaminated piles or a high speed grinder for typical land clearing operations. A three-stage grinding process with an upturning rotor and large grate area enables the 6710D to produce materials to exact specifications. The quick-change multiple grate system makes it easy to customize grate configurations to produce a wide variety of finished materials. The 6710D features Peterson’s Adaptive Control System, which monitors the grinding load and varies the speed of the feed system, accelerating when the engine load is light, slowing when the load is high, and reversing if the engine speed drops. It even monitors the engine temperature and varies the cooling fan speed to minimize power usage fuel consumption. Unique to Peterson Grinders is the innovative latching Impact release system, which minimizes damage from contaminants. The anvil and first grate open on a severe impact, allowing the contaminant to be ejected, and then re-latch to permit continuous grinding. www.petersoncorp.com

Rawlings Wood Hogs are designed to run 24/7 365 days a year. The patented Super Hi-Inertia Solid Rotor is equipped with the highest mass moment of inertia in the industry, says the company. Rawlings hogs operate at lower RPMs and still provide the crushing and shearing power needed to handle really tough jobs like green waste, cypress, redwood, cedar, poplar, and a wide range of other stringy and fibrous materials while cutting processing time dramatically. The Rawlings Super Hi-Inertia Rotor was designed to maximize inertia while minimizing its weight, and the Rocwear striker system has less downtime and easier maintenance. The grinder is protected by an Anvil Release System that allows metal and other damaging objects to drop through to the outfeed conveyor. When the pins are sheared, a protection circuit shuts down the hog and conveyor. These wood waste recovery systems are available in stationary, portable, and skid-mounted systems; both vertical and horizontal models are available. Rawlings’ wood hogs come in all shapes and sizes, from simple stand-alone vertical hogs for sawmills, pulp, paper, power, and pellet plants to complete custom horizontal hog systems that can process material of any length such as logs, forest debris, and urban waste. www.wastewoodhogs.com

Rayco

FORESTRY GRINDER TEETH FOR ALL POPULAR HORIZONTAL GRINDER MODELS.

Available for Duratech®, DiamondZ®, Rayco®, CBI®, Morbark®, Peterson®, Precision Husky®, Rotochopper® and Vermeer®

The RH1754 Track Horizontal Grinder is now available in a self-propelled version that rides on a heavy-duty, steel track undercarriage. This adds another element of versatility to the 240 hp RH1754, making it easier to move the machine around job sites and perform tasks like windrowing material or sorting material into different piles. With low operating costs and versatility to process a wide range of materials, the RH1754 is an economical solution for reducing green waste, pallets, and lumber scraps while making high quality mulch. A variety of tooth and screen options allow operators to tailor the end product. Despite its compact size, the RH1754 has a wide infeed

For more information about this or other QUADCO products, please visit us at www.quadco.com or call 800.668.3340.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

to page 72

The Mycostat difference

MYCOSTAT TREATED

d l o m

iron s tain e d a r g n w o d

Ask about Mycostat, our innovative mold growth prevention spray.

PREVENT MOLD AND IRON STAIN WITH MYCOSTAT ANTI SAP STAIN CONTROL PROGRAM. Another innovation from the labs of Diacon.

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For more information go to our site

www.diacon.com or call

888.290.2299

techupdate from page 70 opening that accepts pallets and bulky material. Easily removable debris screens and reversing fans keep the radiator clear and extend service intervals. A magnetic head pulley on the discharge conveyor sorts out nails and light metals, and the screens can be changed in minutes to minimize set-up time. The towable version is light enough to be easily transported from one job to the next. On tracks, it weighs just 20,500 lbs and is just under eight feet wide, to avoid the need for trailering permits. A wireless radio remote operates each track independently to provide precise control, and two- speed final drives allow for creep speed or high speed travel. www.raycomfg.com

Rotochopper

Rotochopper, Inc. manufactures an extensive lineup of wood grinding equipment. Rotochopper grinding equipment ranges from 127 to 950 hp. The grinders have superior particle size control and are popular in engineered fibre markets like coloured landscape mulch, animal bedding, and fuel pellets. For mobile grinding applications, Rotochopper offers four diesel powered grinders. For companies that do not require mobility, Rotochopper’s electric-powered grinders offer the same “Perfect In One Pass” technology, with enhanced efficiency and less maintenance downtime. Rotochopper offers a variety of portable horizontal grinders from the 41’, 700-950 hp B-66 that produces high volumes of

engineered fibre commodities by matching rugged reliability to precision grinding technology to the 35’, 275-350 hp MP-2 with its infeed design and patented colourizer system, that can convert a wide range of raw materials—wood chips, pallets, sorted construction and demolition materials, slab wood—into premium colored landscape mulch. Rotochopper also manufactures specialized grinding systems, such as the CP-118 Wood Chip Processor. The CP-118 is designed exclusively to regrind and color wood chips to produce premium landscape mulch in a single pass. Rotochopper prides itself on customer support. Throughout North America, Rotochopper equipment is sold and supported by factory-direct representatives, rather than dealerships. www.rotochopper.com

Vermeer

Suitable for everything from large land-clearing jobs to green-waste recycling, the Vermeer Tier 4i (Stage IIIB) HG4000, HG6000, and HG6000TX horizontal grinders have a number of features that make them suitable for a wide array of operations, and include the all-new chip drum, which allows the grinder to produce a consistent sized chip necessary for many applications, such as biofuel chip production. The chip drum is a more robust, fully dedicated drum with knives, so there’s no switching back and forth as you would with a fuel chip attachment. One of the premier enhancements is the ability to modify chip size. Operators can add or remove spacers to achieve the desired chip size. The chip drum can produce chip sizes ranging from 0.125 to 1.50 inches with 0.125-inch increment adjustments. Another advantage of the new chipper drum is serviceability. A number of the high wear areas of the drum are protected by hardened steel parts providing longer life. These hardened steel parts are also replaceable via threaded fasteners to reduce labor costs and minimize downtime. Helping to minimize operator cost, screws have replaced the need for Babbitt on the knives. A user can now simply adjust the knife via thread fasteners quickly and safely rather than melting Babbitt. www.vermeer.com

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

Mycostat helps deliver 5 billion board feet of mold free lumber each year.

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SUPPLIERNEWSLINE

By Tony Kryzanowski

New distribution/support centre for PrimeTech’s Canadian customers

Peterson Pacific delivers 2,000th machine Peterson Pacific Corp., has delivered their 2,000th machine to come off the production line to Tabeel Trading, based in Australia. The milestone machine is a Peterson 5000H, a Delimber/ Debarker/Chipper, which produces high quality low bark content chips for wood pulp and pellets, processing whole trees in one continuous operation. “Reaching this milestone delivery is a testament to the capabilities of the 5000H, and our commitment to continuous innovation,” said Larry Cumming, President of Peterson. “The new 5000H is delivering on its promise to our customers, and we continue to look at ways to make it even more efficient in the future.” The 5000H is designed to make engineered wood chips in the field. It delimbs, debarks, and creates the consistent sized wood chips used in the pulp and paper industry. The first 5000 whole tree chipper was delivered into Canada in the early 1980s from a concept drawn on a napkin, and the end product revolutionized in-field chipping. Peterson 5000H whole tree chippers are extensively used in Thunder Bay and Eastern Canada to feed the region’s healthy demand for clean pulp and paper wood chips. Peterson hosted a special delivery ceremony on site for their employees, and the machine was adorned with a special logo commemorating the 2,000th machine and the U.S. and Australian flags. “We are excited that our 2,000th machine is a 5000H—this is one of our flagship models, and we trust that it will be a valued addition to Tabeel Trading’s operations,” said Michael Spreadbury, marketing manager for Peterson. “Tabeel Trading is a valued partner and their feedback from the field helps us develop new forest processing equipment. The exceptional performance of machines such as the 5000H prove that in-field chipping is the most economical way to produce clean chips for the pulp and paper industry,” added Spreadbury. www.petersoncorp.com

PrimeTech Shredding Equipment recently unveiled its new Canadian headquarters in Spruce Grove, Alberta, near Edmonton, said to be a strategically ideal location for the company in Western Canada. Prime Tech, part of the Italy-based FAE Group, is a global leader in the production of self-propelled, tracked carriers for forestry, agriculture and roadwork. The company operates internationally with four models: the 160 hp PT-175; 275 hp PT-300; 415 hp PT-400; and the 600 hp PT-600, with Canada being one of its key markets. Since 2006, the year it founded its Canadian branch office, PrimeTech has worked to ensure a solid commercial presence in Canada. Among all FAE Group branch offices worldwide, PrimeTech Shredding Ltd. became the foremost branch, both for turnover and service for PrimeTech carriers. Customers and dealers from all over Canada, including some flying in from Ontario, took part in the opening ceremony for the new headquarters. The ribbon was cut by Diego Scanzoni, President of FAE Group, along with Spruce Grove Alderman Wayne Rothe, Alderman Bill Kesanko and the CEO of PrimeTech Shredding, Andreas Lambacher. Involving an investment of more than $2 million, the new PrimeTech Canadian headquarters in Spruce Grove, on the outskirts of Edmonton, covers a total area of 7,000 square feet, 2,000 square feet of which are offices and 5,000 square feet dedicated to shop and warehouse space. The expansion will allow PrimeTech to meet the demands of its growing Canadian customer base with pro-active efficiency, through an enhanced and more thorough service for spare part distribution and sale of new and used vehicles, says the company. “PrimeTech Shredding will continue to provide technical support and training services to both historic and new dealers,” says CEO Lambacher. “We intend to be present throughout Canada through a stable and widespread sales and support network. “To our Canadian customers this investment is an important sign. It proves that we are committed to this market and we are here for the long run.” During his speech, Diego Scanzoni emphasized that investment in a new facility in Canada is part of the strategy that FAE Group has been pursuing on an international level. “We aim to strengthen the company’s visibility and presence in the world, and want to do so by setting up new sales offices within strategic markets.” www.prime-tech.com

June/July Tech Update Correction:

In the Rottne listing in the Tech Update feature of the June/ July issue of Logging and Sawmilling Journal, the first sentence should have read: “The SP 761 LF is a new, compact and heavy duty harvester head designed to handle a variety of different demanding applications.” The SP head is a product that Rottne works with, represents and supports, and it is manufactured by SP Maskiner. Logging and Sawmill regrets the error.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

suppliernewsline

New lightweight Stihl chainsaw delivers smooth, steady cut

Stihl's new MS 661 C-M chainsaw has a low power-to-weight ratio and is the lightest chainsaw in its engine displacement class, says the company. It weighs in at 16.3 lbs, has a displacement of 91.1 cc's, and a power output of 5.4 kWs. Contributing to its lighter weight is the stainless steel muffler and ROLLOMATIC ES guide bar. The engine uses a cylinder with four-channel technology that delivers high torque over a wide rpm range. This results in up to a 20 per cent fuel savings and about 50 per cent fewer emissions. The chainsaw includes an innovative anti-vibration system for an even more steady and precise cut. It significantly reduces the vibrations felt by the user. A microchip controls the engine's ignition timing and fuel supply, taking into account variables such as temperature, fuel quality and elevation. Users no longer need to manually adjust the carburetor. Finally, the new HD2 filter with radial seal is made of PET material that prevents fine dust from entering the chainsaw. www.stihl.ca

Industrial furnace grates and liners from Amsco Cast Products

Amsco Cast Products produces high alloy-furnace grating for GTS, KMW and similar types of biomass furnaces that supply “green energy” to industry. The floor grating with heat-resistant castings play a very important role in keeping these energy sources reliable and dependable, therefore, it’s essential that these castings are made of premium alloys. Amsco is a major producer of industrial furnace and kiln components engineered for a wide range of high temperature applications. The company says its many years of experience have shown it how to make use of the best alloys to produce the higher heat-resistant castings for the most reasonable pricing. It adds that its engineering department is very capable and can also redesign heat-resistant castings for older and obsolete boilers. www.amscocast.com

Signode introduces handheld coding system

Signode's new Handjet250 is a lightweight, handheld inkjet coding system that the company says offers significant advantages over traditional coding with stencils, hand stamps and roll coders. The portable system, capable of printing variable information, provides precise message application and high resolution quality on almost any material, including lumber, plastics, metals and cloth.

The handheld unit works for 50 hours per charge and can fully recharge in 2.5 hours. It has variable messaging capabilities, and is capable of storing up to 10 messages or up to 15,000 total characters. Messages can include company logos. It can deliver up to 100,000 characters per ink charge. Synchronized ink release results in uniform character placement and appearance regardless of uneven application speed or interrupted hand motion. This Signode handheld printer uses a wireless radio frequency to receive and store messages created on a standard PC within a 150' range. www.signode.ca

Tigercat breaks ground for new manufacturing facility

Logging equipment manufacturer Tigercat has officially broken ground for a new $12 million, 127,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Paris, Ontario, about 100 kilometres southwest of Toronto. Several hundred employees, community officials, Tigercat partners and supporters attended an official ground breaking ceremony recently to mark the start of construction and celebrate the company’s continued growth. Tigercat also announced the purchase of an existing 66,000 square-foot plant in Kitchener, Ontario, 40 kilometres north of Paris.

“This is a significant milestone for our company,” says company president Tony Iarocci, who was Tigercat’s first employee when the company started in 1992. Tigercat is one of the few remaining heavy equipment manufacturers in a region that once was at the heart of the industry. The company currently has seven southern Ontario locations, a large parts distribution and training centre in Georgia, a sales and distribution facility in Sweden and a dealer network that spans the globe, covering the forestry regions of North America, South America, Australasia, southern Africa, Europe and Russia. The new building will be located on the same property as the current Paris facility, on a previously vacant lot at the northwest corner. The new plant will initially focus on swing machines and cut-to-length attachments including the 200 series material handlers and the 800 series track feller bunchers, harvesters and shovel loggers. Iarocci says that the new plants are just part of the positive story of the scope and capacity of the ever-growing Tigercat. “These two projects will increase the company’s manufacturing footprint by 20 per cent. The space is urgently needed for existing demand and future growth. We already have over 1200 employees and 200 or 300 more sub-contractors,” he says. www.tigercat.com

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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suppliernewsline from page 75

Metriguard’s new rail shear tester evaluates edgewise shear in panel products

The Model 840 rail shear tester is the newest test equipment from Metriguard, especially suited for testing I-joist web stock. The Model 840 provides a simple, efficient way to test edgewise shear strength in panels to simulate shear stress in wood I-joist web members. Testing panel specimens with Metriguard’s rail shear tester is quick, easy and safe, eliminating the need for tedious and time consuming drilling and bolting of test rail fixtures as detailed in ASTM D1037. Ongoing shear tests can be done for web stock evaluation for ASTM D5055 Standard Specification for Establishing and Monitoring Structural Capacities of Prefabricated Wood I-Joists. Operation of the system through a touch screen monitor, keyboard or mouse is simple. A single test specimen is dropped into the Model 840 jaw assembly. The operator-initiated test sequence engages protective guards, clamps the specimen top and bottom to a pre-set force and applies shear force until failure occurs. The load at which a specimen shears is recorded into an SQL database accessible by multiple analytic software tools. After a test is complete, the specimen drops out of the jaw assembly, the loading door lock is disengaged so that the access door can be opened, and the system is ready for the next test. www.metriguard.com

Premier Bandwheel & Equipment offers bandwheel expertise

The initial focus of Premier Bandwheel & Equipment Ltd., which was involved in the mill upgrade project at Gilbert Smith Forest Products (see story on page 12 of this issue) was to make the best bandwheels it could for customers, always keeping safety and cost effectiveness in mind. Premier Bandwheel & Equipment primarily makes bandwheels for all makes and models of band mills, some of which are running up to 13,500 SFPM. New bearing housings and arbors for band mills, edgers, chip-n-saws and miscellaneous equipment, carriage rails, cable drums, carriage wheels, axles and related parts are available from the company. Premier Bandwheel & Equipment has done complete band mill rebuilding to bring older machines up to and even surpassing original manufacturers’ specs. Working with the original manufacturer, when possible, for proprietary parts and technical assistance has been a real asset for the company, it says. Harry Penn of USNR has been a consistent source of technical advice when working on USNR product lines. Premier reconditions customers’ existing bandwheels and has a good supply of previously used bandwheels, all of which are magnetically particle inspected to ensure there are no cracks or potential problem areas. They are then sand blasted, re-machined, re-crowned, dynamically balanced and repainted safety orange. www.premierbandwheel.com 76

Polyester strapping maintains package integrity

Deformation of stacked green lumber during kiln drying costs sawmills significant amounts of money in degraded material and labor. Continuous dry kilns also present their own unique fire and safety hazards. Polyester strapping from Samuel Strapping is said to be a practical and cost-effective solution. It is safe and maintains package integrity even when the load is being moved around the yard. This eliminates fallen pieces and the resulting safety issues and labor costs. It also helps prevent fires at the continuous kiln by ensuring each load maintains integrity throughout the drying process, says the company. Samuel Strapping says the other benefits include: reduced downgrading due to twisted, crooked, and warped pieces, which can provide up to a four per cent increase in kiln yield; a secured package right after stacking; it helps maintain stickers in place; reduces labor costs and increases workplace safety, and it increases fire safety by preventing boards from falling into the kiln. www.samuelstrapping.com

New cap stapler system for lumber wrap

Utility Composites, Inc. has introduced a new and improved cap stapling system for fastening plastic caps and RAPTOR composite staples in one easy step. The new RAPTOR RC-SH/04 cap stapler accepts 11 mm composite RAPTOR staples. This system replaces the previous cap stapling system, which only accepted 3/8” staples. The company’s research team found that the SH/0440 staple provided better holding and more reliable drivability than the SH/05-37 staple when using strain relief caps. With the RAPTOR RC-SH/04 cap stapling system, Utility Composites says timber and lumber companies no longer need to be concerned with rips, tears or staple pull-through in their wrap, or corrosion, rust or staining and degradation by metal staples. RAPTOR metal-free staples will not set off metal detectors or damage saw blades and sanding belts. The RC-SH/04 cap stapler can also be used with metal staples. www.raptornails.com

New Cat D9T dozer delivers enhanced productivity

The Cat D9T dozer has new features that enhance performance, productivity, operator convenience and safety, and serviceability. The new dozer features a Cat C18 ACERT engine, which meets Tier 4 Final/Stage IV emissions standards, and delivers 436 net horsepower at 1800 rpm. A high torque rise of 36 per cent enables the dozer to power through tough material.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

suppliernewsline A new high-efficiency cooling package, advanced electronic controls for the power train and implement hydraulics, a quieter cab with enhanced information monitoring, and safety and serviceability refinements define the new D9T. A new aluminum bar-plate radiator combines enhanced cooling efficiency with added durability and increased resistance to corrosion. In addition, a new air-to-air aftercooler cools combustion intake air to increase combustion efficiency and fuel economy, and a new air-to-oil hydraulic cooler precisely modulates temperatures for optimum performance and component longevity. The new Advanced Productivity Electronic Control System (APECS) is designed to improve transmission shifting performance, providing a higher level of comfort for the operator and increasing productivity. A new multi-color, touch-screen Information Display allows the operator to monitor machine performance and adjust machine parameters to tailor performance to the task. www.cat.com

and techno-economic expertise to help clients from the project design and feasibility stage, to development, integration, testing and demonstration in the field. www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/solutions/collaborative/ bioenergy_index

Link-Belt excavators now equipped with RemoteCARE telematics system

All Link-Belt excavators sold after April 2014 will be equipped with RemoteCARE, an equipment-based, user friendly management tool that combines telematics with GPS technology. RemoteCARE provides timely and reliable machine utilization and operational information, as well as 24-hour surveillance and geo-fencing capabilities. The system enables remote monitoring and tracking of machine location, operational performance, working status and periodic maintenance requirements. Operational data can be downloaded on a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly schedule to help users better manage their job requirements and asset investments. Link-Belt’s RemoteCARE tracks and records both routine and major service intervals for machines and transmits that data to the dealer, insuring that all parts and consumables needed for any particular machine service procedure are quickly and efficiently accounted for prior to the machine’s arrival in the shop. In addition to service reminders, RemoteCARE provides alerts to potential failure conditions as they arise. When a diagnostic

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NRC program targets bioenergy systems for stationary applications

The National Research Council of Canada (NRC) has launched its Bioenergy Systems for Viable Stationary Applications research program to help industry capitalize on energy from biomass market opportunities. “By connecting feedstock, technology and equipment suppliers with end-users in a large-scale, collaborative research effort, we can address interdependent biofuel production and utilization challenges,” said Andy Reynolds, general manager of the energy, mining and environment portfolio at the National Research Council of Canada. “This will accelerate deployment in markets where bioenergy is cost-competitive, such as remote communities and industry reliant on expensive diesel fuel, and cities facing high municipal solid waste diversion costs.” The NRC bioenergy program will channel a critical mass of expertise into projects to optimize biofuel production and upgrading, and resolve biofuel-power plant compatibility issues, lowering the capital and operating costs for bioenergy systems and components, says the research agency. These activities will be complemented by technical support for codes and standards More Information? Action Card #152 Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

suppliernewsline from page 77 trouble code (DTC) is detected, a warning message appears on the machine display, and an e-mail is automatically sent to the dealer. The RemoteCARE telematics system is available on all new Link-Belt excavators, and can also be retrofitted to any X3 model. www.lbxco.com

Autolog offers new approach to transverse scanning

Autolog has been a leader in transverse scanning technology since the early 1990s. Over that period of time, many improvements have been made to their equipment designs to increase lumber recovery, while reducing maintenance. Autolog’s transverse optimization family (trimmer, cant and edger systems) is equipped with ¼” scan density, 3000 scan/min Hermary sensors. These scanning heads are mounted on heavy duty slotted brackets which can be moved in order to clear the chains from being detected. In 2009, Autolog introduced an innovative idea: slanting the sensors at an angle to increase board edge detection. Slanted heads offer many advantages: • Detection of steep edge wane • Better width accuracy • Slanted heads stay clear from debris and dust • No need for air cleaning system The first system with slanted heads was installed on a trimmer optimizer in Maine, and every new system sold since then has been supplied with slanted heads. The same technology applies to edger and cant optimizers, the only difference being that the angle of the scanning heads is different for each system. Autolog also offers its newly designed user interface with: • Windows 7 - 64 bits • HD screen resolution • Independent user account and custom personal configuration • Configurable users’ read/write access for each screen • Archive and save parameters manually and automatically • Alarms center • Advanced board solution analysis • Swap language • Swap measuring unit • Real-time production curve • Real-time product distribution www.autolog.com

Doran introduces new tire pressure sensor

Doran Manufacturing has introduced a new tire pressure sensor specifically designed for off-the-road (OTR) tire applications. “This sensor was meticulously designed and manufactured to combat the extreme operating conditions of OTR tire applications.” says Jim Samocki, General Manager of Doran Manufacturing. The OTR tire pressure sensor includes a patent pending, seal design with a built-in filter to protect internal sensor components from rim conditioners and other liquids present in most OTR tires. The innovative seal design with brass housing provides consistent valve core depression and temperature resistant seals. 78

A high performance lithiumion battery is also included for enhanced tolerance to temperature extremes and to provide reliable RF signal transmission for an extended period of time. In addition to the true innovation in the seal design, the Doran OTR tire pressure sensor incorporates a highimpact nylon housing with a spin-welded cap and proprietary potting material, which encapsulates and protects the internal components from vibration, impact and extreme temperature changes. www.doranmfg.com

GCAR Design introduces the ALSLS log singulator

GCAR Design’s first ALSLS log singulator was recently started at the West Fraser mill in Edson, Alberta. This log singulator incorporates many new and desirable improvements, both operationally and for reliability, says the company. The machine is comprised of two completely separate modules—each module optimized for its primary purpose. The lower module straightens and meters the logs and then elevates multiple logs per step into a storage skid. The second module elevates and singulates the logs into the take-away conveyor. The upper module contains cam profiles at every log transfer step to ensure complete log singulation, even on all small logs, with no double dealing into the takeaway conveyor. Each module is self-cleaning and completely balanced, with all drive components located on the outside of the bin walls for visible operation and easy access, with all mechanical components oversized for reliability and long life. Residual conveyor requirements are reduced due to the internal chuting, with the machine base frame completely open to the residuals system below. The geometry of the lower module allows the ALSLS to fit into low basement applications, especially important in retrofit situations, says the company. Custom models are available to suit any situation and operational requirement. Singulating speeds can be as high as 50 LPM, depending on log size. www.gcardesign.com

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

For more information, please contact: Mark Cusack, National Show Manager mcusack@mpltd.ca • 1-888-454-7469

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FOR SALE

— ‘95 CAT 525 GRAPPLE SKIDDER, work ready c/w Chains...$17,500. — ‘95 330 ROADBUILDER, with Clam, Rigged as Back Spar, Working Cond...$ 32,500. — ‘97 CAT 527 GRAPPLE SKIDDER, Good Cond. Offers to $95,000. — ‘95 330 LL, BNT, LOG LOADER, needs attention $ 35,000 — ‘07 E350 AMBULANCE, Equipped as EVT $12,000. — MADILL O71 YARDER, Good Cond. New Listing — ‘74 KENWORTH LW, 350 Cummins, 13 Speed, 44 Rears, c/w Heated Sander Unit $14,500. — OLDER CAT 966 C WHEEL LOADER, Working Cond. Suitable for private use $ 21,000. — 550 BARKO, GRAPPLE LOADER, Needs some attention $20,000. — 6 - ROCK GAURDS, off 300 HITACHI, as new $ 600.00 — ROTOBEC 60” Heel Rack & Grapple $ 9500. O.B.O.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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INDEX Ac# Advertiser Page 123 Allied Blower..................................................28 111 Andritz Iggesund Tools....................................15 124 Arrow Speed Controls.....................................29 115 Autolog Sawmill Automation...........................21 155 Baum Pneumatics/Airtek Pneumatics...............84 136 Brandt Tractor................................................47 132 Brunette Industries.........................................41 102 Can-Am Chains.................................................5 153 Canada North Resources Expo........................79 127 Carbotech International..................................34 137 Caterpillar......................................................49 103 Cleanfix NA......................................................6 118 Comact / Bid Group.......................................23 144 Connexus Industries........................................65 134 Corbilt............................................................44 112 Corley Lewis Controls.....................................16 149 Diacon...........................................................71 150 Diacon...........................................................73 122 DK Spec.........................................................27 106 Dodge Ram......................................................9 126 Ford...............................................................33 138 HewSaw Machines.........................................50 135 HMT Machine Tools........................................45 120 Integrated Environmental................................25 128 John Deere.....................................................35 110 Joshua Friesen Electric.....................................14 105 Liebherr............................................................7 142 Linck..............................................................61 129 Metal Detectors..............................................38 141 Motion Canada..............................................54 121 MPM Engineering............................................26 143 Northern Plastics............................................63 150 Northland Chipper Sales.................................72 140 Olofsfors........................................................53 145 Peterson.........................................................67 131 Petro-Canada.................................................40 107 Pierce Pacific Mfg............................................10 114 Premier BandWheel & Equipment...................17 148 Quadco..........................................................70 146 Rawlings Wastewood......................................68 113 Rosta Canada.................................................17 101 Rotochopper....................................................2 147 Sennebogen...................................................69 119 Signode Canada..............................................25 104 SKS Engineering................................................6 116 SPX Flow Technology......................................22 108 Stihl...............................................................11 152 Timber Processing Energy Expo........................77 114 Tsubaki...........................................................19 133 USNR.............................................................43 117 Utility Composites (Raptor).............................22 154 Waratah.........................................................83 125 Wood-Mizer...................................................32 130 Woodland Equipment.....................................39 139 Z-Tec Automation Systems...............................51

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100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

thelastword

Court ruling a possible game changer for forest industry By Jim Stirling

he Supreme Court of Canada has established a new framework for land use decision making. The court’s unanimous and historic ruling in the Ts’ilhqot’in Nation vs. British Columbia case in June granted the plaintiffs aboriginal title to more than 1750 square kilometres of contiguous traditional territory in B.C.’s Chilcotin region. The court’s decision has shifted the balance of power in a potentially significant manner. Aboriginal title holders now have a court reinforced legitimacy to be treated as equals of the provincial and federal governments on determining how or if those lands under title can be infringed upon. Significantly, it is now firmly the Crown’s responsibility to justify any infringement. It has to be more specific than simply declaring an infringement i.e. a development project or new logging, to be in the public interest. Instead, suggests Douglas Harris, an associate professor at the faculty of law at the University of British Columbia in a commentary, the Crown has to first pass a three part test. First, the Supreme Court’s ruling requires the Crown to consult and accommodate the aboriginal title holder. The requirement is also extended to include territories claimed but not yet proven. Second, says Harris, the Crown must have “compelling and substantial” objectives to infringe upon aboriginal title. Thirdly, the importance of the “compelling and substantial” objectives must be proportional to the breach of aboriginal title. In short, he concludes, “aboriginal title will be balanced against other rights and interests.” So … what does all that mean for the forest industry? The short answer is: we’ll have to wait and see. Many commentators and observers have recognized the significance of the Supreme Court of Canada’s judgment. But B.C.’s Liberal government has been limited to date in its official reaction to the court’s decision. It’s been restricted

to: “unavailable for comments” or “we now have removed the uncertainty” or general statements about continuing good relationships with the province’s native peoples. Most native bands, too, have been moderate in their reactions in the aftermath of their original jubilation at the Supreme Court’s decision. There has been some sabre rattling among some native groups, especially in northwestern B.C. The Supreme Court’s landmark decision is being used as valuable reinforcement for vocal opposition in the northern half of the province to Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Project. But the forest industry remains officially mute on the implications of the court’s decision. That is probably a prudent strategy. Contrasting that, activity, research and interpretation of all the court rulings’ implications behind the scenes is probably frenetic. The stock in good corporate lawyers is undoubtedly soaring. For it is back in the courts that the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling will most likely be massaged and interpreted. But some general observations can be attempted, despite the dangers of such quicksand. Indirect wood costs in the British Columbia interior are likely to increase as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision. Someone has to pay for all those high priced lawyers. Attempt will be made to pass some of those additional costs down the supply line. Costs will also be increased through the longer periods of time involved in consulting and accommodating with native groups. It’s unlikely to be a quick process, especially during the initial period of familiarization with the issues and implications. Cash settlements may also be required, as might training costs involving new aboriginal entrants to the forest industry. The industry’s competitive position may well be compromised by the additional costs involved in the process. All of these types of additional expenses

carry the potential of making the decision of where—or even if —it makes sense to pursue agreements on aboriginal title lands. The large remaining volumes of beetle killed lodgepole pine with their declining value for lumber production are likely to colour the wood cost equation. The competition for quality green wood has already escalated. First Nations with large volumes of those types of stands will find their resources in high demand with prices at a premium. Softwood fibre availability crunches might accelerate research and market development for the utilization of more hardwood species. They, too, could become sought after commodities commanding higher prices for aboriginal title holders. British Columbia’s Liberal government will have a tough time encouraging forest licencees to convert more existing volume based forest licences into area based ones. The whole concept of area based licences may have to be revisited (or renegotiated) in light of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision. It’s most likely the way aboriginal title is interpreted when it comes to land use will come down to the value an individual First Nation places upon and balances the rights and interests of others. It may be a First Nation has developed a good working rapport with the forest industry and wishes the benefits of that cooperation to continue or be enhanced. In those cases, the Crown and the forest industry might find it relatively straightforward to justify a prescribed infringement of aboriginal title and move forward in a mutually satisfactory manner. That may equally not be the case with other First Nations, and the forest industry might find itself facing a brick wall of opposition. The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision was widely described as a game changer. It may turn out to be much more than that.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - August/September 2014

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