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Milling, Drying and Marketing

Tree Grower articles

Harvesting a private woodlot
Darrin Collett, May 2014
This article focuses on harvesting and marketing a woodlot at Kaukapakapa, north of Auckland. During my 23 years of experience in forestry I have found that harvesting and marketing private…
From trees to timber
Dean Satchell, February 2014
Farm Forestry Timbers, the NZFFA’s newest and first nationwide branch, co-hosted the annual action group weekend held in Wanganui in November last year. The theme was quite different from the…
Shane Jordan portable sawmilling
Shane Jordan, August 2013
I own and operate a small portable sawmilling business east of Stratford. In my spare time I compete in timber sport competitions throughout the world. I am a current world…
Lucas portable sawmills
Ian Schulz, August 2013
If you are involved in farm forestry and are thinking of buying a sawmill to process your own logs, then you should start by establishing a market. The three main…
A farm forester’s experience with a Peterson mill
Peter van Essen, August 2013
I bought a Peterson automated swingblade mill in 2002 to use trees from young woodlots which I had planted. I chose this mill because of its portability, easy blade maintenance,…
Finding the right portable sawmill
Marlena Martin and Layla Robinson, August 2013
Most portable sawmills sold in this country are purchased by farmers. They can see the benefits of cutting their own trees for farm fences, sheds, yards and other projects. As…
Wood-Mizer for farm foresters
John Fairweather, August 2013
I have a mix of alternative species over 20 years old on my block in north Canterbury. Over 10 years ago I decided to try and add value to the…
Using a portable sawmilling service
John and Ben Bergman, May 2013
Mahoe Sawmills design and manufacture a range of portable sawmills from the factory in Kerikeri. The first machines were made after a delegation of Russians visited the family farm to…
Southern portable sawmilling
Blair Stewart, May 2013
I never set out to be a sawmiller. However, after a stint at farming as a teenager, and at the time looking for a change of direction, I was offered…
Farm forestry timbers - Local timbers for local markets
Dean Satchell, August 2011
When it comes to growing special purpose timber species, in every part of the country I hear the same things − Can we sell our logs? Is there a market…
Collective blackwood marketing
Malcolm Mackenzie, November 2013
I am keen to respond to the excellent ‘From the Patron’ in the August Tree Grower and hopefully stimulate a wide-ranging discussion among fellow members. I agree with Wink Sutton…
Blackwood Milling
Malcolm Mackenzie, November 2013
I attempted to be a little more scientific when we did our third small milling of Tasmanian blackwood timber this year. I wanted to calculate the conversion of log volume…
How does Douglas fir compare with radiata pine in framing timber?
Mick Hedley, Dave Page, Jackie van der Waals, August 2009
Douglas fir, which comprises around six per cent of the New Zealand exotic timber plantation, has been used as untreated framing timber for over 70 years. Historically, there were no…
A pet project
Mike Halliday, May 2009
It all started with a trip to Kuratau to spend a weekend with a cousin who had a bach there. We fell in love with the place and put an…
Selling alternative species
Allan Levett and Dean Satchell, May 2009
Interest in farm forestry circles these days is turning increasingly to selling our precious alternative species logs and timber. This is not only because some of the species Dad and…
Helping farmers sell wood
Peter Harington, August 2005
So what is it about Woodmetrics that aligns us so closely with the farm forestry sector? Established in 2000 as a business unit of Carter Holt Harvey, Woodmetrics offers a…
Understanding the stability of Douglas fir timber
Author not published, August 2007
Douglas fir has a history within the building industry as strong, stiff and stable timber, ideal for structural applications. Different interpretations of good stability can be given such as low…
Responding to moisture: How do Douglas fir and radiata compare?
Andrew Karalus, August 2007
Three research projects undertaken for the Douglas fir Cooperative have set out to quantify the differences between Douglas fir and radiata pine in terms of the responses to moisture by…
Harvesting and marketing some pruned redwood giants
Jeff Tombleson, February 2007
In 1997 Forest Research (now Scion) harvested and marketed 26 giant redwood trees which were felled for various reasons including their close proximity to buildings. The trees had been planted…
Eucalypts for timber: My experience and my floor
Don Tantrum, November 2006
I began planting eucalypts about 30 years ago. I soon discovered that not all I wished to grow did grow. The Taihape climate soon curbed my enthusiasm. I will not…
Use of New Zealand grown eucalypts
Richard Davies-Colley, November 2006
The development of industries using eucalypt timber is still in its infancy in New Zealand. We have only small areas of mixed species, limited knowledge of the product and therefore…
Milling and grading New Zealand grown blackwood
Mike Esson, August 2006
Blackwood is a much sought after timber, especially by cabinet makers because of it rich dark colour and fine finish. Blackwood is a species that brings people to our yard…
Furniture from blackwood
Graeme and Betty Benjamin, August 2006
Customers visiting the Everwood Furniture showroom in Mount Maunganui love furniture made from blackwood timber according to Graeme Benjamin. Graeme and his wife Betty have owned Everwood Furniture for a…
Milling cypresses and the marketing challenge
Don Tantrum, February 2006
I have been selecting, propagating, growing and managing cypresses for over 25 years including everything from controlled pollination to milling. We now have over 25 hectares planted from well over…
Macrocarpa – keeping faith with the old faithful
Denis Hocking, February 2006
In the first part of this issue of Tree Grower we are featuring articles covering some of the varying species and clones of cypress. The main generic name is Cupressus,…
MARVL pre-harvest inventory system
Jim Cooke & Rob Webster, May 2005
No, MARVL is not shorthand for one of the wonders of the world but something much more prosaic. MARVL is an acronym for ‘method of assessment of recoverable volume by…
The commercial reality of special purpose timber species
Parnell Trost, May 2005
Securing an adequate return for your stand of eucalypts or macrocarpa can be the most challenging part of the growing cycle. The market for special purpose timbers is relatively small,…
Log value recovery in a woodlot context
Andy Dick, May 2005
Commercial forest owners and forestry research organisations have over the years attempted to maximise returns by developing tools, processes and disciplines called log value recovery. If you have a good…
Adding value by milling on site
Jonathan Walker, February 2005
It is a well known fact that when you have a commodity to sell, there is an over-supply and the price falls. Conversely, when you are in the market to…

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Blogs

Modern eucalyptus sawmilling technology in Tasmania: Dean Satchell's blog, December 31, 2015
Whilst in Tasmania during December 2015 I had the fortuitous opportunity to visit Newood sawmill near Huonville at the invitation of mill manager Josh Turnbill. This mill was set up…
Not all doom and gloom for alternative species: John Fairweather's blog, December 23, 2015
The last issues of the North Canterbury branch newsletter covered some interesting issues associated with growing and harvesting alternative species. Two points stuck out to me. One was that there…
Sawing fence posts from Eucalyptus maculata: Dean Satchell's blog, September 19, 2015
I planted a small stand of E. maculata (Spotted gum) 21 years ago in Northland, after being really impressed with an old stand of trees that were milled by David…
Radiata pine wood quality: Denis Hocking's blog, June 20, 2014
Radiata pine may be an easy and productive timber species for us to grow, but it has long been recognised that the timber does have a number of quality problems.…

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Headlines

Forest industry’s challenge to manage supply fluctuations August 2016
The pan forest and timber processing industry organisation, the New Zealand Wood Council (Woodco) says there is a supply challenge for many regions in the domestic processing industry. Woodco Chair,…
Timber industry ready to contribute to home building catch-up July 2016
The timber industry believes the government’s announced boost to home construction, through a Housing Infrastructure Fund, needs to have a timber focus. Woodco chair, Brian Stanley, says the volume of…
TPPA may open doors for processed wood products October 2015
The forest and wood processing industries have welcomed the removal of tariffs on wood products across the 12 countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). “We have yet to see the…
Report: Eucalyptus nitens, recovery and economics of processing 15 year old trees for solid timber September 2015
Wood Council: Emission targets should be fair and include agriculture June 2015
The forest and wood processing industries have urged the government to set a credible emissions target and to implement it fairly. Emission targets need to be fair and credible. “The…
Wood innovation attracts Australian architects March 2014
A group of leading Australian commercial architects is visiting New Zealand this month to come up to speed with developments in the use of engineered wood in commercial buildings. They…
Farm Forestry Timbers July 2012
The NZ Farm Forestry Association has set up a national industry body representing the interests of local specialty timber producers and those with an interest in specialty timbers. A web…
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's) and specialty timbers May 2011
Verification Both VSGVSG (Visual Stress Grades) are sorted on the basis of visual characteristics. Visual characteristics are good for determining strength but not so good for predicting stiffness. In the…
Specialty timbers, structural timber and the new building code May 2011
Background NZS 3603 NZS 3603 Timber Design Standard contains design stresses and methods for specific engineering design of timber structures to meet the performance requirements of the New Zealand Building…
Specialty timbers penalised for radiata pines shortcomings May 2011
Specialty timber species are being severely penalised in pursuit of an acceptable strength standard for radiata pine timber. Radiata pine and Douglas fir comprise most of the structural timber used…
Anderton welcomes pan-industry body- Woodco December 2005
The formation of Woodco, the Wood Council of New Zealand, is a very positive development according to Forestry Minister Jim Anderton. "I congratulate the forestry industry on the establishment of…