After the logs are delivered to our yard, they are graded into stacks of the same species, length and diameter class.
Most of the logs are sawn on a Finnish made LAIMET 120 CIRCULAR SAW which was was installed in 1993 and has been at the heart of our production since then. This type of saw which was manufactured in Finland is rarely found in the UK but is very common in small sawmills like ours. It is ideal for smaller logs from 12 to 30cm diameter and long logs up to 8 meters. The speed of sawing at 1 meter per second is fast enough to allow the economic conversion of small logs that would otherwise be firewood.
The overall recovery of square edged sawn timber from a round log is 65% at best. The offcuts or “slabs” as we call them are certainly not waste. They fall onto a conveyor which feeds them into a LAIMET HP21 CHIPPER.
The very regular sized chips from this machine are either sold on or dried on our new drying floor and burnt in our new biomass district heating system
Trees grow and some are now too big for the circular saw. These larger logs are sawn on a Canadian LOGOSOL NORWOOD MX34 BANDMILL that extends our capacity up to 90cm diameter. The bandsaw and circular work together to make a highly effective combination to maximise productivity and recovery.
Many of our orders require relatively small quantities of thin boards. To do this efficiently we hold larger sized blocks in stock and saw them to the final dimensions on demand on our American BAKER A BAND RESAW. The narrow blade achieves this with the absolute minimum of waste.
At this point some of our production is ready for sale, usually after we have had it treated at Robertson Timber.
But for more exacting requirements timber must be dry before it can be used. Our cool and damp Scottish climate makes air drying unreliable for most of the year, so we undertake artificial drying down to 8 – 12% moisture content in our American NOVA DRY KILN This has two chambers which can dry a total of 14m3 of sawn timber and uses heat from our biomass boiler as its principal energy source. For small batches of special hardwoods we also use the Swedish SAUNO KILN which works on a special principle to dry the timber with less distortion than other methods.
After drying the wood is now ready for machining and this where we really unlock the potential of our timber. Without the Swedish LOGOSOL PH260 PANEL PLANER we couldn’t produce any of our higher end products economically e.g. cladding, decking flooring etc. All four sides of the board are shaped in a single pass and we hold a big stock of blades to make a wide range of different profiles. Recently we purchased the higher capacity LOGOSOL PH360 with the intention of replacing the PH260, but quickly found that what we really needed was both machines. This link will tell more about our planers and what they can do : Here.
Sometimes we need to profile the ends of boards e.g. to put a tongue and groove on the ends of floor boards and for this we use the incredibly versatile LOGOSOL MF30 MULTI-MOULDER
And from time to time we use our Scottish manufactured WHITE PLANER THICKNESSER for planing extra wide boards up to 60cm. It is at least 80 years and old and proof that well made woodworking machinery can have a useful life of decades.