State of the art sawmill

[Al Launier]

Just viewed this video. Very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvbgwdTGoyo
Though you might be interested.

[Matt Day]

Very cool! Thanks for posting

[Jim Koepke]

Interesting.

Explains why it takes an hour to pick through the piles to find the best pieces for a project.

jtk

[Yonak Hawkins]

Honestly, it makes me sad that our forests are being decimated at such a rate that it makes sawmills like this feasible.

[John McClanahan]

I'm surprised at the small diameter of the logs.

[Myk Rian]

I'm surprised at the small diameter of the logs.
That was my thought. They look more like fence posts.

[Brian Elfert]

More trees are planted than are harvested typically. Trees are smaller now because they aren't allowed to grow for as many years as in the past. Some forest land has been logged multiple times already due to harvesting smaller trees.

[daryl moses]

I practice "best forest management" on my tree farm with guidance from my Forester.
He estimated that my property was clear cut 60 years ago. It was never replanted but left to regenerate naturally. It is now a mix of Poplar, Oak [red and white] Hickory, Maple, Beech, Sycamore, Sweet Gum, SYP, White Pine, etc.
A "mature" forest is pretty much sterile in regards to benefits for wildlife, exceptions being hard mast from the Oaks and Beeches. According to my Forester a healthy Forest should be manipulated to produce not only saw logs but to benefit wildlife. This is best done by select cutting certain sections, clear cutting others, and leaving some along stream banks etc alone.
Forests left alone are self sustaining after harvest and will regenerate quite nicely.

[Kevin Groenke]

Amazing that a 2x4 only costs $2 when so much automation equipment goes into production, wait, I suppose that's how it only costs $2. Economy of scale is amazing sometimes.

Here's a similar video of a short-run custom veneer panel plant.

https://youtu.be/MZ7JEwkFtg0

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I think part of the reason the logs look small is the scale. Compare that crane to the log truck for example, and I think the logs are bigger then they look.

I can't get too upset about the automation. A hundred years ago men would be routinely injured or killed moving those logs around and doing things that today are all done by machinery, without risking arms, legs, etc.