Client
The Forest and Wood Products Research and Development Corporation (FWPRDC) provides a national, integrated research and development focus for the Australian forest and wood products industry.
Challenge
Due to internal stress characteristics in regrowth and in plantation-grown eucalypts and spotted gum, serious problems arise during sawing, causing splitting and distortions such as spring and bow. This leads to a significant reduction in both grade and volumetric recovery and a consequent loss of end product value. There was a need to determine how these issues can be overcome.
How Pöyry made a difference
Pöyry undertook a two-stage investigation of processing regrowth and plantation eucalypts over three months, including a literature review and a tour of 40 hardwood sawmills and three sawmill equipment companies.
In total, at the mills visited, more than twenty species were sawn.
The researchers witnessed and discussed processing problems actually experienced by sawmillers; problems that are associated with growth stresses and the methods used to reduce their impacts.
In reviewing the literature and current practices, Pöyry went beyond the coverage of Australia and also documented the situation in other countries, which also produce sawlogs from eucalypt plantations, such as Spain, Portugal, South Africa, Brazil and New Zealand.
The findings are contained in a report - Sawing Regrowth and Plantation Hardwoods with Particular Reference to Growth Stresses.
It was found that to reduce the impact of splitting and spring and improve recovery, sawmillers rely on a variety of log management practices according to location, climate and required end use. Whilst most sawmillers are clear about how to manage their log supplies and the best equipment to use on regrowth, they are not sure about the quality they can expect from plantation grown logs and about the best equipment to process them.
Our study did not merely confirm that individual sawmillers, through experience and trial and error, have discovered what is best for them. It also uncovered the state of the industry to be operating profitably. At the end of each major section of the report, Pöyry recommended further research studies to investigate complementary practices and enhancements of the log management practices already employed by sawmillers. The purpose was to define the conditions under which certain practices have been beneficial and to ascertain if these practices can also be beneficial under different sets of conditions, at the same time defining the parameters within which the benefits can be realised.
Defining these issues add to filling up knowledge gaps that can help overcome the processing difficulties faced by the Australian hardwood plantation sawlog industry and progress towards maximising value for these plantations. | 
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