DEMAND FOR TIMBER PRODUCTS 



205 



Improvements in utilization have largely in- 

 volved the growing use of slabs, edgings, sawdust, 

 veneer cores, shavings, and other similar material 

 for pulp and particleboard. Various technological 

 changes have also led to increased product yield 

 per unit of wood input although in the lumber 

 industry this has apparently been offset by the 

 use of smaller and lower quality material and the 

 spreading use of chipping headrigs. Yields in the 

 pulp industry have also been held down by a 

 sharp rise in the production of bleached and 

 semibleached pulps. 



In converting projected demands for lumber, 

 plywood, and pulpwood to roundwood and saw- 

 timber volumes, technological developments affect- 

 ing product yields, and other factors such as 

 changes in standards and prospective changes in 

 the size and quality of timber, have been taken 

 into account. For example, projected demands for 

 softwood lumber have been converted to demands 

 for sawtimber and roundwood with an allowance 

 for new softwood lumber standards that became 

 effective in September 1970. These standards 

 specify reduced thicknesses and widths of most 

 sizes of softwood lumber, with an estimated 

 average increase in lumber yields of approximately 

 5 percent per thousand board feet of logs, In- 

 ternational , l 4-inch log rule. 47 



In addition to this adjustment, it was assumed 

 that various other technological development'- to 

 be expected with 1970 levels of research and 

 development, and prospective rates of adoption of 

 new technology by the forest industries, would 

 lead to increases in product output per unit of log 

 input. 



The growing use of thin-kerf high-strain band- 

 saws and thin-kerf circular saws is an example of 

 technological developments affecting lumber 

 yields. 48 An estimated 22 percent of saw-log volumes 

 has tA-pically been converted into sawdust, and 

 reduction of saw kerf from improvements in milling 

 equipment and quality control could result in 

 significant increases in lumber yields. 



Another example of new technology is repre- 

 sented by the "Best Opening Face" system that 

 uses automated headrig control by a minicomputer 

 to locate precisely the best initial cut to maximize 

 lumber yields. 49 Calculations indicate that this 

 BOF system, if universall}- applied, could increase 

 lumber yields by an estimated average of 10 

 percent. 



47 National Forest Products Association. Evaluation of 

 ASTM standards to develop "E" values for structural 

 lumber. Washington, D.C. 1970. 



48 Mason, H. C. Wood industry technology: what's new 

 now, what's to come. Forest Industries 98(11) :22-24. 

 1971. 



* Hallock, Hiram, and David W. Lewis. Increasing 

 softwood dimension vield from small logs. USDA Forest 

 Serv., Res. Pap. FPL-166, 12 p. 1971. 



Potential technological developments also 

 include production of laminated lumber. This 

 product is made by gluing together sliced sheets of 

 veneer up to one-half inch in thickness and sub- 

 sequently sawing these into structural lumber, 

 pallet stock, or other products. Preliminary work 

 indicates that product yields might be sub- 

 stantially increased by this process. 50 A somewhat 

 related system of producing sawn products in- 

 volves live sawing logs into 2-inch strips, posi- 

 tioning these strips to minimize effects of defects, 

 edge-gluing them into wide panels, and ripping the 

 panels into desired widths of dimension lumber. 



The chipping headrig is a further example of 

 new technology now coining into wide use for 

 joint production of lumber and pulp chips. 51 Al- 

 though lumber yields are relatively low, this 

 equipment makes possible the profitable conver- 

 sion of small logs into lumber and chips for 

 pulping. 



The rate of development, acceptance, and ap- 

 plication of new technology such as illustrated 

 above is necessarily highly uncertain. The fi- 

 nancing and effectiveness of research efforts will 

 determine how rapidly new discoveries are made. 

 Educational efforts will determine how rapidly 

 new discoveries are made known. The attitude and 

 financial resources of forest industries will deter- 

 mine how rapidly new technology will be adopted. 



New technologies that promise to produce an 

 existing product more efficiently or save on use of 

 raw material may or may not be promptly put 

 into use by the forest industries, depending on 

 such factors as price-cost relationships, consumer 

 acceptance, or institutional obstacles. Wood parti- 

 cleboard. for instance, was patented in 1905 but 

 large-scale commercial production did not get 

 underway until a half century later. 



Adoption of new technology will also be in- 

 fluenced by the availability of capital to the 

 forest industries for modernization of plant and 

 equipment and for changes in market strategy. 

 The trend toward larger and more integrated 

 firms in timber industries could be of help in 

 obtaining financing for more rapid adoption of 

 new technology than in the past. 



Based on consideration of the above factors, 

 1970 levels of research and development, prospec- 

 tive rates of adoption of new technology, and 

 projected changes in the size and quality of tim- 

 ber available, it has been assumed that there 

 would be significant increases in timber product 

 yields over the projection period. The assumed 



50 Bohlen, J. C. LVL — Laminated veneer lumber — 

 development and economics. Forest Prod. J. 22(l):18-26. 

 1972. 



51 Koch, Peter. Technological developments in the 

 southern pine industry. Forest Farmer 30(7):16-20. 1971. 



