Neville Smith Timber Industries Pty Ltd is operating a modern regrowth sawmill on the site.
The mill is designed to saw 50,000 m3 of timber a year in a single shift operation.
Modern highly automated European sawmilling technology has been imported for the mill which is the first hardwood sawmill of this type in Tasmania.
The mill is designed around processing sawlogs up to 700mm in diameter that are sourced either from regrowth forest or from plantation timber.
Sawlogs entering the sawmill are cut into slabs through the head rig. The slabs are then transferred to the twin resaws to be converted to rough cut planks.
The planks are normally a maximum of 40 mm thick. From the resaw the planks move to an optimising edger.
The machine computer controls four band saws to achieve the best recovery of boards from the plank.
The boards are docked to length and bundled for shipment to the drying facility.
All residues from the process are collected. Solid wood residues are chipped and screened while sawdust and chip fines will be used to produce energy.
The next stage of the sawmill will provide predrying and kiln drying on site.
Future stages include a dry mill that may produce floorboards and other mouldings and a timber beam glue laminating line.
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| Pictures showing regrowth log processing at the new Neville Smith Timbers Sawmill at the Southwood Huon site. |
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