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pyotr filipivich pyotr filipivich is offline
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Default Making Plywood: Then vs. Now

DerbyDad03 on Fri, 4 Jan 2019 20:59:30 -0800
(PST) typed in rec.woodworking the following:
On Friday, January 4, 2019 at 11:41:40 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Thu, 3 Jan 2019 20:21:30 -0800 (PST), DerbyDad03
wrote:
On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 10:06:22 PM UTC-5, -MIKE- wrote:
Not much has changed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eF5LVBW1vl8
Not much other than...

1 - How many fewer people it takes now vs. then
2 - How many fewer chances to be killed or maimed now vs. then

3- How much smaller the useful logs are. The logs going into the
"now" are about the same size as the waste coming out of the "then".


I wonder how that came about...

1 - "Holy crap...there ain't no big logs left. We better improve the cutting
process."

or

2 - "We've improved the cutting process so much we can start using smaller
logs."


Yes. When you start to run out of "easy to process" stock, you
start looking at ways to make do with the stock you have.

It was the recognition that they couldn't depend on "wild" trees
that lead Georgia Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, et al, to start farming their
own trees. And to start coming up with wood products from "lesser
trees"; e.G., making OSB, or using cottonwood or alder for "pulp".

Right now, there is a glut of pine in the South. Seems that 30
years ago, a lot of people planted pine trees as part of their
retirement plan. But when the trees became "ripe" twenty years later,
there was an economic downturn. Nobody wanted logs. Now, ten years
after, those trees are "too big" for the mills (which were optimized
for 20 year old trees, not the much bigger 30 year old trees.). So a
lot of people are selling "good lumber" trees for "pulp" or firewood.
Because there is no market for them as raw lumber.
--
pyotr filipivich
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