Timber iQ February - March 2020 // Issue: 48 | Page 33

PROJECT
from the plantations are sorted into different sizes and lengths
for maximum saw recovery and ease of production.
To ensure maximum timber recovery, whilst ensuring the safety
of their staff at all times, Selati has upgraded the old
sawmilling methods to make use of the latest industry best
practises and machinery. The timber boards are prepared and
stacked on trolleys according to their relative lengths and
thicknesses, where they will be kiln dried until the correct
specified SABS moisture content is reached.
At De Hoek, steam is generated to produce the energy
necessary to dry the timber in specialised timber drying
kilns. All waste timber, which consists of sawdust, cut-to-
length offcuts, knot offcuts and any other form of timber
which is not sellable, is transferred through a waste
transport network to one location, named the ‘Fuel Bin’.
From there they fire up a boiler system which is kept at
6Kpa at all times which then produces the steam necessary
to dry the timber. Wet timber goes into the kiln at around
900kg/ m³. and after about 36 to 48 hours, depending on
the size of timber, it has lost almost half its weight and
comes out at around 450kg/m³.
Selati Roof Trusses are one of the happy customers and consumers
of De Hoek Sawmill’s SABS construction timber.
"To ensure maximum timber
recovery, whilst ensuring the safety
of their staff at all times, Selati
has upgraded the old sawmilling
methods to make use of the
latest industry best practises and
machinery."
After the boards have cooled down sufficiently, they are
moved to the de-stacker where they are offloaded line by line
into an industrial planer, where they are planed to the required
De Hoek has two sawing lines to accommodate both the small
logs (90 – 300mm diameter) and the larger logs (diameter >
300mm) where both lines work on the same principle and
sawing methods. Logs up to 600mm in diameter can be cut
with relative ease at around 6m per minute. One can only
stand in awe along with a touch of fear when watching a
600mm log being cut into more than 11 timber boards.
Selati De Hoek Sawmill’s policy of Maximum Timber Recovery starts in the yard where the logs from the plantations are sorted into different
sizes and lengths.
www.timberiq.co.za
// FEBRUARY / MARCH 2020
31