FEATURES
Platinum Sawmill expands after lockdown
Furniture wood is left to dry naturally for 18 months .
By Leon Louw
Nelspruit-based Platinum Sawmill , operating since 1991 , is about to open a warehouse at the N4 Gateway which will give clients an option of buying their Saligna products directly from the sawmill in Nelspruit , or from the warehouse in Pretoria .
According to Johan Labuschagne at Platinum Sawmill , it
makes a lot of strategic and logistic sense to have the sawmill based in Nelspruit and a warehouse in Pretoria . “ Being close to the forests in Mpumalanga makes it a lot easier to get the logs to the sawmill , but at the same time you are further away from the bigger market in Gauteng . Our warehouse in Pretoria will be ideally-located to clients in and around Johannesburg and Pretoria who want to purchase our products . We use our own trucks to transport the logs from the forest areas where we source them to the sawmill . However , we do not do deliveries ,” says Labuschagne .
Platinum Sawmill ’ s products include kiln-dried furniture-grade Saligna , wet off saw gum planks ( which can also be can be used for scaffolding ), and decking with no finger joints . Once the logs arrive at the sawmill from the forest it is put through MEM twin band saws . The scaffold planks are sold in a ‘ wet ’ form , and the rest of the wood , which is used in the manufacture of furniture , is left outside to naturally dry for about 18 months . Once dried , the wood is put through Incomac kilns and dried for a further three days before it is cut up in different sizes by the Crosscutter and Woodmizer rip saw for furniture wood and decking . No treatment in terms of chemicals is carried out , the wood is naturally , and kiln dried only .
According to Labuschagne the logs that Platinum Sawmills use are primarily sourced from Komatiland Forestry close to Nelspruit in Mpumalanga .
ALL IMAGES : PLATINUM SAWMILL
When the logs arrive at the sawmills they are put through the saws and divided into wood for drying , and ‘ wet ’ wood for scaffold planks .
Labuschagne says that the Covid-19 pandemic affected the markets negatively and that corruption is hampering growth in the industry . “ The growing trend of using artificial wood is a challenge in as well ,” he says . However , he remains positive that in the long-term people will return to using traditional wood products again . “ Although the timber industry is at a low at this stage , there is no doubt that we are starting to see an improvement , and if we continue doing what we do , the outlook in the medium- to longer-term is positive ,” he says .
www . timberiq . co . za // FEBRUARY / MARCH 2021 21