Fall Follow-Up Trip- September 6, 2012

Our first stop was the Weyerhaeuser Sutton OSB plant in Sutton, West Virginia (heart of WV). This plant used strands of wood that came from parts of trees that can not be used for anything else in the timber business. (Like the tree tops that were too thin to be used for anything else.) The logs come in on trucks and railroad cars. They are first washed, then debarked, and dried. This plant is also VERY environmental friendly. They use all of their waste to be used to make somethign else work in the plant. They use the wood chips to fire the driers, use the water from the washing to be used again to wash...etc. Once the logs are dried they are then shredded. Once this process is completed they are ready to make sheets of strands to make a board. They can make the board fit to the size being ordered by the customer. This was an amazing process to see first hand. I buy this kind of board all the time to be used in my home and now I know exactly how this process is completed.


 The finished product and ready to be shipped.

 When the logs first arrive...they are washed and dried.
 Control room for the computers and camera to be monitored.

Almost finihsed...
















Our next stop was the Appalachian Timber Services. This company mostly makes rail ties for the railroad and also landscape timbers. They deal with timber that has already been treated is ready to be made into something like landscape or railroads. This company is also very environmentaly friendly. They will ship their waste off to companies that it can be used to make pellets (which we saw on the summer trip).

 Appalachian Timber Services, Inc.
 Waste from the logs that is recycled.
 Men hard at work carving by hand on the logs.
The logs that have already been cut and are being stacked for shipment.

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