CURVE SAWING AND STELLITE� BOOST
PRODUCTION AT WEYERHAEUSER MILL

Weyerhaeuser Company mills have long been known for using the newest technology to obtain the maximum throughput from the timber they cut. The mill at Raymond, Washington is one of these mills. They were one of the first to install a new 10" McGehee double arbor curve sawing rotary gang. Since then Weyerhaeuser has installed at least 10 more of these machines systemwide by early 1999. Raymond head filer Mike Riggs and his crew have worked hard to keep abreast of the implementation of this new technology over the past couple of years.

During the Christmas shutdown in 1996 a new Optimil 6’ twin band headrig was installed and six months later, without shutting down, they installed the new McGehee curve-sawing machine. Knowing they were upgrading their operation in the mill, Mike, early on, researched what new technology was available in filing room equipment. In late 1996 they installed in their band saw filing room new Armstrong No.4 band saw sharpeners, an Armstrong Autotip Stellite� tipper, a Sidepro dual side grinder, and an Armstrong automatic band saw Leveler. Six months later they installed another Armstrong Autotip and an Armstrong TrueSizer dual side grinder in their circle saw filing room.

Mike said, "We had a number of objectives that we wanted to meet with our new equipment including increased production, better accuracy, reduced downtime, better finish on our lumber, and reduced target and kerf sizes. We have met or exceeded all our expectations including less saw deviation. Presently we are testing variable pitch band saws and the results are looking very good."

The mill cuts only Hemlock for the domestic market. It produces 150 mbf (353K m³) per year running three shifts in both the mill and the filing room. Mike says, "Since going to Stellite our saws stay sharper longer and come back in better condition, so there is less work to get them ready to go back out in the mill again. We’ve been able to increase our feed speed on our board edger from 700 to 1075 feet (213 to 328M) per minute. We’re able to get 10-12 runs per saw from our circles and 12-16 runs per saw with our bands before retipping."

On the Optimil twin band Mike is presently running 39’10" x 10"w (12.4M x 254 mm) 15 ga. (1.83mm) saws with a kerf of .125" (3.2 mm). They are in the process of changing to 16 ga. (1.65mm) saws. Their circle saw machine centers are listed in the accompanying chart.

When asked if he had any advice to give to other filers who are considering upgrading their filing room technology, Mike replied "Do your homework! Go to other filing rooms to see first hand what they are doing. Talk to the filers using the equipment to get their opinions and experiences with it. Take note of what the manufacturer/supplier offers in the way of training and support after the sale. For us, Stellite has been great. It has made the mill more profitable and reduced the workload in the filing room."

In addition to Mike, the filing room staff consists of Dale Ashley, John Barnes, Jerry Brown, Gerald Carlson, Mike Nosebaum, John Orkney, and Dennis Tennant, all senior benchmen and Jason Hodgson, filer helper II.

There has been a sawmill on this site in Raymond since the 1930s and Weyerhaeuser took it over in the very early 1940s. They ran the mill until December 1980 when they shut it down to build the present small log mill which opened in late 1981. Mill manager, Bruce Mallory, handles day-to-day operations.

Mike has been in the sawmill business for 28 years, 15 of those in the filing room. His father, an uncle, and two of his brothers have worked or presently work for Weyerhaeuser. Mike started out working in the yard and as a deck person before coming to the filing room. When he isn’t in the filing room, Mike spends the majority of his free time hunting and fishing.

The Saw Engineer congratulates Weyerhaeuser, Raymond, Wa. and their filing room staff for their excellent saw maintenance program. We especially wish to thank Mike Riggs for his help in preparing this article.