FEATURES

Roy Hirota of Hirota Corporation and Toshio Yoshida of Yoshida Lumber of Miyazaki-Ken, Japan.

Japanese Cedar is an evergreen conifer native to Japan.

Wood is the preferred material for aesthetic reasons as well as structural support in Japanese homes.

Installation of the USNR optimized shape sawing gang system.

USNR optimized board edger system.

Close up of USNR edger Maximizer system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yoshida Sawmill Installs USNR Secondary Breakdown Equipment

Yoshida & Company is a third generation, family owned business located in Nango-Cho Miyazaki-Ken, in southern Japan. The sawmill has been in operation for over 60 years, processing Japanese Cedar into lumber for the housing market, and also laminate for posts and beams.

Mr. Toshio Yoshida originally owned a logging company, but he decided it would be more profitable for him to start sawing his own logs rather than selling them. He owns a lot of nearby property and built the sawmill to harvest his Japanese Cedar.

The Yoshida sawmill is one of the largest Cedar sawmills in Japan. Over the last year it has undergone a major modernization, including the installation of a new USNR optimized shape sawing gang system and USNR optimized board edger system.

The Hirota Corporation represents USNR in Japan. Sales Manager Roy Hirota was instrumental in the modernization of the Yoshida mill, doing the planning and layout work, as well as helping put together the sale of USNR machinery to Mr. Toshio Yoshida.

“This USNR equipment has some very unique features to address the specific characteristics of Japanese Cedar,” said Roy. Because it grows on mountain sides it often has very dramatic sweep characteristics, which can be a
challenge in terms of recovery.		Roy Hirota and Toshio Yoshida shown here in front of the USNR Shape Sawing Gang.

“If you try to saw it straight, you end up losing a lot of recovery, plus the lumber doesn’t have as much structural strength,” Roy stated. “But if you saw it on the curve, you’ll get longer and stronger lengths.”

In Japanese homes all the wood is exposed for aesthetic reasons, including the floors, ceilings and even the walls. Wood is very important and can be a personal statement. But big sections of clear wood are very expensive and not affordable to everyone.

The Yoshida sawmill makes a wide variety of products to address many different needs. “They’ll take four to six pieces of lower grade wood and glue them together to make a post,” Roy explained. “Then it’s wrapped in veneer from a good log, so it appears to be a very fine grained post.”

USNR supplied an optimized shape sawing gang, which is unique because it has no chip heads on it. USNR’s high speed board edger was provided with dual positioning pins, and both shifting saws and a bank of gang saws. This allows Yoshida to be more flexible, and change their product mix to meet changing market demands. The edger is capable of processing up to 48 pieces per minute.

“They can make a solid post rather than a laminate post if they want. They can choose to shape saw or straight saw,” mentioned Toby Slagle, USNR Capital Sales Manager. “With 27 saws, it’s a highly flexible system,” he added. “We can get a very thin ½” board. It’s a minimum net cut of 15mm, and the saws are able to cut 5/8” all the way through the gang.”

Before installing the USNR gang and edger, the mill was producing 250 m3 per day running a single shift. It is now producing 450 m3 per shift. In addition, they were able to retire two of their four resaws as a result of the new gang and edger installations.

The rest of the mill machinery was supplied by Japanese equipment manufacturers about 12 years ago, including two primary breakdown lines that feed the USNR secondary breakdown line. Hirota Corporation managed all the installation work.

Along with this modernization, Yoshida also put in a new boiler and added more dry kiln capacity. All their wood is kiln dried before the glue-lam process. Post and beam products are exported to Korea for further manufacturing and resold as material for the housing market.

Simple Sharp Chain Lube System

When USNR redesigned its Sharp Chain a couple years ago, it incorporated decades of mill-tested knowledge to produce a higher-performance sharp chain that resists wear and tear.

Lubrication however, is an essential factor in sharp chain maintenance. Most systems have some method to apply oil to the chain rails. The best oil for this is a thicker bar and chain oil that will stay on the rail and not run off. But this thick oil doesn't penetrate into the pins of the chain very effectively.

It's important to keep the pins well lubricated in order to maintain a smooth articulation as the chain bends around the sprocket. USNR has developed a system to lubricate the chain pins on the return.

Sawdust is blasted off the chain before it enters a tight fitting plastic lubrication block. A light penetrating oil is then blown directly into the chain crevices and onto the pins. Because this system has it’s own tank, it can use a light penetrating oil for the chain, and a thick bar and chain oil for the slide rails. It’s simple, effective and low cost.

 

NEW PROJECTS

 

 

 

USNR says Thank You to our customers for the new orders. We appreciate your continued loyalty and pledge to continue earning it!