Effects of Log Form and Sawing Method on Lumber Recovery for Circular Sawmill, Nyabyeya Forestry College, Masindi District, Uganda.

Abstract

Lumber which is a processed wood is usually available in hardwood and readily available in soft wood species. Uganda was very rich in forest resources but now wood supply status has declined greatly as a result of over exploitation and inadequate conversion process of the wood resources in many sawmills. In order to reduce the volume of wood wastes in the conversion process, there is need for an intensive research which focuses on circular sawmill recovery. The study was conducted to determine the effects of log form and sawing method on lumber recovery for circular sawmill, Nyabyeya Forestry College, Masindi district. Pinus caribaea species was evaluated for the study. The results shows that the kind of wood species used for the study have no direct significant impact on lumber recovery obtained during log conversion but log characteristics such as diameter at the top and log taper significantly influence lumber volume recovery. The significant influence of log characteristics on lumber recovery confirms that the shape of the log influences the amount of lumber recovered, lumber recovery percentage decreases with an increase in log taper. Furthermore, from this study using statistical models, it is observed that correlation model could be used to accurately predict lumber recovery from log characteristics. The findings have shown that the knowledge of log characteristics influence on lumber recovery is important in waste reduction in sawmill which in turns have provided valuable information that could enhance efficiency in lumber recovery process.