Appalachain Timber Services-Sutton, West Virginia

Our second trip on Thursday was to Appalachian Timber Services in Sutton, West Virginia. They primarily make railroad ties, wooden bridge timbers and mine timber systems. Their largest railroad tie buyer is the New York City Metro. Their mine timber supports are patented systems using technology originally pioneered in South Africa.

Timbers that are already kiln dried and milled arrive at Appalachian
Timber Services. They are then graded and sent on for processing.

One of the problems with natural wood is it splits as it continues
to dry over time. To control the the splitting, the stack of blades
pictured above cut slits the length of the railroad timber.

Timbers then have metal screens tacked over the ends to further
prevent and control splitting. From here the timbers go into a chemical
bath that pressure treats the timbers to prevent rot and decay.

Here workers custom shape a timber for a bridge replacement project.
Saws and knifes are used to mortise the timber to exact specifications.

Wood Products Follow Up-Weyerhaeuser OSB Plant

In the words of the immortal Joliet Jake Blues, "we're getting the band back together." We may have been on a mission from God, but we definitely were almost in heaven, in West Virginia! And heaven would be my description of our dining experience at Cafe Cimino. Steve, Dennis, Karen and Annette outdid themselves with our meal and the overall dining experience with my traveling friends.

First we traveled to the Weyerhaeuser OSB Plant in Heaters, West Virginia on Thursday.

The Heaters plant accepts the tree tops and other undersized
trees that otherwise would be waste that is left in the forest.

Trees are washed, debarked, dried and then enter a cylinder that strands
them. Stranding is the process of cutting the wood up into strands
pieces that are 5-7 inches long.

The strands then come together in mats. The mats are layered,
7 inches here for a OSB board that will be 23/32 thick. The process
involves using glue, heat and pressure to compress the strands
and create a product that is similar to plywood in its strength.

Every step of the process is monitored by highly trained workers.
Here we see an employee monitoring the OSB boards as they are
pressed to the desired thickness.

Freshly compressed OSB, ready to be cut into 4x8 sheets.

The finished product ready for transport.