Hardwood:  From Forest to Finish (VHS)
Schaller Hardwood Lumber

Review by Mark Gezella – August 2006

While I had our future wood mill trips in mind, I grabbed a copy of From Forest to Finish to gain a greater appreciation for all folks involved with providing such wonderful products for us woodworkers.  The video was produced in 1995, so some of the dollar amounts have increased since then, but the general idea is still the same - fine products cost money.  Viewers travel vicariously through Bill, the Host, who takes you from forest floor to distribution yard to explain all of the steps necessary to manufacture fine quality, dimensioned hardwood.  Along the way you meet some pretty interesting characters, who are both knowledgeable and somewhat comical - I got the impression they are all basically over-zealous actors!  They seemed a bit too focused on portraying genuine, sincere, and at times somewhat enthusiastic managers - almost to the point of a fault.  It was all incredibly scripted - they must have spent a lot of time memorizing stats like expected yield in a log, clear wood in various grades of lumber, nominal shrinkage from a kiln, etc.  Nonetheless, I thought it was 45 minutes well spent, and I'd like to offer my critique to you this month.

There are four separate stops on the sojourn, and each is a pretty thorough walkthrough of an individual operation.  First you meet Ed.  He is a soft-spoken, steward of the forest who describes how trees are selected for cutting.  These are mostly mature trees, or those slightly beyond maturity but still sound.  Ed discusses the myriad decisions that must be made to determine which trees succumb to "the axe".  For example, Douglas Fir requires much sunlight and won't tolerate a canopy overhead, while many hardwoods are shade tolerant and can be selectively cut within a stand.  There are always choices of economics versus aesthetics as well, and additional criteria such as size, species, and quality of timber must be considered.  A woodlot manager must also be a visionary; i.e., envision whether seeds will germinate in vacated areas, whether soil will support the next generation of growth, etc.

Bill hooks up with Don next, who takes him on a fantastical trek through a sawmill.  This was probably my favorite part of the film.  It was most interesting and included the broadest range of information in terms of wood selection and usage.  There is much machinery to watch during this segment - virtually everything is automated.  In fact, the only disappointment was absence of a veneering machine.  Prior to milling, logs are classified in one of two general categories; prime logs (reserved for veneer) or standard quality timber (relegated to straight-sawn lumber).  The latter are gobbled up by various pieces of machinery in the following order:

After the mill it's on to Clint the kiln-guy.  This is the shortest segment of the whole film.  Clint makes a brief appearance to describe the entire drying process.  Probably a good choice - the presentation is about as dry as the subject!  Kilns receive shipments of "dead piles" from a mill, which must be stickered right away to avoid introducing excess flaws in the boards.  These carefully stacked piles are left to air-dry from one to three months based on size and species.  After considerable preparation and a little luck, boards enter the kiln where they lose all but six to eight percent moisture content.  Hopefully, they exit the kiln with original cell structure intact.  If not, they're subject to bend, honeycomb, or even split.

Lastly, Bill ends up at the Distribution Yard, where Tom talks (in excruciating detail!) about services a distributor provides to their customers.  These are typically warehouse-type operations that sell to both contractors and individuals.  They offer quality control measures that verify tallies, lumber gradings, moisture content, defects, etc. are according to specs.  A lot of ho-hum stuff in this last visit, though I was really impressed by the inspectors.  They, like lumber graders at the mill, execute a well-choreographed "dance" with the wood.  Kind of a hook-draw-flip-tick-pass maneuver to quickly inventory what they have on hand.  Their job requires accuracy and alacrity which is really amazing to watch.

This film has surprising picture quality for being over ten years old.  It has vibrant color, and gives an accurate depiction of how wood is processed, even today.  If you're interested in any part of the manufacturing process that brings lumber to your favorite wood yard or retail outlet, you might want to give this a quick view.  After all, you can always fast-forward through the droll stuff!  This video will be available for check-out at the next general membership meeting.

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