On November 2, 2004 the Introduction to Forestry class (AGPS 1033) took a field trip to Bibler Brothers Lumber Co. in Russellville, AR.

Bibler Brothers Lumber Co. is one of the most modern southern pine lumber manufacturing facilities in the United States.

For safety reasons, each individual was fitted with a hard hat, safety glasses and ear plugs.

Logs are unloaded using a 155 foot circular crane that is capable of weighing each load of logs.

Logs are than stocked in inventory until they are processed.

Logs are loaded onto the merchandiser by the crane.

Each log goes through a debarking process where the bark is stripped off each log.

The stripped bark goes by conveyor to a storage bin where it is sold for landscaping mulch.

Logs are than cut to length. After being cut, logs go to one of three cutting areas according to size.

Once in the cutting room(s) logs are scanned and than cut into boards of various widths and thicknesses.

Each board will than go to an edger where the edges are smoothed off.

The waste chips are sold to make paper or used as bedding in poultry houses.

Outputs of all three cutting areas are compiled onto a large conveyor.

After one more cut to optimum length, boards are routed to one of two sorters

where they are scanned and assigned to a bay according to dimensions.

From the sorter, boards go to a stacker and are put into bundles to be taken by forklift to drying kilns.

Boards are put in the drying kilns to lower their moisture content from approximately 58% to no more than 19%.

Dry lumber is taken from the kilns to the planner mill where it is changed from rough, dry boards into finished lumber.

The planner has four cutting heads which smooth all four sides of the board simultaneously.

The planner mill can process 2,000 linear feet of boards per minute.

The lumber is than graded by hand. The individual grade mark that each grader puts on the lumber tells the computer what to do from that point on.

A laser scanner reads the mark and:

- relays to the end trimmer the appropriate length

- relays to the stamper the appropriate grade mark

- relays to the sorter the appropriate placement.

The lumber goes from the sorter to one of the stackers and than on to one of the two strappers,

where it even-ends the boards, compresses it and places restraining straps around the bundle to prepare for shipping.

Ninety-eight percent of the original log is put into some type of useable product.