The station was built in 1908 for the Western Maryland Rail Road. This was one of the many railroad lines that allowed the cutting of the state's timber discussed in yesterday's entry.(see day two blog).
We then visited Colonial Mill Works in Beverly Randolph County ( find on your map) They follow the same process as Wilson Mill Works (see yesterday's blog) but on a larger scale. they make different moldings. They produce moldings and speciality pieces for the flooring made at our next v visit Armstrong Wood Products.
Pictures from Colonial Mill Works.
The main species that they use is Oak, Maple, Cherry and Hickory. They buy wood from all over the U.S. and Canada. (why do you think this is the case, Why don't they just get their lumber from WV?) They bring in a very light but tough wood from Oregon State called Albus? (why do they do this do you think?) All waste from cut pieces are ground to dust and sold? (From previous blogs who do you think they sell it to?)
As with the other wood products businesses we have visited their business is tied to the housing market. In 2007-2008 they had over 200 employees and ran 24 hours a day 7 days a week running 3 shifts of workers. Today they have ____ ( take a guess) employees.
One problem they have staying competitive in the world market is the FSC. The purpose of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) is to protect workers and forest in 3rd world countries (what are 3rd world countries) Its goals are to protect forest around the world from over cutting and to stop the world black-market in exotic species and to protect workers from being mistreated. But since none of those practices apply to the United States they still need the FSC certification to sell their products on many contracted jobs. This puts companies like colonial at a competitive disadvantage and cost them money and jobs for potential extra employees. To change these policies businesses like colonial must go against powerful lobbyist. (Why are lobbyist so powerful?)
Our last stop was at Armstrong Wood Products-Bruce Hardwoods also at Beverly The plant was built in 1989. It is the largest east of the Mississippi. It covers 15 acres and has 650 employees. They use hardwoods like Oak, Maple, Ash and Hickory to make primarily hardwood flooring of widths of 21-4 in. to 5 in.
They bring in rough sawn lumber from everywhere. They produce a finished product that goes into a box to be shipped to their customer like Lowe's or Home Depot. They bring in green lumber and let it sit to dry to a certain moisture content in the air of their yard. Then it is placed in one of their 38 kilns to be dried to (what moisture content do you think from previous blogs). They also have the most kiln capacity east of the Mississippi. They produce 12 trucks of saw-dust per day!!!
Workers either work the yard and kilns or one of their 3 production lines through the plant which takes the kiln dried boards and turns them into the finished hardwood flooring you would install in you house. First, boards are graded by graders (see pictures from previous plants) then sent through a ripsaw which uses lasers to determine how to cut the board into widths to get the most use out of the board. then boards are cut to lengths depending on knots and defects again the machine uses lasers and does this job.
Once cut to size, tongue or groove is cut in both sides and the end plus the board is sanded on both sides to get the correct thickness. Defects are filled with putty and left to dry for 24 hrs before the finish is applied. A total of 5 layers of finish are applied. Scuffing with sandpaper by machine happens between the first 3 coats. The final 2 coats of finish are put on wet. Drying is accomplished by running the wet boards under lamps that produce UV rays. We were not allowed to take photographs at Armstrong so pictures are from other places but are the same processes. (why is the plant at Beverly so big, list your predicted reasons)
I like your use of interesting questions for your students. I can't wait to know how you use the experiences from this project with your students.
ReplyDelete