On-site veneer production in short-rotation hybrid poplar plantations

A self-contained lathe that can be transported on highways and used at roadside landings was tested at Boise Cascade Paper Solution's hybrid poplar farm (now owned by GreenWood Resources) near Boardman, Oregon. A hundred trees ranging from 6 to 11 inches diameter at breast height (DBH) were delimbed, then bucked into 50.5-inch bolts, and the dimensions of each bolt were recorded. The bolts were then processed by the portable lathe. The time to process each bolt and the amount of veneer produced from each were recorded. Results showed that on average approximately two-thirds of the solid volume of each bolt were converted into veneer. Veneer yield was higher for larger bolts, although recovery from butt bolts was lower than that for upper bolts of the same small-end diameter. Lathe productivity was strongly dependent on bolt diameter and ranged from about 40 ft(3) of veneer per productive machine hour (PMH) for bolts of 5-inch small end d.i.b., to 120 ft(3)/pMH for 11-inch bolts.