Gomputers will stretch hardwood supplies

strong enough to support loads such as the roof of a house. Aligning the flakes in one direction increases board strength in that direction.

Press lam, the name for both a product and a system, may allow producers to increase their yield from each tree by 5O%. Lumber-type products are made by peeling logs into thick veneers, press-drying the veneer and assembling the gluecoated layers in an overlapping fashion to obtain a large sheet which can be cross cut and rip sawed into 2' x 4's rafters, joists, or whatever is needed.

The press lam process, besides increasing yield, will allow use of small, short logs to produce long and wide products. It also upgrades the quality of the finished product because knots in one layer are backed by solid wood in another and no longer have as great an effect on strength.

Computers will help save our forests by making processing decisions much more accurately than the human brain can.

For instance, when cutting furniture pieces from expensive hardwood boards, men make mistakes that waste timber and cost both producer and consumer money. A device called the defectoscope, developed by FPL scientists, may alleviate this problem.

An ultrasonic scanner, sending sound waves through the board, determines where the knots are and sends this information to a computer..The computer makes an electronic picture of the board, decides the best way to get the most furniture cuttings from it, then directs the saws to cut the board.

Another computerized system is a hardwood grading program. This will insure that each board reaches its highest economic potential and is used for the best possible purpose.

A test on 1.000 boards at the laboatory showed that the computer was 300 times faster than a man and made only 4 mistakes while the man made 20.

Part of the program is computer control for edging and trimming the rough boards that first come off the log. FPL scientists estimate that application of this system will add about $120 million annually to the value of hardwood lumber produced in the U.S.

Computers may also help in drying lumber. The electronic brains can be used to control conditions in the dry kiln much more accurately than a human could.

This will reduce the amount of time and energy needed to dry the lumber and help lower the amount of warp, checking, and other drying defects that may degrade the lumber.

One FPL drying and processing study initiated at hardwood industry request involves determining the freshcut lumber thickness necessary to produce a given product. Accuracy will save much lumber now lost because it is too thin or too thick.

Wetwood, a bacterial tree infection problem that costs hardwood Producers drying time and lostlumber,is also being examined by FPL scientists. A method for segregating the infected lumber so it can be dried separately with less degrade is sought.

McSwain points out that increasing costs and the fact that demand for forest products is growing faster than timber supply will make increased efficiency imperative.

The Laboratory is maintained at Madison, Wi., by the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin.