Posts Tagged ‘woodworking industry’
Perennial Wood named honorable mention for Material of the Year
Perennial Wood, modified real wood, was recently named as honorable mention for the Medium Award for Material of the Year from Material ConneXion.
The award recognizes materials that demonstrate outstanding technological innovation and the potential to make a significant contribution to the advancement of design, industry, society and the economy.
“We are honored to be selected among the best new materials by Material ConneXion, experts in material science and specifications,” said Deborah Baum Crain, director of innovation projects for Perennial Wood. “Now more than ever, manufacturers are looking to incorporate longer-lasting, high-quality and sustainable materials into their products. For outdoor applications, whether furniture, windows, doors, siding or trim, Perennial Wood offers manufacturers a practical alternative to composite, plastic and tropical hardwood materials.”
For more on Perennial Wood, visit www.perennialwood.com.
TechShop opens new location in Detroit
In celebration of the opening of its newest location in Detroit, TechShop (www.techshop.ws) and ShopBot Tools, a technology supplier and sponsor of TechShop, held a grand opening event.
On May 5 and 6, nearly 2,000 people attended the opening of the fifth TechShop, a community workshop and fabrication studio, at a former Ford Motors research facility in Detroit. Demonstrations of ShopBot full-size shop tool and ShopBot Buddy were also held.
“The urge to make has been growing like never before in the U.S., simultaneous to the emergence of digital fabrication tools. These tools enable anyone to get involved in prototyping and production of projects of all kinds. Of course not everyone can afford to own this equipment, so we started TechShop to make traditional and digital fabrication tools available for community use,” said TechShop’s chairman and founder, Jim Newton.
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Spring wildfires scorch 43,000 acres in Virginia
More than 43,000 acres of Virginia land has burned down since January 1, officials with the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF) said. The VDOF also responded to 355 additional wildfires that burned 6,556 acres during that time.
Seven large wildfires on National Forest System land began Easter Sunday and Monday resulted in blazes on the Blue Ridge Parkway and in Shenandoah National Park.
The U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service are grateful for the late April rains and are looking forward to the official end of spring fire season.
“This was definitely an interesting spring,” said John Miller, VDOF’s director of resource protection. “We had quite a few very large fires and several of them we suspect are arson. There are a lot of people around the state who hope that we never see so many large fires in one week again. And, just because the ‘official’ fire season has ended, we remind Virginians to still be aware of the wildfire threat that exists throughout the year.”
State forester Carl Garrison said that VDOF employees protected 544 homes and other structures such as barns, garages, sheds)during the first four months of 2012.
“That’s a lot of lives and property saved,” he said.
U.S. states not on board with British Columbia carbon taxes
Five years ago, when the Canadian province enacted a bold set of climate change policies designed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, they assumed the U.S. would follow suit. A coalition of only seven U.S. states joined forces with four Canadian provinces to establish the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) with a regional carbon cap-and-trade system, according to a National Geographic report.
In 2007 they established the Climate Action Plan, which set ambitious targets for B.C.’s GHG emissions reductions—reducing them by 33 percent from 2007 levels by 2020, and 80 percent by 2050.
But U.S. progress skidded to a halt when six U.S. states withdrew from WCI last November, leaving just California.
“I think it is safe to say that we expected more jurisdictions to be coming up and joining us in this kind of public policy,” said Terry Lake, British Columbia’s minister of the environment, in an interview. “That hasn’t happened.”
To further the debate, British Columbia has steadily increased its carbon tax since 2008 from a rate of $10 per ton of CO2 to a staggering $30 per ton this July. The last legislated increase is set for this July. It covers all fossil fuels burned in the province, accounting for an estimated 77 percent of B.C.s domestic GHG emissions, according to the government.
But because sectors of the agriculture and cement industry rely heavily on fossil fuels and the carbon tax puts them at a disadvantage, the government recently called for a comprehensive review of the carbon tax to consider constituent concerns.
“This is a good time to pause and examine how the carbon tax is affecting our economic competitiveness,” said B.C. Finance Minister Kevin Falcon, in a recent budget speech. “To that end, we will carry out a comprehensive review, examining the tax’s impact—both positive and negative—on every economic sector.”
British Columbia gets more than 80 percent of its power from hydroelectricity instead of fossil fuels. Its GHG emissions are relatively low, accounting for just 9 percent of Canada’s emissions. Transportation accounts for the largest share of GHG emissions, followed by their rapidly-growing oil industry. The remaining 23 percent of emissions, which are exempt from the carbon tax, come from non-energy agricultural uses, non-combustion industrial process emissions, and fugitive emissions from coal, oil, and gas extraction.
The most recent government figures show a 2.3 percent decrease from 2008 to 2009 in overall GHG emissions in British Columbia, from 69.2 Mt to 66.9 Mt CO2. But Lake notes that the economic recession was likely a factor. “Reduced economic activity usually results in reduced greenhouse gases,” he said. “The government plans to release emissions figures from 2010 sometime this year.”
But the competitive disadvantage the taxes create against the U.S. market does not help contain our global fossil fuel problem. “The problem for B.C. is that no other provinces or U.S. states have chosen to follow the same path since B.C. instituted its carbon tax in 2008,” said Jock Finlayson, executive vice president of the Business Council of B.C. in an email. “So while the ‘cost’ of carbon is rising in B.C., it is not rising in tandem in our principal competing jurisdictions.”
As for the future of saving the planet, British Columbia’s lawmakers will have to decide between industry interests and popular sentiment. Seventy percent of the province’s population agreed in a poll that they should continue to make strides toward reducing fossil fuels despite other jurisdiction’s ability to catch up.
Participants sought for survey on shop vehicles
Students from California State University, Chico, are conducting a survey to look at ways to make buying work trucks and vans easier and are looking for participants.
The goal of this survey is to identify problems and find solutions that would result in saved time, saved costs and better work vehicle purchases. Those who complete this anonymous, 10-minute online survey can enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card.
To take the survey, go to http://worktrucks.questionpro.com. Contact Ramon Chavez with questions at ramon_07@ymail.com.
AF&PA CEO supports illegal logging safeguards on Capitol Hill
American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman testified on Capitol Hill on the implementation and enforcement of the 2008 Lacey Act amendments, citing industry concerns over the proposed Relief Act (H.R. 3210) and Focus Act (H.R. 4171).
At the hearing, held by the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs, many, including Harman, testified on the important role the Lacey Act plays in protecting the environment and the U.S. economy by safeguarding against foreign illegal logging activities.
“The Lacey Act helps protect the environment and support U.S. jobs,” said Harman. “The recommendations we put forth today will support the nearly 900,000 good-paying U.S. jobs the forest products industry provides.
“Our members’ customers have come to expect products from well-managed, sustainable sources, and with proper implementation, the Lacey Act helps ensure that wood and paper coming into our country from other parts of the globe meet their expectations. We do not want the U.S. to be the market of choice for illegally-harvested wood products.”
Harman’s full testimony can be read at: http://afandpa.org/temp/AFPA_Lacey_Testimony_2012.pdf.
Columbia Forest Products offers prize for Purebond use in CMA awards
The Cabinet Makers Association is currently accepting entries through May 31 for its 2012 awards contest, which will now include a bonus prize offering from Columbia Forest Products for the use of its hardwood plywood product.
The awards program encourages woodworkers to enter their work in as many categories as they see fit, to be judged by a panel of volunteers from the woodworking industry. Projects entered in the 2012 Wood Diamond Awards competition that include the use of Columbia Forest Products PureBond hardwood plywood and mentioned that in the entry form will be eligible to win an additional cash prize from Columbia Forest Products as a Wood Diamond category winner.
The awards will be presented at IWF in Atlanta, August 22-25. For more information on becoming a CMA member or entering the awards contest, go to www.cabinetmakers.org/member_join.html.
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CNC software brands host woodworking training at Connecticut schools
Two CNC software brands for the woodworking industry are organizing a series of training seminars at high schools throughout Connecticut in an effort to prepare young woodworkers.
Paul Corey, who works with cabinet and casegoods software Cabinet Vision and CNC routing software Alphacam, organized the events to help “bridge the gap between the woodworking industry and technical high school students,” he said.
“The training focuses on specific capabilities of the software, including profile machining and drafting using Cabinet Vision and Alphacam. It gives students an opportunity to show what they’ve learned, starting with the initial drawing right through to manufacturing their design on the machine.”
The latest seminar was held at Norwich Technical High School, where he demonstrated profile machining in Alphacam on the school’s Omnitech router, and an earlier seminar at Prince Technical High School resulted in a student being hired on-the-spot with United Cabinets.
“The older guy who owns a shop doesn’t want to learn software programs and how to run a machine. But kids are ready and willing. When they leave school they’re ready, prepared to fill a job and need immediately,” said Corey.
For more information on the products or training sessions, visit Vero Software, owners of the Cabinet Vision and Alphacam software brands, at www.vero-software.com.
Michigan flooring company makes wood basketball courts for March Madness
For the 2012 NCAA March Madness basketball tournament’s Final Four round, 21 portable basketball courts were produced from Grade 1 maple wood by Michigan-based Connor Sports Flooring (www.connorfloor.com).
For each NCAA court, 80 to 90 40-foot tall trees were used, sourced from 235,000 acres of forest in Wisconsin owned by Menominee Tribal Enterprises. The wood courts are made by hand, inspected closely to meet standards that require the planks to be white and free of knots and cracks. Connor plant manager, Conrad Stromberg, says his workforce can detect cracks in the wood planks down to 1/64 of an inch.
“This is hard work,” Connor plant manager, Conrad Stromberg, said. “It has become harder and harder to find people who can do this kind of work. Before a person becomes a good checker, it takes them about a year on the job.”
The lumber is harvested and dried, then moved to kilns to be treated with steam and heat. Any wood that does not meet the high standards for the basketball courts is sent to a facility that manufactures residential parquet floors or fed into a silo, which powers two underground boilers that produce fire to heat Connor’s plant during winter.
After the wood is treated, it is cut by saws to 5/1,000 of an inch so that the floor boards fit together. The planks are then fitted together in 8-by-4-foot panels weighing more than 200 pounds each after the subflooring and locking metal strips are attached. Panels are numbered to make reassembly easier, and the floor is transported via truck to one of four finishing plants Connor uses before the completed court is delivered to the basketball venue.
Once the tournament is complete, the company will offer to sell the basketball court to the winning team for about $90,000. Connor says it will produce more than 700 of these portable basketball courts total in 2012, shipping some as far as China, Turkey and Israel for foreign professional basketball leagues.
To read the full story, please go to http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/story/2012-03-25/final-four-floor/53812954/1.
H3D Tool Corp. aquires Carolina Specialty Tools Inc.
H3D Tool Corp. (www.3d-diamond.com) in Newcomerstown, Ohio, a manufacturer of PCD (diamond), insert and brazed custom cutting tools, recently acquired Carolina Specialty Tools Inc. in Connelly Springs, N.C.
Business will continue as it has in the past with uninterrupted service, and changes in customer service personnel are not expected in the near future, according to Chris Dyer, vice president of H3D Tool Corp.
“There are no immediate plans to make sweeping changes at CST,” Dyer said. “However, we are excited about the additional capacities and combined experience and look forward to providing the entire industry with the same high quality, high definition standards developed by H3D Tool over the last 44 years.”
