The Dollars and Cents of Conventional Processing of Standard-Size Blanks

Abstract

Manufacturers of furniture and cabinets normally use over 2 billion board feet of hardwood lumber or about one-third of all hardwood lumber demanded each year. Although the current market for hardwood lumber reflects the overall economic downturn, competition for limited better grade hardwood resources will intensify when the economy improves. So, we need to improve the utilization of the abundant lower grade hardwood resource to assure adequate supplies at reasonable prices. A breakthrough toward this end came when we found that nearly all of the thousands of individual dimension-part sizes used by the industry could be obtained from as few as a dozen blank sizes (wide edge-glued panels) per required thickness. Then, we developed the standard-size blanks concept (Araman et al. 1982). Conventional processing of low-grade lumber directly into rough-dimension cuttings is difficult. But, making standard edge-glued blanks and then processing blanks into rough-dimension cuttings holds promise. This bulletin evaluates the economic feasibility of producing blanks from log-run lumber (No. 2 Common and Better).

Citation

Araman, Philip A.; Hansen, Bruce G. 1983. The Dollars and Cents of Conventional Processing of Standard-Size Blanks. FS Information Bulletin NE-INF-43-83. 7 pp.