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32 North American Natural Resources: Timber and Forest Products

Safety First Lumberjacks make a V-shaped cut in a tree to help direct where it will fall. There is no guarantee that things will go as planned, however, so they always have two escape routes planned, in case the tree begins to fall in an unintended direction. Care is taken before beginning to cut the tree to remove all the small trees and brush from the escape paths. Other people in the area are advised to stand far away from the tree—as far as 1.5 times the height of the tree.

The next step is to sort the logs. Logs of lower quality—smaller logs, or ones with many knots and imperfections in the grain—may be sent to a pulp or paper mill, where they are processed into paper. Other logs are transported to a sawmill, where they will be made into lumber. Paper Mills and Sawmills Once the logs are at the mill, the real work can begin. The logs are first passed through a machine that removes the bark. This machine is like a large, rotating drum. Several logs are placed in the machine at a time, so that they spin and hit each other, removing the bark in the process. Bark is not used in lumber or paper—instead it is used as fuel or in mulch. At a paper mill, the logs are passed through a chipper. Here the log is reduced to pieces about 2 inches (5 centimeters) square. The chips are mixed with chemicals