Forestry Corporation of New Zealand manages about 190,000 ha of radiata pine plantations. It produces about 1 million m3 of pulpwood each year from thinning and clearfelling. We need to be able to measure the changes in the basic density (Oven dry weight/cubic metre of wood) of the pulpwood over time, as it leaves the forest. We would like to take wood samples from truckloads of logs as they leave the forest, and do the density analysis on these samples. We are looking for a mechanical device which will take these samples. An increment borer is not a suitable tool because it doesn't sample the volume of the log in proportion to the radial variation in density in the log. Ideally the sample should be wedge-shaped and at right angles to the long axis of the log. An article by Torborjn Okstad in Forest Products Journal (20:8, 1970) describes a prototype machine which looked like a chainsaw and cut chips from a wedge-shaped section of the log. We would like to contact anyone who has had any experience or knowledge of such a tool and/or experience in sampling for basic density changes in the manner described. Jim Shirley Forest Resources & Valuation Mgr, Forestry Corporation of NZ Ltd, Rotorua, New Zealand Email : shirleyj@fcnz.co.nz, and shirleyj@poly.waiariki.ac.nz,
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