Howie Forest Products has made a substantial investment to produce value-added products for customers in the builders and timber merchant sector.

The company is aiming to produce at least 5,000m3 of planed all round (PAR) low-pressure treated construction timber within the next year. Several key national builders merchant customers are already stocking the material.

The latest investment is a low-pressure treatment plant using Osmose‘s Protim Clearchoice. The 8m3 capacity tank has the ability to treat up to 35,000m3 annually and the installation is the first investment of its kind for a sawmiller of British timber.

Howie sales director Keith Ainslie said the development was prompted by customers wanting to make inroads into the repair, maintenance and improvement market and, if possible, the growing timber frame sector as well.

“Protim Clearchoice allows us to give a degree of protection without compromising the dimensional stability of the timber,” said Mr Ainslie.

Howie’s key product is dry-graded rough sawn construction timber, but Mr Ainslie hopes PAR volumes will grow due to its performance characteristics and ease of handling.

The company has already invested in high-pressure treatment facilities with a capacity of 65,000m3 a year. And like the new operation at Finnforest BBH’s Newport site, this uses an Osmose WorkNet process control system.

Fully automated

The high-pressure tank is 16m long and 2.5m in diameter. The fully-automated system incorporates hydraulic rail bridges and loading bogies, automatic doors and a unique pack press system in place of straps. It is housed in a new building built by Howie’s construction division.

In this tank Howie treats with Osmose Naturewood, which couples copper with an organic co-biocide such as a quaternary compound (quat) to combat copper-tolerant fungi and insects.

The company’s old treatment building is now a dedicated store for kiln-dried and heat-treated packaging material to meet the new ISPM 15 standard.

Mr Ainslie is clearly pleased with the company’s progress in developing its products and services and with its continued relationship with Osmose and its engineering, technical and marketing support team.

“We are delighted that we now offer a full range of treated timber products,” he said.