Over the last two years James Jones & Sons has made substantial investments in its timber treatment facilities.
New treatment tanks have been installed at Aboyne and the new Hangingshaw development at Lockerbie. There have also been new kilns at Mosstodloch and Hangingshaw, and new incising lines at Aboyne and Hangingshaw.
This investment programme is to meet the generally increasing demand for treated timber, but is also borne out of a belief that the timber trade cannot continue to supply ground contact timber that has only been treated to UC3 or worse.
“As an industry we must move the market to make sure that ground contact products – posts, landscape sleepers and decking components – are treated to the correct UC4 standard. And for spruce that means incising,” said James Jones joint managing director Ian Pirie.
“Since we launched our own incised product five years ago, demand has steadily increased as both merchants and their customers have begun to appreciate the benefits of a fence post that is fit for purpose and is underpinned by a warranty backed by the chemical manufacturers.
“However, the industry needs to work harder to explain to the end user what they’re buying – I don’t think we can reasonably expect a homeowner to understand the various usage classifications.”
The company believes a lack of understanding also exists at merchant level as well, making it even harder for the customer to buy what they need.
“If a product is appropriate for ground contact, what’s wrong with calling it exactly that?” added Mr Pirie.
It is the firmly held view at James Jones that responsible treaters and the chemical companies have a duty of care to the end user to ensure that what they are buying is fit for purpose.
Treatment Investments
A £16m investment by James Jones at Hangingshaw, next to the Lockerbie site, features new kilns, a new US-made RJH incising line, which is in addition to the existing line at Lockerbie, and a new 20m treatment tank, which will more than double treatment capacity at the Lockerbie complex.
In addition, there is a 20,000m2 shed that will allow storage of treated timber without deterioration from the effects of weather. And an MHS line and re-saw lines also feature as part of the Hangingshaw development. The Lockerbie and Hangingshaw treatment tanks both use Lonza Tanalith E chemicals, green and brown.
All incised product from both sites are treated to UC4 and are guaranteed for 15 years against premature failure.
At the Aboyne mill, the last two years has seen the commissioning of a new high pressure green and brown (Wolman CX8) chemical treatment tank and a low pressure Protim tank. Additionally, a new RJH incising line has been commissioned to meet the growing demand for UC4 product.
Meanwhile, at Mosstodloch additional kilning capacity was installed just over two years ago to ensure correct moisture content for fencing posts was achieved prior to pressure treatment.
This year a new pole peeling line was commissioned to allow the mill to produce more and better finished fencing strainers for the agricultural market.
Because the agricultural fence posts and strainers are produced from pine, they don’t need to be incised to achieve UC4 standard for ground contact.
UC4 product at the mill, which uses Wolman CX8 green treatment, also has a 15-year warranty. James Jones says that incised timber demand is picking up and feels it is a good time to push the product.
