NELMA Archives - Page 10 of 15

NELMA Welcomes New Addition to the Inspection Staff

Posted on August 7, 2014 by

The Association said goodbye on August 1 to Dennis Cornelius, NELMA’s retiring Export Wood Packaging Inspector for Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and Eastern Iowa. Dennis has provided inspection services to NELMA’s wood packaging facilities from his home base in Freeport, Illinois for nearly 11 1/2 years, witnessing significant changes to the program over the years. He advanced to the position of Program Coordinator in 2009, working closely with the Association’s staff to instill consistency in the inspection process and implementation of new aspects of the standard.

The process of replacement has been underway since Dennis’ plans became known in June. As with any field personnel changes, NELMA’s President and Director of Inspection Services take the opportunity to review customer locations and territory boundaries to ensure efficiency in fulfilling the requirements of the position. As a result, the home base for this territory has been relocated to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, where the personnel search began and a new staff member has been hired.

NELMA is pleased to introduce Peter Sohnle as the latest member of the Inspection Staff, who began his orientation and training process on July 28. Peter brings extensive customer service skills to the position, having most recently worked as a territory manager for a nationwide woodworking hardware distributor, providing coverage to around 300 customers in Wisconsin. He is also an accomplished woodworker himself with a broad knowledge of wood species and properties gained through the design and construction of custom furniture. Peter is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee with a degree in Sociology, in addition to earning a Technical Diploma in Architectural Woodworking from the Milwaukee Area Technical College. He lives in Wauwatosa (Milwaukee suburb) with his wife Karen and their two daughters. We welcome Peter to the NELMA family!

Pellet Inspection Program Promoted

Posted on August 6, 2014 by

NELMA was one of 2 agencies accredited by the ALSC to provide certification for wood pellets that chose to exhibit at this year’s annual conference of the Pellet Fuels Institute. The gathering of the pellet industry was held July 27-29 at the Omni Orlando Hotel with approximately 180 business-related individuals in attendance. As one of 34 exhibitors at the Convention, NELMA touted its pellet certification and inspection program to the manufacturer representatives during the networking time slots dedicated to the trade show floor. “NELMA’s wood pellet inspectors are ready when you are” was the overall message presented to inquirers, supplemented with copies of the Association’s Qualification Process and Inspection Procedures booklet.

“This event enhances our goal of raising and re-enforcing NELMA’s visibility within the pellet industry regarding our available inspection services,” according to Jeff Easterling, NELMA President, “however, after 3 years into the implementation of the program we continue to see a reluctance by manufacturers to pull the trigger in obtaining certification to the PFI Standard.” Easterling added, “This could change when/if the EPA Proposed New Source Performance Standards for Residential Wood Heaters is officially adopted and enforced, scheduled for a final decision in late 2014 or early 2015. Contained within the proposal is the requirement to use pellets produced under the PFI Standard.”

The EPA proposal sets guidelines to make new residential wood heaters significantly cleaner than currently required, through updates to its Clean Air Act standards for residential wood heaters. The proposed updates would strengthen the emissions standards for new wood stoves, while establishing federal air standards for other new wood heaters, including outdoor and indoor wood-fired boilers (also known as hydronic heaters). The proposed rule would not affect existing woodstoves and other wood-burning heaters currently in use in people’s homes.

Stay tuned.

Rob Robillard, Wood Geek

Posted on July 30, 2014January 11, 2022 by Jeff Easterling

Carpenter
Editor, AConcordCarpenter.com

How long have you been working with wood?

I’ve been a carpenter since 1993, but have been working with wood since middle school when I fell in love with wood and tools in a shop class.
What is it about wood that you love and appreciate?

What’s not to like? I like the feel, smell, look, and workability of wood.
Favorite wood project?

This is one of my all-time favorite projects we’ve ever done. http://www.aconcordcarpenter.com/how-to-build-an-outdoor-shower.html

Best wood project story?

I just finished working on a timber-framed pool house. We finished the inside all in rough-sawn eastern white pine. Everything from cabinets, doors, changing rooms, and partitions – super fun and a beautiful project when completed.

How To Build Rustic Cabinet Doors

How to Build A Board and Batten Door

Where do you think wood fits into today’s home improvement/building industries?

Wood will never go away for trim, cabinets, built-ins and flooring. In fact, it’s coming back in popularity with architects and designers.

Rob Robillard is a carpenter, and the editor of AConcordCarpenter.com.

Grader Academy: Series 200 Courseware

Posted on July 1, 2014 by

The development of the next level of NELMA’s grader education for Eastern White Pine is set to go live this month. The 200 series, Application of Characteristics to Grading, is where the rubber meets the road in learning the 5 grades of Eastern White Pine, or should we say where the crayon meets the lumber. As the next logical step after the 100 Series, where the general wood characteristics were introduced, this next educational unit will provide an understanding of how these same characteristics are applied to each grade.

The level of complexity with this section was significant for staff and the developers in terms of depicting a method of online learning that was visually interesting to the users of the program, yet effective as a means of becoming grade knowledgeable. Through the introduction of comparative tables, images, and embedded instructional short video clips, we believe an effective mix of media has been developed for the 200 series. “The video clips in particular will be a key component of understanding some of the more confusing terms when applying characteristics to grading,” according to Matt Pomeroy, NELMA’s Director of Inspection Services. “These selected short visuals with sound bites greatly elevate the ability to understand the written grading standard.”

In June, the NELMA staff and the SOAP Group developers took a day at the HQ Office to video a lucky-13 instructional segments that will be included within the 200 series. With most around 1-minute in length, they include information on how to apply the characteristic to a grade in addition to measurement procedures when applicable. Don Pendergast, NELMA’s Coordinator for the Lumber Program and Senior Lumber Inspector provided the expertise and voice-over audio instructions. Click on the image to view a sample clip that will be used in the Grader Academy.

Please note that the 200 series will not be accessible to registered program users until each of the 100 series (Characteristics) is successfully completed. So if you haven’t already, go online, register and complete the first level to be ready when this next series is made available! And to test your knowledge on occasion, play the affiliated Above Board grading game to see if your score ranks with the best.

NELMA @ AIA

Posted on July 1, 2014 by

For only the second time in the past 12 years, NELMA participated with an exhibit at the National Convention of the ChicAIAgo_masthead American Institute of Architects (AIA), held June 26-28 in Chicago. This event was the second Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) sponsored activity for the North American industry’s “appearance” type wood products, defined as interior pattern products, exterior siding, and outdoor decking (JLC Live in Providence in March was the first SLB-sponsored event).

An estimated 17,000 architects and design professionals attended the AIA Convention. The format of the event is centered on providing continuing education to attendees with designated hours for exploration of the trade show floor. More than 375 seminars, workshops, demonstrations, and architectural tours are available to participants, all with varying assigned continuing education credits.

Housed under the “Wood Pavilion” banner on the convention floor, NELMA joined two other softwood product trade associations, each with 10’x10’ spaces (Southern Forest Products Association and Western Wood Products Association) within the designated area, which also included wood product manufacturers. Supporting the overall use of softwood lumber products, the larger SLB-sponsored reThink Wood exhibit neighbored the all-wood sector of the exhibit floor. Around 800 total exhibitors took part in the Convention, with other non-wood materials commanding joint spaces, such as concrete, composite, and the metal industries.

“One look around the exhibit floor and it becomes quite clear that today’s architects are being bombarded with replacement
products for what typically are wood product applications,” cited Jeff Easterling, President of NELMA. “It becomes our job to showcase and convince these important design professionals that wood products are the most sustainable and versatile building material choice today that automatically come with historical relevance and confidence.”

The most popular market-support item provided by NELMA at the exhibit was the Eastern White Pine Grades “Swatch” along with the EWP Patterns booklet, both highly-useful specification pieces for this important building design audience, according to Jeff. “The White Pine Monograph Series continues to gain interest and subscriptions from architects as they seek design ideas both from contemporary and historical applications.”

Robbins Lumber Wins 11th Annual Eastern White Pine Graders Competition

Posted on June 23, 2014 by

Eleven NELMA mills sent a total of 57 graders to the 2014 Eastern White Pine Graders Competition, held Saturday, June 21 at Robbins Lumber Company in Searsmont, Maine. This year’s event would yield a series of firsts, beginning with; this was the first time this annual competition has been hosted by Robbins Lumber since it all began in 2004.

50 Pieces-web

The contest featured the typical 50 stationary boards, previously selected by NELMA’s Inspection staff, and the 5 minute time limit for each participant to identify the grade of each piece. The test boards featured a variety of widths and lengths and included all 5 NELMA Eastern White Pine grades. The mix tallied out as 2 C-Select boards, 6 D-Select, 3 Finish grade, 17 Premium, 14 Standard, and 8 Industrial boards.

To say the total time to complete the grading ID process was important would be an understatement, as this tiebreaker was used 4 times to determine the final Top 8 individuals. Taking First Place was Jason Fuller of Robbins Lumber by a close 17 seconds over Second Place finisher, Matt Chesley of DiPrizio Pine Sales. Val Sanborn of Robbins Lumber took Third Place, edging out Lonnie Kollander of Limington Lumber (Fourth Place) by 9 seconds. Fifth place went to Nathan Edwards of Hancock Lumber’s Casco mill. Sixth and Seventh Place was decided by a 5 second difference between Mike Rafuse of Irving Forest Products and Eric Graffam of Limington Lumber. Gene Black, also of Limington Lumber took Eighth Place, in a tiebreaker over Cheryl Johnson of DiPrizio Pine Sales.

This was the first time that a female grader has finished in the Top 8 in the 11 years of the Eastern White Pine Competition, with Val Sanborn of Robbins Lumber finishing in Third Place. Ms. Sanborn also placed the highest in the Bonus Round that included all Top 8 finishers in a final challenge to grade 10 additional boards. In all, a total of $1,475 was distributed to the winners of this year’s competition.

Another first: Robbins Lumber Company winning the Team title and Bronze Hammer Trophy, with a total score of 69 points. Second Place for team title ended in a tie between Limington Lumber and DiPrizio Pine Sales with 66 total points. Congratulations to Limington Lumber for placing 3 individuals in the Top 8! Rounding out the Top 5 team scores: Hancock Lumber’s Casco team in Fourth Place (63 points) and Irving Forest Products finishing in 5th with 61 total points.

Our final “first” was the introduction of a “Guess the Number of Knots in the Jar” contest, which featured a packed container of Eastern White Pine knots for participants to test their visual skills. Final guestimates ranged from 31 to 237, with Dylan Blackman of Hancock Lumber @ Casco accurately guessing the knot total of 79.

Congratulations to all 57 participants in this year’s competition for a job well done and taking this opportunity to enhance your skills and meet & mingle with others within your grading profession. NELMA would like to extend its gratitude to Robbins Lumber Company for their generosity in hosting the 2014 EWP Graders Competition. And kudos to the chef for a great lunch!

Photos from the Competition:

Top 8 Individual Winners: Matt Chesley-DiPrizio Pine (2nd Place), Jason Fuller-Robbins Lumber (1st), Val Sanborn-Robbins Lumber (3rd), Nathan Edwards-Hancock Lumber Casco (5th), Eric Graffam-Limington Lumber (7th), Lonnie Kollander-Limington Lumber (4th), and Gene Black-Limington Lumber (8th). Not pictured: Mike Rafuse-Irving Forest Products (6th)

The Winning Robbins Lumber Company Team with Bronze Hammer Trophy: Jeremy Wadsworth, Jason Fuller, Val Sanborn, and Ralph Bean

Final Review of Test Boards with NELMA’s Don Pendergast

Would you guess 79?