Tuesday 31st of May
On the second day of the workshop the group went to JGA Sawmills which is a medium sized sawmill by Swedish standards.
JGA Sawmills – Magnus Ragnarsson
The group was received at JGS sawmills by Magnus Ragnarsson who is the head of human resources at the company. He gave a short talk about the size and history of the company and went over general security rules that the group had to follow during the visit. Everyone was given an orange vest to wear during the stay. He then gave the group a tour around the sawmill, starting with raw logs and finishing with quality timber, ready for sale.
Börjes – presentation by Benkt-Åke Rungegård, owner of Börjes
Lunch was at Börjes, a shop and a restaurant run by two brothers but their father was the founder of the company. In the beginning the shop was quite small but has now expanded into many different directions. They pride themselves on low prices and good variation of goods, have about 150 people on staff, many of which are young people from around town who work in the shop during holidays and are greatful for the work opportunity and experience. They own four shops that sell horse related items to many countries, even to Iceland. The owners walked with the group through the shop, explaining various interesting things along the way to the restaurant on the top floor, where the owners invited everyone to lunch.
Björn Källander – Drying wood
The lecture after lunch was held in an old house next door to the shop. The house used to be a church and Benkt-Åke told the group about the history of the house before the lecture, which was given by Björn Källender.
Björn went over the benefits of using hand held moisture content measurement instrument to estimate the moisture content of timber, but sadly the industry is not using that as much as it should be. There are many factors that can influence the drying of woods in kilns and one of the challenges in drying woods in kilns is how to make sure that all the timber in the kiln will dry equally. Björn discussed various damages that can occur in timber during the drying process, the reasons for the damage and what can be done to minimize the damage.
JGA Sawmills – Leif Gustavsson
After lunch the group went back to JGA sawmills and was now greeted by Leif Gustavsson, who is a specialist in kilns and wood drying and has designed the drying kilns at JGA. The group was split in two, half of the group went on a kiln tour with Leif while the other half took part in a practical excercise with Björn Källender, where the aim was to determine the moisture content in a few pieces of wood, using different methods.
The day was concluded with a barbecue by a lake where the group was invited to row boats on the lake or take a hike through the forest.
