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A Visit to K-P & Sons Mill

2021-09-05
By: isf_admin1
On: September 5, 2021
In: Documents & Articles, ISF Events
With: 1 Comment

K-P & Sons operates a small, sustainable mill in Humboldt County

by Susan Nolan

ISF is a big supporter of small mills. We were really disappointed when last year’s trip to the K-P & Sons mill had to be cancelled, as the corona virus crisis deepened. But when things opened up this year, we were able to reschedule for June 18.

There was a great turnout, including curious and supportive friends and neighbors, potential customers, young people looking to get into the business, and a couple from our kindred group, Roots of Motive Power in Willits.

A log’s journey through the mill begins with getting trimmed to usable lengths and then being brought to the 1972 debarker. As the log is rotated, bark gets ground off, leaving spiral grooves. KP’s debarkers can handle up to 36” logs; anything bigger is debarked with a backhoe. KP is one of the few mills left that can still handle really big logs.

Log with spiral grooves at K-P & Sons mill
Log with spiral grooves at K-P & Sons mill. Photo by Ann Constantino.
Waste is carried off to a pile,K-P & Sons Mill
Waste is carried off to a pile. Photo by Ann Constantino.
Next, logs are brought to the LT-40 to be cut into cants. Cants are big beam-like cuts, intended to be sawed down further into smaller lumber.
K-P & Sons Mill
Logs are brought to the LT-40 to be cut into cants. Photo by Ann Constantino.

They also use a mobile dimension saw to cut the really large logs that do not fit on their other mills. This saw can also produce slab materials. The mobile dimension saw makes two cuts in one pass, with a vertical blade and a horizontal blade both running at once. Here it is slicing out 2 x 8s. Good lumber is stacked to the operator’s left, and offcuts to his right. Defective boards can be directed to other uses. This happens at each machine. Every stick gets processed into marketable product as much as possible.

K-P & Sons Mill
Cutting a large log with a mobile dimension saw. Photo by Ann Constantino.

From there it goes to a Wood-Mizer resaw, which cuts the 2 x 8s into 1 x 8s, producing one of the mill’s main products, fence boards.
The Wood-Mizer EG200 edger puts a nice clean edge on both sides of a board in one pass:

K-P & Sons Mill
Producing one by eights with a Wood-Mizer resaw. Photo by Ann Constantino.
K-P & Sons Mill
Fence boards bundled and stacked. Photo by Ann Constantino.

At the very end of the line, 1” boards with defects that won’t make good fencing are cut into 1 x 1 lath using a five-blade gang saw, and then banded in bundles, salvaging as much useable product as possible.

K-P & Sons Mill
Bundles of 1 x 1 lath. Photo by Ann Constantino.

Of course, much material can’t be made into lumber: the rounded edges of logs, bark, sawdust, trim ends, etc. The Paines are trying to find responsible uses for all their waste. Their sawdiust and ground bark get processed into “forest peat” and mixed with bat guano, worm castings and chicken manure by NorCal Gold, and sold in bulk at the mill. It’s a new prodcut this year;  “we’re getting good reports from users, “ Kelly notes. Finding a use for their woody waste is a work in progress. They’re considering chipping it, if they can find a market for chips, and making biochar.

A variety of machines power the mill. Many are older. The debarker dates back to 1970. One runs on an old VW motor. As their business grows, he Paines are reducing their need for “muscle and diesel” by upgrading to more efficient electric machines.

Redwood is the KP Mill’s mainstay, as it is the market that they have focused on. Douglas fir and hardwoods require different saw blades. Buying logs is a challenge—“that’s the rough part,” Kelly observes. They prefer sustainably produced trees, and will be buying 600,000 board feet this year from the Redwood Forest Foundation, with whom they have a good relationship. They also sustainably harvest a small amount from their own land.They don’t do grading, drying, or planing, but there’s a steady demand for the products they do make. “Not quite two truckloads a day” go out, with 16, to 18,000 board feet per truck.

The Paines started milling on their own property, then moved near Garberville, and are now working at the old Coombs mill site in Piercy, a great site with old mill buildings and plenty of room. Recently they’ve opened up a retail outlet in Santa Rosa, KP & Sons Custom Redwood, which offers fence boards, 1 x 1 x 8’ lath, slabs, timbers, beams, custom orders and more. The family’s two oldest sons, Levi and Jayden, along with Levi’s fiance Caitlin, run the store. This is a new project for the the Paines, and they are enjoying teaching their kids the trade and the ins and outs of running a retail store.

To learn more about KP and Sons Custom Redwood, see https://kpcustomredwood.com

We had a great time with the Paines, and learned a lot. ISF intends to visit more local mills. If you are interested, please contact us at contact.newforestry@gmail.com

K-P & Sons Mill
The group listens to Kelly in the main building, K-P & Sons Mill. Photo by Chip Tittmann.
K-P & Sons Mill
Kelly gives pointers to two men thinking of starting out in the business. Photo by Chip Tittmann.
K-P & Sons Mill
Sustainably harvested redwood logs. Photo by Ann Constantino.

Fire and Vegetation Change in the Yolla Bolly

2020-08-24
By: isf_admin1
On: August 24, 2020
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

Fire and Vegetation Change in the Yolla Bolly

by Susan Nolan

A recent backpack trip to the Yolla Bolly Wilderness gave an immersion in fire ecology. In Indian times Cedar Basin must have been frequently burned. Someone pointed out that Indians burned to manage vegetation, not for fire control, and that would certainly be true in Cedar Basin, a place that would have been used for summer gathering and hunting, not a place to live year round. (Both the Wailaki and the Wintun used that area.) The early ranchers who ran cattle up there continued the burning regime to keep pastures clear.

But as the young Forest Service gained traction it suppressed fire to preserve timber resources. Protected from their greatest natural enemy, trees began filling in the grassland. It was quite striking to me on this trip that so many of the trees are young, short and pointy-topped.

Yolla Bolly Wilderness. Photo by Susan Nolan.
Yolla Bolly Wilderness. Photo by Susan Nolan.

There are scattered old growth trees. Their progency crowd around them:

Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Stand of Douglas Fir, Yolla Bolly Wilderness

You can see this tree grew up without near neighbors by the dead lower branches remaining on the trunk—those would have been shed much earlier in shade. With more frequent fires, the little trees would have been killed off.

An interesting spot is Saunder’s Place, a small stand of old growth next to an unusual meadow, very near a creek, a natural campsite. Note size of red backpack. Looking south.

Saunder’s Place, Looking South
Saunder’s Place, Looking South

Looking north across the meadow from within the small grove, you can see dense young trees filling in:

Saunder’s Place, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Saunder’s Place, Yolla Bolly Wilderness

I bet the Wintu had a name for Saunder’s Place too; it is definitely a place. And reading the forest, it looks like in their day this little grove stood by itself in a mostly open grassland.

Here’s an opening filling in with young trees. Very common.

Young Trees, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Young Trees, Yolla Bolly Wilderness

Frequent fires would wipe most of these out, but with fire suppression they turn into thickets, then dense stands, which burn hard, leaving lots of standing dead wood.
.
There was also a lot of deadfall. Here is a firebreak, I think the original fire was in 2008 and the firebreak made more recently, defending against a different fire:

Firebreak, Yolla Bolly Wilderness
Firebreak, Yolla Bolly Wilderness

Lots of fuel standing and on the ground. This could become a catastrophic fire, killing the big surviving trees.
.
Also, not one but two trails on my route in burned areas had been neglected by the Forest Service, and become blocked by deadfall and brush until they disappeared. This meant a change of plan for me, but more seriously, hinders access for future firefighting. I would guess that the Forest Service has half the trail mileage they did 50 years ago.
.
So lots of time to consider fire on this trip. After a century of fire suppression, it will take more than one or two prescribed burns to restore some places to a healthy balance. And it can’t happen fast enough, we can’t do the work fast enough, so a great deal of catastrophic fire lies ahead—and that’s no solution either. Climate change complicates the problem as this ecosystem adapts to new conditions. We can expect that a new equilibrium will establish itself, likely more like biomes further south.
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Sorry if this sounds glum. It was a wonderful trip, with bears and grouse and wild lilies, so much of interest and beauty. And that place will be there, whatever the changes.

Air Curtain Burner Demonstration and other Environmental News

2020-06-21
By: isf_admin1
On: June 21, 2020
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

On the EcoNews Report on KHUM on May 16, Larry Glass talked about the air curtain burner demonstration he attended at the Ruth Guard Station east of Southern Humboldt.

This air curtain burner belongs to CalFire, which loaned it to the Forest Service. Larry commented on being able to stand downwind and barely notice smoke. This is a big consideration, as air quality can really constrain burn permits—he pointed out Weaverville averages only 15 permissable burn days a year. Also, the air curtain was able to consume root balls, which often survive regular burn piles. The machine costs $150,000.

This issue of EcoNews Report also includes an environmental victory from Humboldt Baykeeper; EPIC announces new lawsuits and the successful settlement with Humboldt County over the controversial contract with Wildlife Services; Friends of the Eel River announces further steps towards the end of Scott Dam.

Larry’s talk about the air curtain starts at 7:58. Click here for the audio.
Photos of the air curtain are on Six Rivers National Forest’s Facebook Page.

Air Curtain

“Heat Doesn’t Rise, and Wood Doesn’t Burn”

2020-05-02
By: isf_admin1
On: May 2, 2020
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

“Heat Doesn’t Rise, and Wood Doesn’t Burn”

by Gray Shaw, April 2020

Woody plant waste comes in many shapes and sizes and conditions. On April 8, we assembled all the brush and wood that Chip had lying around and made biochar.

Some of the material was good for starting the fire. Some was acceptable later in the burn. And some was not suitable at all.

We also filmed the event, to show others how to make decisions about what to use and how.

Chip was using an Oregon kiln, designed by Kelpie Wilson. This kiln is simply an open box with sloped walls and a drain. Its purpose is to control air flow to the pile so that air only enters at the top. There’s a drain plug to empty the water after you quench the fire. You can make a pile on the open ground, and it will work almost as well.

When we arrived, Chip had already loaded his Oregon kiln. But there were problems with Chip’s pile.

Biochar Workshop

First, the material was not arranged so that the fire could be lit on top and burn down. Biochar piles need small fuel at the top to start, with a gradual size increase as you go down. Large material can be on the bottom or added later. This is upside-down to most people. You probably learned to light a fire at the bottom. Why do we build the fire upside-down? To eliminate smoke and ash, and increase charcoal production. Even if you weren’t trying to make charcoal, this way is better in terms of smoke.

Second, there was too much air space in the pile. In a conventional wood fire, flames ignite the fuel above. In biochar piles, we rely on radiation from the burning fuel on top to ignite the fuel below it, and so on down through the pile. You may have been taught that heat rises. Wrong! Hot air rises, but heat radiates equally in all directions. This is how fire spreads through a biochar pile. In order to catch, the fuel can’t be too far from the burning material above it. There also should not be too big a jump in size between layers.

So we took apart Chip’s pile and rebuilt it. Wood over 3″ diameter was removed. Branches less than 3″ went on the bottom, followed by smaller branches, then twigs, then fine twigs and straw surrounding a paper top knot. The material was closely packed, allowing only enough air space to feed the flames. It really did look like an upside-down fire!

Biochar Workshop

All the material was dry. No green or rotten wood was included.

Anyone who has built a bonfire knows that green material can be put on after the fire gets going. Biochar piles are no exception. However, it slows down the burn temporarily and makes more smoke. The water inside the wood has to evaporate before the wood can burn, and this takes energy away from the fire, which results in smoke. We waited until the fire was really going before adding green material.

Rotten wood can also be added to an established fire. However, rotting is the same as burning, chemically speaking, so there is less fuel left to burn in a rotten limb. The energy released by fire is the same energy consumed by organisms eating the wood. You won’t get as much heat when rotten wood burns. You’ll get more smoke instead. We tossed Chip’s rotten wood into the forest, where it will soon become soil. It wouldn’t contribute much fuel to a wildfire, either.

Biochar Workshop

I lit the fine material and paper, and we watched carefully as the fire grew. If you’ve never seen this before, it’s really quite interesting. Embers drop through the pile while it’s being heated from above, which accelerates the ignition. But because we lit it on top, there was hardly any smoke. We could stand comfortably right next to the pile.

I gently stirred the fire as it burned downward, to make sure all the wood was ignited. Once the fire reached the bottom of the kiln and flames began to subside, we began adding fuel, a little at a time.

When adding fuel, we try to maintain a “flame cap” over the pile by adding just enough fuel to feed the flames. Too much at a time makes smoke. When ashes began to form on a part of the fire, we quickly place new fuel there. We keep this up until we run out of fuel or space in the kiln, whichever happens first. Then we wait until the flames go out and extinguish the pile with water.

How does this flame cap work?

Charcoal is what’s left over when all the compounds containing hydrogen and oxygen are driven out of the wood as gases, along with some carbon particles. Together, these “volatiles” are what burns as flame. They burn in the air, whereas charcoal burns where it is. As long as we keep air from reaching the wood, charcoal will build up at the bottom of the fire. The kiln controls the air so that it only enters the fire at the top; that’s mainly what it’s for. The burning flames extend across the top of the pile, forming a cap that keeps oxygen away from the wood. The heat of this combustion keeps driving volatiles out of the wood until they’re all released. Smoke is the particles that escape combustion. The flames keep air from touching the wood directly.

Biochar Workshop

In other words, wood doesn’t burn. It separates into volatiles and charcoal, which burn separately. In an ordinary fire, of course, some air can reach the wood and some charcoal is burned along with the volatiles, but it still tends to burn last. When your campfire goes out, instead of enjoying the glowing coals, you could stop the fire with water and you’d have charcoal.

We had many different fuels to throw on. Chip had been saving up branches and stems of various soft and hardwood species for awhile, and he cut some green material just for the occasion. We even had an old bamboo screen woven together with wire. The wire was easily removed after the fire was out.

When you make biochar, you want all the material to finish flaming at about the same time. If bigger pieces are added too late, the smaller branches will flame out first and start turning to ash before the bigger ones are done. It’s best to set aside a quantity of smaller material to add at the end, so that any larger unburned pieces can catch up.

Lest you be tempted to burn lumber or agricultural waste, bear in mind that there are prohibitions in place about those. Old pressure-treated lumber contains chromated copper arsenic (CCA), and newer PT lumber still has high copper levels. You don’t want that in your soil. All construction debris is illegal to burn. The rule about ag waste is a good thing for the CA central valley, where smoke from burning rice straw used to obscure visibility and injure lungs on I-5. Air quality management districts have not yet made exceptions for clean-burning biochar manufacture.

Leaves and grasses burn too, of course, as long as they’re not matted together. Air flow is limited by matting, which causes smoke. Leaves tend to fly off as embers. Just to demonstrate this, I threw on some matted leaves and grass. Once was enough!

Biochar Workshop

At the end, we flooded the kiln to extinguish the burn. When all the coals were out, we pulled the plug and drained the kiln (a nice feature to have). The yield was about 15 to 20 percent of the volume of brush we added.

Biochar Workshop

This charcoal will need to receive two treatments before being used as a soil amendment. First, it needs to be reduced in size to 1/4″ or less. Larger pieces will not be easily penetrated to the center by water, nutrients, organisms and root hairs. Second, it should be inoculated with compost, worm castings, or compost tea. Otherwise, it will draw nutrients from the soil, reducing productivity, until it becomes fully charged.

You don’t need a kiln to make biochar. Kilns are used to control air flow, which increases efficiency, reduces smoke, and lets you stand closer to the fire. You can simply make a pile on open ground, being careful to scrape away flammable material down to mineral soil around the pile. You will get about a 10 percent yield. If your primary objective is fuel reduction, the biochar becomes a side benefit.

All you need for good biochar is biomass and a match. But be safe! Clear your perimeter beforehand and have water ready.

New Push To Preserve and Restore Redwood Forests

2020-05-02
By: isf_admin1
On: May 2, 2020
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

San Francisco Chronicle, April 30, 2020:

New reason to conserve redwoods — they’re best at storing polluting carbon

A fervid new push is being made to protect and restore previously clear-cut coast redwood forests after studies documented how they store more carbon than any other tree, a characteristic that researchers believe could be used as a bulwark against global warming.

The idea by Save the Redwoods League, a San Francisco nonprofit that has been the state’s most ardent defender of the giant trees since 1918, is to manage the cut-over forests in a way that would augment growth, biodiversity and make the standing groves more economically valuable than they are as lumber.

Link to full article here

 


Save The Redwoods League Press Release, April 30, 2020:

Research from Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University Confirms Significant Role of Redwood Forests in California’s Climate Fight

Newly published research from Save the Redwoods League and Humboldt State University (HSU) confirms the exceptionally large role that redwood forests can play in California’s strategy to address climate change. The research demonstrates that old-growth coast redwood forests store more carbon per acre than any other forest type. Forests of giant sequoia, coast redwoods’ closest relative, come in second. The findings cap 11 years of research through the League’s Redwoods and Climate Change Initiative (RCCI), which has also revealed that younger second-growth coast redwood forests grow quickly enough to result in substantial carbon storage in a relatively short period. This makes a strong case for investing in the restoration of previously logged redwood forests.

Link to full article here

Forest & River News, Spring 2020: Richard Gienger Report

2020-04-17
By: isf_admin1
On: April 17, 2020
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

Sure gets tough making sense of so much all at once and over lifetimes. Right now we are in the beginning throes of dealing with a virus that already is affecting millions around the world with not just threat of sickness or death but the disruption of multiple layers, numbers, and types of relationships and supply chains that humankind depends on. is context is daunting for moving forward on “Diggin’ In” #63.

Link to full article:

FRN_Spring_2020_040120_RG

Forest & River News is a quarterly publication of Trees Foundation

Forest & River News, Spring 2020: Activist Corner

2020-04-17
By: isf_admin1
On: April 17, 2020
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

Link to full article:

FRN_Spring_2020_040120_RainbowRidge

Forest & River News is a quarterly publication of Trees Foundation

Living With Fire

2019-04-25
By: isf_admin1
On: April 25, 2019
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

An article by Tim Bailey for Forest & River News:

FRN_Winter 2019_041019_final_ISF

Natural Resource Review 3-19

2019-03-06
By: isf_admin1
On: March 6, 2019
In: Documents & Articles
With: 0 Comments

Link to PDF:

natural-resources-environmental-protection-021419

Recent Posts

  • A Visit to K-P & Sons Mill
  • Audio: Sustainable Forestry Journalism Project: 3/17/21
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