Cutting head & debarking machine
The technology you need, all in one place!

MEHLING & WIESMANN, GERMANY: New cutting head & debarking machine

- Gently debarked -
New cutting head & debarking machine automatically processes hardwood

At the Mehling & Wiesmann sawmill and veneer factory, mild Spessart oak and other noble woods are processed for customers all over the world. To get the best out of each log, they chose a mechanised debarker with butt end reducer from Baljer & Zembrod.

Chocowood is now an internationally known term for sawn timber and veneer made from smoked fine woods. Richard Weis, the tenth-generation owner of Mehling & Wiesmann, based in Lohr am Main, Germany, buys high-quality round timber for premium interior construction projects in airports, sales rooms and yachts. A lot can go wrong on the long processing path to the saleable product. With five-digit acquisition costs for a single trunk, Weis is always on the lookout for optimisation potential in his production chain.

He saw the purchase of a new band saw as an opportunity to install a suitable upstream debarking and reducing unit with mechanisation. This was delivered by Baljer & Zembrod in summer 2014. "I wanted someone with experience who takes small and medium-sized businesses seriously and understands their demands," says Weis, explaining his choice. In Baljer & Zembrod's Managing Director Peter Schaeidt, he found the ideal partner. A suitable offer for a milling head debarker with integrated root reducer was soon on the table.

Reducing roots and costs
The customer requested fully automatic operation. This was ensured by a Pinol clamping mechanism, which centres each log on both end-grain surfaces. Four lifting prisms raise the valuable raw material and position it correctly for the clamping device. Short timbers can also be reduced using this system, which is designed for lengths of 2.1 m to 7 m and diameters of 30 cm to 120 cm.

The debarking process is particularly gentle, leaving no impressions on the trunk's surface. This means the debarker – if need be, monitored by a camera – can autonomously feed the new band saw.

The system offers additional advantages: ‘The integrated root reducer also reduces the acquisition costs. Furthermore, a separate machine could not work parallel to the debarker and requires more space,’ explains Schaeidt. Integrated into a cross conveyor, the custom-built machine takes up only a small amount of space.

Variable bark thickness? No problem!
In this case, a cutting head debarking machine was preferable to the alternative rotor type because it can adapt to the log curvature. The machine is also equipped with a depth limiter, which regulates the milling depth with varying bark thickness. As a result, if Weis needs to cut woods other than Spessart oak, such as maple, a different bark thickness can be set mechanically.

About Mehling & Wiesmann
Internet: www.mehling-wiesmann.de
Established: 16th century as a mill and crate factory
Location: Lohr am Main, Germany
Owner & Managing Director: Richard Weis
Employees: 48
Product range: High-quality hardwood lumber and veneer, smoked on request, specially-developed veneer lines such as ‘Truffle Beech’ and ‘Silver Edition’

Top