Cash for trash: Maunsell Woodworking, a Canadian company, fingerjoints "garbage woods" into profitable products.

While some may look at much of the wood used by Maunsell Woodworking and see only garbage - knotty, imperfect and suitable only for burning or animal bedding - Fred Maunsell sees opportunity.

In fact, pieces of wood much like this are a prime reason this 8-man shop in Strathmore, AB, Canada, just east of Calgary, is looking to expand its 12,000-square-foot shop by another 3,000 to 4,000 square feet and add a second shift.

While Maunsell Woodworking does fingerjoint clear blocks of wood, most of the mouldings, door cores, stiles and rails that it makes are fingerjointed using lower-grade lumber.

"We use trimming from truss plants and saw mills - garbage wood," says Fred Maunsell, co-owner and president. "There is a cost savings to using this wood. The trimmings are from mills that have no use for it. That is why we are into this more."

The company was founded 15 years ago by Fred Maunsell and his father and now is run by Fred Maunsell, and partners Joni Maunsell, wife and secretary/treasurer, and Frank Parnell, manager. It began as a small custom job shop but really started to grow when it began fingerjointing five years ago. "We did custom work when we started, but as time went on we kept seeing fingerjointing wood come in that we would rip and chop," says Maunsell. "We did some research and found out there was only one other fingerjointer in Calgary. Now we chop, fingerjoint, mill, laminate, re-rip and re-mill to finished size."

New Fingerjointer Increases Productivity, and Adds Capacity

Maunsell bought its first fingerjointer, a used machine from Doucet, in 1994. Business grew to the point where the company needed to upgrade, so last November the company purchased a new, computerized Doucet DX-45 fingerjointer that, compared to its old fingerjointer, is "probably double to triple the speed," says Maunsell. "This one is all computerized and has easy changeovers. It has really made a big difference."

The DX-45 can cycle about every 11 to 15 seconds from infeed to assembled profile, Maunsell says. In that timeframe, the in-line fingerjointer trims the lumber, profiles it, applies glue and assembles the joint in a single pass. It has a three-point lug system with lug spacing at 12 inches and a PLC-controlled glue applicator.

"We process approximately 1.5 million board feet a year," Maunsell says. "With the new fingerjointer and addition to the plant we expect to do about 3 million board feet a year."

Maunsell brings in wood on 4 x 4 pallets that are supplied by mills in northern Calgary. Clear, fingerjoint-ready blocks can be used immediately, while trimmings and other offal from other sources has to be chopped and ripped to remove knots and other defects.

A bin dump system, built in-house, drops the rough-milled wood onto a conveyor which allows the operator to pick and choose the blocks of wood needed when he loads the lugs. Clear blocks need little grading and the operator will grade as it is fed into the system. Economy blocks, however, have to have the knots and other defects machined out and then be closely graded in-house.

The fingerjoint line, configured in an L-shape, randomly takes pieces from 5 inches to 36 inches in length and in thicknesses as small as 3/4 inch by 2 inches. The DX-45 can assembly the pieces in lengths up to 85 inches. The operator can use a screen-touch system to program the machine to cut the wood into desired lengths on the inline trimming station.

Once the fingerjoint profile is cut, the board proceeds into the glue application cabinet where a type-2 catalyst adhesive is applied. Then it is conveyed into an assembly tunnel.

The DX-45 gives the operator control over the amount of pressure used in the joint and it allows the operator to adjust the pressure required for the wood block. The general rule of thumb, says Maunsell, is that for every inch in width, apply 100 pounds of square pressure. For example, a 2 x 4 requires about 200 pounds of pressure.

"The press squeezes the joints pretty tight," Maunsell says.

Stability Is Key

Once out of the fingerjointer, the wood must be tested for moisture content. If the wood that was used was bought as a clear block, the chances are the MC is fine, but if it was lower-grade lumber, then the MC can range as high as 19 percent, Maunsell says.

"Moisture content is a big concern," Maunsell says.

The fingerjointed lumber is air dried, with drying sticks placed about every 2 feet so air can pass through the lumber, for a week or more to equalize moisture content. Once the MC is reduced to 10 to 12 percent, the boards are ready for further machining.

If the fingerjointed lumber is meant to become moulding, Maunsell says "We will take it to the Weinig moulder and do either S2S or S4S." For door cores, each plank is surfaced S2S, edge-glued and then clamped on a Doucet clamp carrier.

One of Maunsell Woodworking's primary products is a door core which is sold in Japan. Maunsell fingerjoints lumber in strips and then clamps the strips in a Doucet clamp carrier. After cutting to rough size, the door-core panel is sent to Snowcap Lumber Co. of Abbottsford, BC, which laminates it and then exports the door cores to its Japanese customers.

Because the door core travels such long distances and goes through so many climate changes, warping and twisting is a concern, but one that is minimized because the lumber that makes up the door has been fingerjointed, Maunsell says.

"Stability is one of the main things about fingerjointing," Maunsell says. "It will stay straight. It won't twist or warp on you. As long as it is dried it will be as stable as can be."