Introducing the Grade Resaw: Automated Continuous Resawing

For industrial-scale sawmill operations, every pass through the saw matters. Every inch of yield lost to inefficiency, manual handling, or unplanned downtime directly impacts the bottom line. That’s why Wood-Mizer has developed the Grade Resaw: a fully automated run-around system for continuous resawing, now available as part of the HR industrial range. The Grade Resaw is designed for operations that need to keep material moving intelligently and consistently, with minimal operator intervention.

The Grade Resaw is an automated run-around system: cants and boards enter the system, pass through the resaw, and are automatically returned for additional passes in a continuous loop. There is no manual repositioning, no lost time between cuts. The system manages material handling at every stage, from the loading transfer deck through the rollcase, board separator, and back around for the next pass.

It’s compatible with the HR4500, HR5500, and HR6000 horizontal sawmills, and handles material widths from 4” to 18” (101–457 mm) and board lengths from 8’ to 20’ (2.4–6.1 m). Feed speeds on the HR4500 configuration reach up to 150 ft/min (45 m/min), with cutting widths up to 24” available on the HR6000.

Hydraulic systems are powerful, but they come with a maintenance overhead: fluid changes, leak monitoring, pump servicing, and the risk of an unplanned failure that can take an entire line offline while parts are sourced.

The Grade Resaw takes a different approach. The entire system, every actuator and every drive runs on pneumatics and variable frequency drive (VFD) electric motors. There is no hydraulic power unit. For your operation, this means cleaner operating conditions, a simpler preventive maintenance program, and fewer failure points that can halt production.

Every conveyor in the Grade Resaw system (rollcases, transfer decks, separator chains) is driven by VFD motors that automatically synchronize to the cutting speed. When the feed rate changes based on species or material size, the conveyors adjust to match. There’s no manual speed calibration required between passes, and no bottlenecks created by mismatched conveyor speeds.

The Grade Resaw manages the flow of material from start to finish without the operator needing to intervene at each stage.

The Grade Resaw is available in clearly defined, pre-engineered configurations, so spec’ing the system for your mill is a straightforward process. You choose your sawhead, your system length, and your material flow direction. The system is then built around those choices.

This modularity also means the system can grow with your operation. What starts as a 12’ configuration can be engineered with future expansion in mind, giving you a clear upgrade path without having to replace equipment from the ground up.

There’s a real operational advantage to sourcing your complete resawing system from a single manufacturer. One parts inventory. One service team that knows every component in the line. One warranty that covers the system as a whole, not a patchwork of coverage from multiple suppliers.

The Grade Resaw is a fully integrated system from infeed to outfeed, including the sawhead. Operations that are already running a WM4500 or WM5500 breakdown saw will find additional value in the shared service components between those machines and the Grade Resaw, reducing the number of unique parts to stock and allowing preventive maintenance tasks to be coordinated across the line.

The Grade Resaw is built to work hard. Key operational features include:

•        Heavy-duty plate and structural steel construction throughout

•        Intuitive joystick controls with interactive HMI

•        High-speed chain board separators with three-way separation — separate the board and return the cant, separate the board and exit the cant, or exit both together

•        Pivoting drop chains at all four corners for smooth, consistent material transfers

•        Dual hold-down system at both the infeed and outfeed of the resaw

•        Material maintained at a consistent 36-3/4” (93 cm) working height throughout

•        Automatic chain elongation detection for proactive preventive maintenance

•        Readily available replacement components through your regional Wood-Mizer team

The Grade Resaw is available now as part of the Wood-Mizer HR Industrial range. Whether you’re expanding an existing line or building a new production system, our industrial team can walk you through configuration options and help you specify the right setup for your operation.