Wood-Mizer Sponsors Midwest Forestry Event at Purdue University Photography by Purdue Agriculture/Tom Campbell More than 160 college students from 10 Midwestern USA universities participated in the 67th Midwestern Foresters’ Conclave held at Purdue University’s Martell Forest in West Lafayette, Indiana. Several universities were represented at the event including Purdue University, Michigan State, Michigan Tech, Ohio State, University of Illinois, Southern Illinois University, Iowa State, University of Missouri, Missouri State, and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The two-day event hosted by the Purdue University student chapter of the Society of American Foresters brought together forestry students for friendly competitions in log rolling, wood chopping, sawing, timber tossing, ax throwing, wood identification, and dendrology. The annual event is also used by STIHL Timbersports to identify the Midwest collegiate qualifier who advances to their national competition. “Wood-Mizer is excited to be a part of this event that brings together students throughout the Midwest with an interest in forestry,” said John Smith, Wood-Mizer CEO and Purdue University Alumnus. “These students are the future of our industry and we are dedicated to supporting them now and into the future as professionals in the decades to come.” The competition required logs for the log rolling event, four-sided cants for the double and single buck events, chopping blocks for the underhand chop events, and a competition stage. With access to their own forest and wood processing equipment, Purdue University saw the event needs as an opportunity to demonstrate on-site the entire woodworking process from forest to final form. For the competition, Purdue University forestry students and staff harvested 26 white pine trees from their own forest, milled the logs on-site with their Wood-Mizer hydraulic portable sawmill, and further processed the materials for their end use. In total, 5,000 Doyle board feet of logs were measured, and the yield was 7,000 board feet of material used within the event. As one of the larger event projects, a 50’ x 30’ competitor stage was designed, milled, cut to length, and constructed all within several hundred feet of where the trees were harvested on the property. “For the stage, we ran 2,800 Doyle board feet of white pine logs through the sawmill and yielded 3,600 board feet of rough sawn, square edged lumber,” said Purdue University forester Ed Oehlman. “This resulted in a nice 29% overrun that was only possible thanks to Wood-Mizer and the thin-kerf blades.” For more information and photos from the event, visit: https://purdueag.exposure.co/midest-foresters-conclave-purdue-university About Wood-Mizer Since 1982, Wood-Mizer has earned the reputation as a world-leading wood processing equipment manufacturer with a strong legacy from its innovative sawmilling products. From forest to final form, Wood-Mizer offers an extensive line of equipment including narrowband portable and industrial sawmills, wideband sawmilling equipment, band resaws, board edgers, wood kilns, planer/moulders, firewood processing equipment, pallet recycling equipment, material handling equipment, bandsaw blades, and blade maintenance equipment for woodworking and forestry hobbyists and professionals all over the world. Visit woodmizer.com for more information.