McDonough Manufacturing Unveils Redesigned Website
5/15/2015 4:20:39 PM
McDonough Manufacturing, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the world leader in sawmill solutions, is proud to unveil its redesigned interactive website. The new website, www.mcdonough-mfg.com was created by the team at LumbermenOnline.com, the sister company of LUMBERMEN’S Equipment Digest and features improved graphic interface and easy to use navigation. Since 1888 McDonough has followed a simple “good neighbor” philosophy coupled with a family atmosphere that puts the customer’s need for profit and efficiency first. Visitors to the new site will find complete product information including features, product specifications and video as well as quick print product information, career opportunities and more. If your sawmill operation needs to learn more about kerf savings offered by band resaws and headrigs, how edger optimization can improve your bottom line, advanced material handling, a new carriage or a complete turn-key installation you’ll find it online at www.mcdonough-mfg.com.
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MAINTENANCE TIP – WHY DOES MCDONOUGH USE CAST IRON BAND MILL WHEELS?
5/27/2014 2:56:14 PM
The longer a Saw Blade keeps its tension, the better it will run, Right? Heat in the Saw Blade robs it of tension. By using a Cast Iron Wheel you absorb and radiate heat faster than steel. By greatly reducing the heat generated by the Saw, you maintain Saw blade tension. The Graphite in Cast Iron is a natural lubricant too. This all helps dissipate heat, keeping the Wheel round and in balance. On the other hand, Steel Wheels and a Steel Saw Blade (Steel-on-Steel) generate heat that leads to hot saws and hot wheel faces. Many Saw Filers claim Saw Blades coming off Steel Wheels are too hot to touch. Not on a McDonough. The result, a loss of tension in your Saws. Steel Wheels, because they are fabricated (welded together) will get hard spots over time making annual Wheel Grindings much more difficult. The heat generated and the instability of a Steel Wheel will ultimately result in an egg-shaped Wheel. So why doesn’t everyone use Cast Iron Wheels? Bottom line is, the patterns to make a Cast Iron Wheel are very expensive to build and maintain, but it’s worth it. A Casting Pattern also allows McDonough to have “balance pockets” in the wheel for perfect hand balancing by our skilled assemblers. This perfectly balanced wheel eliminates any vibration as the wheel spins, resulting in a better sawn lumber. To try and balance a Steel wheel, you have to weld on pieces of steel to an area of the wheel. So next time you are considering a Band Mill, remember how important Cast Iron Wheels are. It’s just one of the many qualities that set McDonough apart from the rest.
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McDonough Manufacturing Reports on Recent Activity
5/13/2014 5:20:24 PM
High Country Lumber in Wilkesboro, NC has ordered a lineal edger infeed table for their existing Valley Machine lineal edger. The McDonough design offers a smoother feeding to the edger increasing recovery compared to the old one. The infeed table is scheduled for a February delivery and will be installed in the mill right away. This adds High Country Lumber to the list of nine Valley Machine edgers that McDonough is currently servicing. Pike Lumber Company’s new mill in Milan, IN started up the first week of January. The new mill includes a McDonough 6' headrig as well as McDonough’s seventh edger system. This edger system features McDonough’s ValueMax system which allows an operator assisted visual defect upgrade of the optimizer’s solution and is Pike Lumber’s second edger system of this kind. Rex Lumber Company’s new tandem arbor lineal edger, for their new 20' Southern Yellow Pine facility in Brookhaven, MS, tested in the shop in early January and shipped to the customer. This innovative machine design features two skewing saw boxes in one machine center. Sold to perform up to 50 pieces per minutes, once operating this will be one of, if not the, fastest edger in the world. The machine is scheduled to be commissioned the first week of March. This will be McDonough’s eighth edger product since they started making edgers just three years ago. D.G. Limited of Beauce, Quebec, Canada will be receiving a McDonough 54" horizontal resaw in February. Sold by Akhurst Machinery, the horizontal is a new design for McDonough as the bandmill will be installed directly behind a moulder and tilt up to 15 degrees from horizontal. McDonough has a long history of making 54" vertical resaws with tilting feed rollers which allow customers to make beveled boards to be used for house siding. But a machine installed directly behind the moulder will reduce the need to have a separate machine setup and the surrounding material handling equipment required for the operation as well as an additional operator. The machine will start up soon after it is received. For more information on McDonough Manufacturing’s custom line of sawmill machinery, please call (715) 834-7755
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Superior Hardwoods of Ohio
5/13/2014 5:00:51 PM
Superior Hardwoods of Ohio, Inc, was founded in 1971 and has grown into the largest green lumber producing company in the state of Ohio. Total company annual production is over 50 million board feet. The company also owns over 3,500 acres of timberland which are in co-op with the Ohio Div. of Wildlife for hunting. They saw primarily red oak, white oak and poplar but also some hard maple and cherry at certain locations. Superior Hardwoods has four operations each with bandsaw headrigs and linebars located in McArthur, Cambridge, Barlow and Wellston, Ohio which also serves as its headquarters. Their facilities are positioned amongst the forestlands of eastern and southern Ohio enabling them to serve local, interstate, and international customers via the extensive interstate road and rail systems of this region. Emmett Conway was raised in McArthur with sawdust in his veins as his father, Emmett Sr., was a forester and superintendent of the D. B. Frampton Company, Ohio’s first large stationary sawmill. Graduating from Ohio University with a degree in botany in 1971, he began a logging company that expanded in 1974 to also include a portable sawmill. Emmett’s love for sawmilling grew resulting in the construction of Conway Lumber in McArthur, OH in 1978. His business continued to grow, leading to the acquisition of a sawmill in Wellston, OH in 1982. At that time he incorporated as Superior Hardwoods of Ohio. His continued passion for sawmilling and business growth led to the purchase of the Cambridge, OH facility in 1985. With the big dive in lumber prices and hardship for a lot of sawmilling companies around the country, Emmett also saw the opportunity in 2009. In a time when a lot of people were simply surviving, he chose to expand with the acquisition of a sawmill in Barlow, OH. As primarily a producer of green lumber, this move opened new doors for Superior Hardwoods with its 320,000 board feet of kiln capacity. “The dry kilns have given us added markets as well as added value, flexibility and diversity” says Emmett. Emmett Conway doesn’t really see himself as the boss. “I am now a coach. I enjoy going to my various operations and not being the boss but coaching my employees on how to be successful in life” he says, “but every now and then, when they don’t listen, I do have to put my boss hat back on.” Continuing with his desire of sawmilling are his two sons, Will & Adam, both full time members of the “team he coaches.” “Superior Hardwoods of Ohio has always had one constant philosophy” according to Emmett Conway, “every year, put money back into the company. A philosophy that continued with their latest equipment upgrade in June of 2010. The Wellston Facility received a new McDonough 2 press roll round way linebar. It replaced a 1973 McDonough linebar that they retired after 37 years of operating at a double shift production level most of the time. The linebar project also included a new McDonough infeed table, programmable setworks and a McDonough operator’s cab. “The decision to purchase another Mc-Donough was easy,” says Emmett, “We put a lot of lumber through the old McDonough linebar, running two shifts here at Wellston the majority of the last 35 years. McDonough machines work, they are proven.” Superior Hardwoods believes in being involved and supporting the industry. All locations are members of the Ohio Forestry Association and the National Hardwood Lumber Association. Emmett is past president of OFA and still serves as co-chair of the OFA’s “The Paul Bunyan Show.” “In my spare time,” he says with a chuckle, “I enjoy golfing and spending time with my family.”
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McDonough Celebrates 125 years!
11/20/2013 1:25:58 PM
Frank McDonough started a company to build custom made equipment that was better than anything being built at that time, with a focus on Efficiency, Production, Design, Durability, Simplicity and Strength. Today, 125 years later, we are proud to say we are continuing Frank’s legacy. On November 13th, McDonough will be hosting an open house from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm to celebrate our 125th birthday. When Frank incorporated in 1888, McDonough Manufacturing started out servicing sawmills in the Eau Claire area as well as other mills around the State. Today, McDonough’s customer list spans the globe to countries like Australia, New Zealand, Austria, France and Brazil. McDonough’s product line has also grown to include: bandsaws for headrig and resaw applications, log carriages, linebar resaws, horizontal resaws, center-splitting resaws, lineal or transverse optimized board edgers, gang edgers, manually fed edgers and industrial drill bit grinders. For more information contact McDonough Manufacturing at (715) 834-7755.
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