Revista Cubana de Ciencias Forestales (Apr 2020)
Analysis of the quality of sawn tropical wood in Cabinda, Angola
Abstract
The work has been carried out in the Amorim sawmill, located in the city of Cabinda, province of Cabinda, Angola; having as objective the application of statistical control during the mechanical processing of the wood to increase the quality and the yields of sawn wood of the species Baillonela toxisperma, Erythrophleum ivorense, Entandrophragma angolense and Sarcocephalus diderrichii de Wild e Th. Dur. Defects present in 100 logs per species are determined to define the quality and strategy to improve the use of wood as a raw material. The Control program is applied to increase the dimensional quality of the sawn timber based on the analysis of the average dimensions obtained and the variation of cut in the sawmill. Eccentricity and ovality are the two defects that present the greatest magnitudes in the analyzed logs, being the Entandrophragma angolense logs the ones that present the lowest quality levels. According to the average thickness values for the pieces represented, values are shown for the three species, above the established final dimension (25 mm), with variations greater than 1.5 mm, representing a considerable loss of sawn wood, which implies the need to develop the statistical control process in the sawmill. It is established that the use of the Control program to determine the optimal dimensions of sawn wood, as well as the construction of control charts, constitutes an adequate tool to take decisions aimed at increasing the quality of sawn wood.
