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In recent years, due to rising raw material and labor costs, increasing attention is being
devoted to improve wood sawing practices. While a high cutting rate is still among the most
desired characteristics, other factors such as improved cutting accuracy and surface quality,
reduced kerf losses, noise, downtime, and maintenance of the machine are becoming
increasingly important. However, band sawmilling have advantages over circular saws which
include higher cutting speeds lower kerf waste, and typically lower noise levels. Considering
above advantages several Sri Lankan companies have now established band saw milling
factories. Thus the key objectives of this study were to evaluate cutting time of band sawmills
and to investigate waste generation. Three different band saws (TRAK-MET TTP 600
premium; TM, Wood-Mizer LT20; WM, and Veheran; V) which are commonly used in Sri
Lanka were used to this study. Evaluation of cutting time and waste generation in different
band sawmills were done with special reference to Teak timber. Results show that the fastest
cutting time in WM (mean cutting time of 27s), medium cutting time in TM (mean cutting
time of 60s) and the slowest cutting time in Veheran (mean cutting time of 180s). The factors
such as tooth profile, setting value, sharpening frequency, status of lubrication, tensioning
pressure of the blade and capacity and the condition of the machine may have affected to the
fastest cutting time. According to the results of evaluation of saw dust Veheran showed the
highest wastage owing to high kerf and factors such as poor lubrication, lower tensioning
pressure. Moreover, cutting time negatively correlated with the lubrication and saw tension in
band sawmills. Therefore, it can be concluded that proper saw mill management is necessary
for reduction of timber wastage and increase the efficiency of the industry.
