Funny how the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. As you’re probably aware, that’s not our line. Robert Burns wrote it (or one similar to it) in his poem “To A Mouse.” He felt compelled to write the poem after he had mistakenly ploughed up a mouse’s nest at his farm early one winter in 1785.
The line came to mind as we produced this issue of Wood Bioenergy. We had planned for hazard control to carry the issue, and indeed there’s some of that in this issue, but the best laid plans…
For example, this issue features Millwood Brothers Logging of Forsyth, Ga. If you don’t know, you should know we’re talking about the pioneers of whole tree chipping here. We’re no strangers to Millwood Brothers Logging. In fact, our editors first visited brothers C.M. (Stooge), Gassett (Boots) and Charles in the woods way back in 1972. They had grown up working for their father’s logging job and in 1972 were still running a conventional logging operation.
That had all changed when we visited them again in 1974. At the beginning of that year, the Millwoods went to whole tree chipping with a Morbark Total Chiparvestor. The story goes that it was Stooge who saw a chipper working on a power line right-of-way and was intrigued by it. He talked to his brothers and to the forester at Georgia Kraft in Macon and it was a go. The Millwoods liked the increased mechanization of the chipping job and the reduction of manual chain saw labor. They continued to sort some sawlogs, but that had become second fiddle to producing clean chips for paper production.
From Left: Jessica Johnson, Associate Editor; Dan Shell, Managing Editor; Jay Donnell, Associate Editor; Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief; David (DK) Knight, Co-Publisher/Executive Editor; David Abbott, Senior Associate Editor
Fast forward to 2000 and not all that much had changed, except Boots had retired following some heart issues, but Stooge and Charles were still at it. Stooge’s son, Steve, who had been working for them since junior high, had taken on more responsibility and it was expected he would assume the head role at some point.
Boots passed away in 2005 and Stooge died in 2013. By then, Steve had not only assumed command of the in-woods chipping action but his sons, Kyle and Bo, had come on. When we visited them this year, the biggest change was a switcheroo to fuel chips. Why? Because clean chips production wasn’t profitable or cost-efficient enough. The “old guard” hasn’t completely vanished. The third brother, Charles, still has a say in things, as does Steve’s mom, Carol.
Also in this issue is the question and answer session with John Mocny, the new CEO of chipper manufacturer Bandit Industries. Bandit has brought Mocny in to provide a fresh approach to the manufacturing environment. He’s done the same thing for other manufacturers, and with excellent results.
And there’s the article on chipper and grinder manufacturer, Peterson. Astec Industries’ purchase of Oregon-based Peterson in 2007 brought capital infusion, resulting in additional manufacturing muscle, allowing Peterson to continue to develop and introduce new products to domestic and international markets. Peterson turns 35 years old this year.
Developments in chipping are part of every issue of Wood Bioenergy (how could they not be?), but it so happened chipping suddenly took center stage this time. Great oaks from small acorns grow (that’s not our line either).