By Joy Crane Roy Southey, executive director of Sawmilling South Africa (SSA), says the depressed local market made 2025/26 an extremely tough year for sawmillers, yet they have shown resilience that many rural communities appreciate.…
By Joy Crane It has been two years since the last South African Saw Doctors Educational Association (SASDEA) meeting, and sawmill managers and saw doctors travelled from as far afield as Zimbabwe and Eswatini to…
When STIHL marks one hundred years in business, it does so from a position few in the forestry equipment sector can match: a century shaped by engineering innovation and long-term relationships with professional users. Founded…
South Africa’s commercial plantation forests are mostly FSC certified. That’s not a small thing. It represents a significant and ongoing investment by forest managers in responsible practice, and it’s reflected in the cost of the…
Our sawmilling customer needed a solution and decided to build a machine unlike any we have delivered before. The result? The double arbour Multirip 260 is our largest and most powerful machine to date.…
By Joy Crane All photos by Joy Crane © ForSawn Media Pty Ltd Over the past three years or so, a subtle yet significant shift has been taking root in South Africa’s sawmilling industry. A…
Denver de Kock, MD of RD Sawmill near Maclear in SA’s Eastern Cape Province, defies harsh trading conditions with a thriving sawmilling business. The multi-generational De Kock league of aunts, uncles, brothers and cousins have…
A recent wattle field day organised by NCT Forestry provided an ideal opportunity for local tree farmers to pick up some pointers from the wattle “experts” who have been working with wattle for decades. The…
Rob Scott, owner of the Shire Eco Lodge near Stutterheim, in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, says the curved shape of its chalets takes its cue from nature. “I wanted the design of the chalets…
With its Wood-Mizer log processing line, New Heights Sawmill lies in the shadow of South Africa’s most extensive mountain range, the magnificent Drakensberg, which in Afrikaans means “dragon” mountain. The farm and sawmill trading as…
Nukor’s large stand featuring working machines gave visitors a taste of international industry trade shows where machines and dust extraction systems are put through their paces. Stephanie Maier of Nukor said the show exceeded their…
Unless affordable housing is available, the traditional building sector, architects and engineers, and the government procurement process prioritise timber and carbon-friendly projects like mass timber. The continued survival of South Africa’s sawmilling and wood products…
