Lumber edger

Abstract

Provided is an improved lumber edger having a cross cut saw to cross cut flitch into two or more separate pieces of flitch to increase the available amount or value of boards.

We claim: 
     
         1 . In a lumber edger comprising:
 a conveyor for conveying flitch;   a scanner for scanning dimensions of the flitch;   a computer in communication with the scanner, the computer system is configured to determine edge cut positions on the flitch;   edger saws constructed to edge the flitch at the edge cut positions; and   skew structure to laterally position and skew the flitch in relation to the edger saws, wherein the improvement comprises:   a cross cut saw configured to cross cut the flitch prior to the flitch being edge cut by the edger saws; and   the computer system is configured to determine at least one cross cut position on the flitch so that the computer system can determine edge cut positions for each piece of the flitch separated by the at least one cross cut position.   
     
     
         2 . The lumber edger according to  claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to determine the at least one cross-cut position and edge cut positions to provide the largest size of boards that can be cut from the flitch, taking into account that the flitch can be cross cut into smaller pieces of flitch. 
     
     
         3 . The lumber edger according to  claim 1 , wherein the computer system is configured to determine different widths between edge cut lines for each piece of the flitch separated by the at least one cross cut position.