Powhatan Company Open's 'Tree of Life' Woodworking Facility
在波瓦坦(Powhatan)的树林里，沿着一条蜿蜒的砾石路，隐藏着一家木材厂，在生命之树的帮助下，这家木材厂正在开辟一个工业利基.
愈疮树, Latin for “tree of life” or “wood of life,” is a long-endangered species of tree indigenous to Central America.
当地居民兼企业家鲍勃·肖特里奇(Bob Shortridge)围绕这片森林建立了一整套商业模式, 虽然很罕见.
Shortridge owns the mill at 2487 Judes Ferry Road, which has long been home to his Dreaming Creek Timber Frame, 成立于1983年. He recently shifted his resources, and now is closing Dreaming Creek to focus fully on his new venture, Lignum-Vitae North America.
Lignum-Vitae North America is located at 2487 Judes Ferry Road.
Construction recently wrapped up on the outer frame of a new 13,占地2,000平方英尺的木工车间将设有四个工位，用于制造由活木质素制成的水润滑工业强度轴承.
The new facility cost around $1 million and was constructed by his own team, with much of the equipment being repurposed from Dreaming Creek, which Shortridge说 further solidified the choice to go all in with Lignum Vitae. 他估计，路线的改变将使公司销售的产品数量是目前的10倍.
“很多设备与我们在(梦想溪)工厂做的业务重叠, so we kept the equipment that was relevant to crossing over and sold the rest,肖特里奇说. “目前，我们100%致力于水润滑木质素轴承.”
The new facility is still under construction on the inside. Once complete it will have four stations dedicated to producing lignum vitae bearings.
众所周知，木质素是世界上密度最大、最坚硬的木材——它的强度, Shortridge说, is comparable to solid aluminum. 它也是自润滑的，使其非常适合在许多工业环境中使用轴承. The wooden bearings eliminate the need for petrochemical oils as a lubricant, which makes its use in hydroelectric plants and shipbuilding, where water contamination is always a risk, an attractive solution. 他说，木制轴承的寿命也比大多数其他材料的寿命要长.
Shortridge first started work on the Lignum Vitae brand in 2005, shortly after winning an auction from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for 2.5吨木材.
“一个朋友打电话给我，说他在海军造船厂发现了一种叫做‘活木质素’的木材，想让我去鉴定一下，看看是否值得研究一下,肖特里奇说. “I knew a little bit about lignum vitae then, but very little.”
这些木材后来被证明是真品，肖特里奇最终以1美元的优势赢得了拍卖, he said — though he declined to share the final purchase price.
森林万岁
一场拖拉机事故夺去了他的两根手指，让他暂时卧床不起, Shortridge说 that with nothing much else to do, he started further researching lignum vitae.
“在研究过程中，我发现了一个又一个关于木质素的参考文献,他说. “我建立了一个信息丰富的网站，突然就接到了水力发电厂的电话, 发现有些植物已经在上面生长了几十年. One installation said they were on their third bearing change since 1920, so these things can last 40 years or so.”
The longevity of the wood interested Shortridge, who said he believes in sustainable harvesting and building things that last. 考虑到木质素在《热博RB88体育》(CITES)附录II濒危物种清单上的分类，这一点尤为重要, after it had been overharvested in the 1940s.
“第二次世界大战对这种材料施加了巨大的压力，所以它被收获到一个非常困难的地方. But here we are 70 years later, and trees grow. Plus they never got to the interior stands; they only hit the islands and the edges,肖特里奇说.
Only limited amounts of the wood can be harvested for trade.
附录II的分类意味着该物种没有灭绝的威胁, but could be if overharvested, so only limited amounts are allowed to be harvested for trade. Shortridge说 480 cubic meters per year of wood is what his company is allowed, 其中哪一种占到了成年木质素树木总数的四分之一. 据他所知，他的公司是唯一一家获得CITES许可的公司.
CITES did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publishing.
如此少量的采伐确保了树木的数量仍然能够增长. 肖特里奇说，有选择地采摘集群中心最成熟的树木，甚至可以有利于整体人口的增长.
“When we harvest that tree out in the middle, there’s on average 12 or 15 baby trees. 它们需要更大的母树作为护士来遮挡阳光，直到它们长到15岁左右, and come out of the grass stage and need to find their place in the sun. So when we’re harvesting a singular tree, 周围有12到15个在等待天篷下面的阳光,肖特里奇说.
To achieve such parameters, 木材由中美洲的合作伙伴手工采伐，然后运往诺福克造船厂, 在哪里捡到的. 木质素北美公司拒绝透露木质素树的确切位置, or the partnering company in Central America.
最后的, 肖特里奇说，Vitae的采收周期是400年, meaning that’s as often as the company will take the larger trees from the same area. 在400年前, 这些树将达到平均寿命，有些树已经开始自然死亡.
It’s the wood that makes it good
The outer shell of the $13,000 square-foot building completed construction at a cost of nearly $1 million.
Even with a limited supply, Powhatan新工厂的发展是必要的，因为在最初的成功表明了木质素的可行性之后，轴承的订单开始更快地到来.
向肖特里奇伸出援手的水力发电厂之一是密苏里州的奥塞奇水电站, which had been having chronic problems for four years, to the point it no longer could function.
Shortridge suggested trying lignum vitae bearings, which can be flush against the other parts of the machine, needing only a thin film of water and being otherwise self-lubricated. Plastic or metal bearings, 另一方面, require spacing between the bearings for oil lubrication and water cooling, which can cause heavy vibrations in the space. 使用木质素几乎消除了所有的振动，使工厂再次可操作.
后奥色治, 肖特里奇说，世界各地的水力发电厂纷纷打来电话，而“生命木”现在已经将250多家工厂从塑料或金属轴承转变为“生命木”木材.
Lignum Vitae also has been expanding into ships, providing engine bearings to large vessels such as a Coast Guard cutter, a Great Lakes freighter and even an Indian aircraft carrier.
“We found that lignum vitae has been in ships for years and years. 获得船舶资格, you have to have American Bureau of Shipping approval, 我们发现，在过去的几十年里，从破冰船到航空母舰，再到世界上最大的船只，所有的东西都批准使用木质素. So we got immediate approval,肖特里奇说.
“我们得到的第一份工作是在两个月内学习如何为海岸警卫队的快艇做船, and the second was for an aircraft carrier in India, and then a Great Lakes freighter we just did last week in Canada.”
The bearings cost anywhere from $5,000 to $200,000取决于尺寸和规格-比其他材料制成的轴承更昂贵.
Shortridge说，他所服务的客户类型需要长寿命和可靠性的木质素可以提供.
“We’re not the low-cost provider, but what we offer is reliability. When you’re looking at machines like this, 我是说，想想看,肖特里奇说, pointing to a picture of the INS Vikramaditya, the Indian carrier for which the company provided bearings.
“Is it OK if it shows up almost on time almost all the time? No. 它必须是完全可靠的，并且没有失效模式(木质素轴承). It just wears; there’s never a catastrophic failure.”
Shortridge has seven employees working the mill, 并且可以一次生产一个定制轴承，直到新的专用Lignum-Vitae北美工厂完全投入运营.
But once up and running, he said there’s plenty of work to be won.
他最近在2019年Hydrovision大会上向来自世界各地的水电专业人士团体发表了关于木质素的可行性的演讲, a hydropower convention held in Portland, 俄勒冈州.
他说，他在那里被问到是否有可能将多达765台涡轮发动机的轴承从复合材料转换为木质vitae轴承.
Shortridge说 that thanks to the development of his new facility, “Yes, we can.”
来源: 里士满BizSense