West Virginia University Uses Parallam PSL to Support the Mountaineer

June 28, 2013 in Wood Products - #trusjoist

ere’s an interesting story out of West Virginia. WVU fans should hope to see a lot of this platform this season, because on it the Mountaineer mascot does a push-up for each point scored. Here’s how the platform came to be and how Weyerhaeuser is connected:

This wooden platform project was a joint effort between WVU Army ROTC and WVU’s Wood Science & Technology program with construction by the WVU student chapter of the Forest Products Society (FPS).

The group wisely decided the platform should be produced using wood products that were sustainably harvested within West Virginia. Donated black cherry and red maple lumber from the WVU Research Forest was used for the majority of the platform structure, especially the deck and sides. The FPS students used Parallel Strand Lumber (PSL) as the support handles to lift the platform, allowing for the structure to be adequately supported. This choice further utilized an engineered wood product produced in West Virginia at Weyerhaeuser (hey, that’s us!) in Buckhannon. The platform’s top deck has a pattern intended to suggest the yard lines of a football field.

Build stats:

  • The platform is 4-foot wide by 8-foot long.
  • 28.5 board feet of black cherry.
  • 9 board feet of red maple.
  • There are four Weyerhaeuser Parallam PSL support handles.
  • Using a CNC router, the students routed out lettering in the black cherry on every side.
  • A routed-out flying WV logo was placed in the center of the top deck with “Mountaineers” and “Wood Science” routed in the end zones.
  • The underside has “West Virginia” and “Army ROTC” routed near the ends.
  • The sides have “West Virginia”, “Mountaineers”, “Montani Semper Liberi”, and “Climb to Glory” routed into the wood.
  • In total, there were approximately 100 hours that went into construction of the platform.

The platform was presented by WVU’s FPS Student Chapter to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Rice and Master Sergeant John Feiler at a ceremony at Percival Hall.

Weyerhaeuser is proud to be a part of this new tradition.