1. A system for determining at least one characteristic of wood furnish from an upstream source, the system comprising: an inclined panel comprising a transparent window having a top surface for the wood furnish to slide down and a bottom surface; a lighting means adjacent the transparent window for lighting the wood furnish visible through the bottom surface of the transparent window; an image capturing means adjacent the transparent window for capturing an image of the wood furnish visible through the bottom surface of the transparent window; a processing means in communication with the image capturing means for rendering an edge pixelated image of a captured image for determining at least one characteristic of the wood furnish; and a sealed enclosure housing the lighting means, the image capturing means and the processing means, and wherein the enclosure comprises the inclined panel.