Wood and Wood Products

Wood and wood products have played a critical role in the evolution of humankind. From the
most primitive of beginnings, humans have used wood for survival and to improve the quality of life. In
the twenty-first century, people continue to use wood for many of the same purposes that their most
ancient ancestors did. Fuel for heating and cooking is still the largest consumer of wood fiber.
Construction of shelter and furniture is secondary as is pulp and paper production.

As a raw material, wood has no equal peers. On a strength-to-weight ratio, wood is stronger
than steel. It’s also light and flexible. Heavy timber has unique thermal insulating properties, which often
allow it to retain structural integrity during building and warehouse fires that completely soften and
deform structural steel members.

Advantage:

• Engineered wood products are versatile and available in a wide variety of thicknesses, sizes,
grades, and exposure durability classifications, making the products ideal for use in unlimited
construction, industrial and home project application.

• Engineered wood products are designed and manufactured to maximize the natural strength
and stiffness characteristics of wood.

• Some engineered wood products offer more design options without sacrificing structural
requirements.

• Woods are renewable

Disadvantages:

• Wood Destroying pests

• Warping - Age, temperature, and environmental humidity are all factors that can make wood
warp.

• Warp is cause to become bent or twisted out of shape.

• Light Materials prone to burning

• Moisture
What is wood?

The term wood is used to refer to the substance that makes up the tree. It is the hard, fibrous structural
tissue that is commonly found in the stems and roots of trees. The primary function of wood is to support
the tree, enabling it to grow straight and tall enough to be able to absorb sunlight for
photosynthesis. Wood also enables the transfer of water and nutrients to growing tissues and leaves.

Parts of wood

Wood Production

1. Head Rig: the primary saw cuts the tree into sawn pieces.

2. Edging: removing irregular edges and defects from sawn pieces.

3. Trimming: the trimmer squares off the ends of lumber into uniform pieces based on
market dimensions.

4. Rough Lumber Sorting: pieces are segregated based on dimension and final product
production: unseasoned (known as green), or dry.

5. Stickering: lumber destined for dry production is stacked with spacers (known as
stickers) that allow air to circulate within the stack.

6. Drying: lumber is kiln-dried to facilitate natural MC evaporation.

7. Planing: smoothing the surface of each lumber piece and making its width and thickness
uniform.

8. Grading: the process of assessing the characteristics of each lumber piece in order to
assign its “grade” (quality).

Kiln- is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient
to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes.
Wood Products

• Lumber – is a type of wood that has been processed into beams and planks, a stage in
the process of wood production.

• Timber – Wood that is still attached to the ground, wood with a bark.

• Ply Wood - Plywood is manufactured from sheets of cross-laminated veneer and bonded
under heat and pressure with durable, moisture-resistant adhesives.

• Fiber board - is made by breaking down hardwood or softwood residuals into wood
fibres, combining it with wax and a resin binder.

Diseases in woods

Massaria Disease

 Characteristic brown, multi-septate pycnidiospores

 Occasionally characteristic ascospores
 The fungus seems to sporulate freely in Europe and spores are quite easy to identify under a
microscope
 Until recently it was difficult to find sporulation on British samples

Bleeding Canker of horse chestnut

 Trees of all ages are affected and can die

 Cankers and bark cracks on the stem
 Bleeding on the trunk and branches

Acute Oak Decline

 Extensive stem bleeding - dark weeping patches on the stem

 Dark fluid seeps through vertical cracks between bark plates and runs down the tree trunk
 Fluid may dry and cake on tree stems at certain times of the year
 In the early stages trees may have one or just a few bleeding points which may increase in
number over time
Significant properties of wood

1. Density – wood is a porous material made up of cells of various kinds. So with wood, the
fewer holes (cells), the more wood substance. The higher the density the more its
strength

2. Moisture Content - The increase in strength is directly related to the amount of

moisture removed.

3. Grain - By grain, it is understood that the arrangement and direction of growth of the
wood elements (tracheids, fibers, and vessels) in the wood. (The fibers may be very
tightly and closely packed giving rise to a fine-grained texture in wood.)

4. Strength - The most important fact about the strength of timber is that it is not the same
in all directions.

 Compressive strength - the resistance of a material to breaking under

compression.

- Strain is defined as "deformation of a solid due to stress".

 Tensile strength - resistance of a wood to breaking under tension, Wood is very

strong to tensile forces acting parallel to grain but very weak when these forces
are made to act perpendicular to the grain.
 Transverse or bending strength - The most important use of timber as beams is
based on the fact that wood has very high bending strength.
 Shear strength - In engineering, shear strength is the strength of a material or
component against the type of yield or structural failure when the material or
component fails in shear.