Wood: The Good, The Bad, And The “Neutral”

WOODn’t Be Able To Live Without It

The biomass of wood is one that we simply cannot live without! It has integrated itself into our
daily lives in more ways that we probably realize. The paper towels you just used to dry your
hands? Started as wood. The paper you’re reading this on or the list you just wrote out? Once a
tree. The wood floor boards beneath your feet? Began as a forest. The cardboard box that
brought your Amazon delivery earlier this week or the packaging for your midnight stack stashed
in the pantry? Used to be a lot of trees. The list can go on. And on. And on. But you get the
point.

Figure Source: “Industry Key to Conserving Forests as Demand for Wood Projected to Triple by 2050”

We often don’t associate wood products with forests because they look so different in their end
product stage from where they began as trees. So how did they get to be the products they are
today, what are the limitations of wood products, and how do forestry practices relate to our
environment? You’re ​ax​-​ing some pretty great questions! ​Stick​ around, we ​wood​ like to answer
them for you in this post!

Trees: The Secret Storage Facility

When you think of a forest, a storage facility is probably fairly low on the list of things you
would associate with it. In actuality though, all trees experience carbon sequestration throughout
their life. This means that as trees and forests grow, they capture and absorb more and more
carbon from the atmosphere. This carbon is then stored in the leaves, branches, trunk, and roots.
From here, a few things can happen. First, there is the possibility that a wildfire spreads and the
forest burns. In this case, the carbon is immediately released back into the atmosphere. A forest
may also naturally decay, and again the carbon would be released back into the atmosphere,
though this would occur at a much slower rate than the release of carbon that happens during a
wildfire. When a forest naturally decays, it may take up to 20 years for all of the sequestered
carbon to leave the wood and make its way back. If a forest does not burn or naturally decay, it is
harvested for either lumber or energy. When cut for lumber, the wood retains the carbon it has
collected over its growing years and stores this for its duration of use. For instance, in a home
built with a wood frame, all of the carbon is kept in the lumber studs and will not be released
back into the atmosphere until the house burns down, is destroyed, or decays. Due to this, wood
used for lumber may retain its carbon for hundreds of years before returning it to the atmosphere.
This duration of sequestration is not the same for harvested wood intended for energy
production. That wood, similar to the wood that burns in wildfires, releases its carbon to the
atmosphere immediately upon its combustion (Lesson 17).

Figure Source: “Managed Forests and Climate Change”

Though the amount of time that the wood is able to hold carbon differs depending on the end of
the tree’s life, one thing remains true for each scenario: the carbon that was once collected from
the atmosphere returns to the atmosphere. We call this carbon neutral. As the saying goes, what
goes up must always come down. Here, the carbon collected must always -- at some point or
another -- return to the atmosphere.
From Forest to Fabrication: How Lumber is Made
So now that we know a little more about forests, how are these trees made into the products we
see on department store shelves? The first step, as one might imagine, is to harvest the forest.
While many believe this consists of completely clearing the forest and leaving only stumps, like
witnessed in The Lorax, this is not always the case. Cutting down all of the trees in an area is
referred to as clearcutting. This actually makes up one of the smallest sectors of harvesting, with
only 0.4% of forests removed by this method in Oregon (“Forest Facts: Common Questions”).
Other methods of harvesting are selection harvesting, where a small scale clear cut takes place in
part of the forest, shelterwood harvesting, where mature trees are cut over a 10-15 year period of
time in sections, and single tree selection, where only specific trees are picked to be cut down
(Lesson 13). The figure below provides a good visual for these different harvesting methods.

Figure Source: “Forest Facts: Common Questions”

Once harvested, the tree is sent to a lumber mill. About a third of the wood sent to the mill will
be transferred to a pulping mill to be made into paper, 11-12% will be burned for energy to run
the sawmill or other plants, and the bark will be shucked and sold as animal bedding or mulch.
The remaining half of the wood sent to the mill will become lumber (Lesson 13). Ultimately,
almost 100% of the logs that enter the mill will be used to create some sort of wood product.
The wood to become lumber is put through a variety of machines and laser scanners to determine
the way in which it should be cut. These high tech machines take all measurements and
characteristics of the wood into consideration to determine how to produce the largest yield from
the log cut. The process of manufacturing can be quite lengthy and complex, and may even differ
slightly in the exact technology used depending on the company producing the lumber
(Gopalakrishnan, et. al.). In general though, the process can be seen in the flow chart of the
figure below.

Figure Source: Gopalakrishnan

Once the lumber has been manufactured, it is transported off of the milling site and taken to
department stores, hardware stores, and construction companies across the nation. So the next
time you go to Menards and see the stack of assorted lumber in the back, know that each board
has already had a lengthy journey before its use.

Limitations of Lumber
Though wood has a variety of applications and is necessary for so many of the products used in
our daily life, it can have some limitations. If lumber is dried inconsistently throughout the board
or for the wrong amount of time, warping may occur. Warping can also occur if there are defects
to the lumber or a specific sawing pattern results in an edge or face of the board shrinking more
than the other during drying (Lesson 14). There are four main ways a board may warp: bowing,
crooking, cupping, and twisting, as shown below in the figure.

Figure Source: “Wood Movement in Oak”

Even if the board appears entirely flat and stable after production, warping may present itself
after installation if the drying process was not done properly. This can result in a lot of issues
related to stability and strength, especially if the warped lumber was used in construction.
Generally these issues will present themselves within 12 months of installation, as the wood will
have experienced the changes in air moisture with the changing of each of the seasons (“Wood
Movement in Oak”).

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

So now (hopefully) you know a little more about wood products; the carbon storage capabilities
of trees, forest harvesting methods, lumber limitations, and the extensive process it takes to
create a single board or piece of paper from a tree. There really isn’t a suitable alternative for
wood in many products, so as a consumer there isn’t a lot of comparison you should be mindful
of when purchasing. What is important, though, is that you’re aware of how much energy and
time goes into making these wood products, and how the forests they come from are managed.
As a user, you’ll now be more conscious of these processes and apply them to your life when
you’re using wood and paper products. So the next time you accidentally mess up on your
written homework assignment or write the wrong thing down on a list, erase or cross out the
mistakes and recycle the paper instead of throwing it away. The trees and the health of our
environment depend on it!

Works Cited
Lesson 13: Forest to Lumber, BBE 1002, UMN.
Lesson 14: Moisture and Strength Pertaining to Wood Use, BBE 1002, UMN.
Lesson 17: Is Wood Good?, BBE 1002, UMN.
“Managed Forests and Climate Change.” ​Ontario CA​, Queen's Printer for Ontario, 21 Feb. 2020,
https://www.ontario.ca/page/managed-forests-and-climate-change​.
“Industry Key to Conserving Forests as Demand for Wood Projected to Triple by 2050.” ​WWF,​
28 Jan. 2013,
https://wwf.panda.org/?207367%2FIndustry-key-to-conserving-forests-as-demand-for-w
ood-projected-to-triple-by-2050​.
Gopalakrishnan, Bhaskaran, et al. “Establishing Baseline Electrical Energy Consumption in
Wood Processing Sawmills for Lean Energy Initiatives: A Model Based on Energy
Analysis and Diagnostics.” ​Research Gate​, Energy Engineering, Aug. 2012,
www.researchgate.net/publication/254303394_Establishing_Baseline_Electrical_Energy
_
Consumption_in_Wood_Processing_Sawmills_for_Lean_Energy_Initiatives_A_Model_
Based_on_Energy_Analysis_and_Diagnostics​.
“Forest: Facts: Common Questions.” ​Associated Oregon Loggers, Inc.​, 2020,
www.oregonloggers.org/Forest_facts_ForestQuestions.aspx​.
“Wood Movement in Oak.” ​Abacus Tables​, 16 Aug. 2019,
https://abacustables.co.uk/wood-movement-in-oak-what-to-expect/​.

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