Natural Woods

Structure

Wood is fiberous with the finbres running along the length of the trunk.

55% of the tree is cellulose, 28% of the tree is lignin resin- holds the structure of the tree together.

Timber is therefore a natural reinforced polymer.

Harvesting- cutting he tree down.

Conversion- Cutting trunk and large branchees into boards.
- Slab sawn
- Quarter sawn.

Seasoning- reducing the moisture content of thew timber.
- Natural seasoning
- Kiln seasoning

Board preparation- sawn to size and planning. eg, PAR (planed all round)

Slab or plain sawnig uses the whole tree- no waste. BUT- not as stable- more liable to warp and twist.

Quarter sawn timber is commonly used for expensive hardwood timbers. More waste and more stable. Less liable to warp and twist- often exposed more attractive grain structure.

Timber shinks most along the annual ring. Salb sawn board- long annual ring- lots of shrinkage- result.

Quarter sawn board- shorter annual ring- very little shrinkage- stable.

Planed timber

- PAR- planed all round.

- PSE- planed square edge.

Sawn in inches, planned in cm.

Timber mouldings- multi cutter.

Edge jointing narrow timber to make wider boards.

- It stays straight because the wood is working against itself.

No two pieces of wood are the same colour. There is a huge variety of colour and grain pattern.