Glossary A-Z

Glossary

Term	Description
AAC	(After arrival of car) Credit terms whereby the allowable days to make payment are determined by the arrival date, not the shipment date, of the car.
AAT	(After arrival of truck) Credit terms whereby the allowable days to make payment are determined by the arrival date, not the shipment date, of the truck.
Abutment	The support structure at either end of an arch or bridge. The intermediary supports are called piers.
Across the grain	The direction at right angles to the length of the fibres and other longitudinal elements of the wood.
ADF	(After deducting freight) A credit term meaning that the freight portion of an invoiced amount is not subject to a discount.
Adhesive	A substance used to bond two surfaces together.
Adhesive	A substance that is capable of bonding two materials together by surface attachment. It includes cements, mucilage, paste, and glue.
ADI	(After date of invoice) A credit term meaning that the allowable days to make payment are determined by the date of the invoice, not the shipment date or arrival date of the material.
Adult Wood	Wood which characteristically has relatively constant cell size, well-developed structural patterns, and stable physical behavior; also called mature wood.
Afforestation	Establishment of forest crops by artificial methods, such as planting or sowing on land where trees have never grown.
Age class	Any interval into which the age range of trees, forests, stands or forest types is divided for classification and use. Forest inventories commonly group trees into 20-year age class groups.
Air dried	Seasoned by exposure to the elements, as opposed to being dried in a kiln.
Air-dried	Lumber or other wood products that have been either dried by exposure to natural atmospheric conditions outdoors or in an unheated shed or dried to equilibrium with the surrounding atmosphere. Moisture content of air-dried wood fiber depends on relative humidity, temperature, and length of drying period. Also referred to as air seasoned and contrasts with kiln-dried (KD) lumber.
Air-dried lumber	Lumber that was dried, usually outside, to an equilibrium moisture content with the air it was exposed to.
Air-dried timber	Timber dried by exposure to air in a yard or shed, without artificial heat (also see seasoning).
Allowable cut	The amount of wood that can be removed from a landowner's property during a certain time span, without exceeding the net growth during that same time on the property.
Along the grain	The direction parallel with the length of the fibres and other longitudinal elements of the wood.
Alternate top bevel with raker (ATB/R)	A design for a circular saw blade where four alternately beveled teeth are followed by a raker too to remove debris from the cut.
Anchor bolt	A device for connecting timber members to concrete or masonry
anisotropic	Exhibiting different properties when measured along its different axes.
Annual Growth	Layer of wood developed by a tree during a given year; same as annual or seasonal increment.
Annual growth rings	The layer of growth that a tree puts on in one year. The annual growth rings can be seen in the end grain of lumber.
Appearance grades	High line regular board and dimension grades that include tighter restrictions on certain appearance characteristics, particularly wane.
Arbor	A shaft, driven by the tool's motor that turns blades or other cutting tools.
Arris	The sharp intersection of two surfaces, eg. The face and edge of a piece of wood .
Back saw	A short rectangular saw with fine teeth and a rigid "spine" along the top of the blade. A backsaw is used for fine joinery work such as cutting dovetail joints. Also see Dozuki.
Back sawn timber	Timber sawn so that the growth rings are inclined at less than 45 degrees to the wide face.
Backcut	Final cut in felling a tree. Made on the opposite side of the direction of fall
Backhaul	A delivery by tractor-trailer originates from where the trailer is loaded, the load is delivered to a destination, then the trucker returns home. If the return is also a paying load to be delivered to the vicinity of the trucker's home, that load is called a backhaul. If the trucker returns home empty, that run is called a "deadhead."
Back	to back (order) A trading term referring to an order in which both the buy side and the sell side occur simultaneously.
Band sawmill	An evolution in sawmill technology that uses a thinner band saw blade (less kerf therefore less sawdust waste) than a circular saw. A bandsaw also has teeth on both sides that allows cuts to be made in two directions instead of just one, improving efficiency and productivity.
Bark	Composed of inner living bark and outer dead bark, it consists of tissues in the cylindrical axis of a tree outside the cambium.
Bark	The outer protective layer of the tree. Severely damaged bark on a tree is a defect that can lower the value of the its logs. At the sawmill, logs are first debarked, then slabs are cut off leaving a rectangular or square cant to be cut into lumber. There are two main types of debarkers: Rosserhead and Ring debarkers. Before raw bark is sold as bark mulch, it is ground in a tub grinder (hammermill) to give it the proper texture and consistency. Bark quality is a function of color.
Bark	The outermost, protective layer, of a tree composed of dead cork and other elements.
Basal area	Cross sectional area of a tree, in square feet, measured at breast height. Used as a method of measuring the volume of timber in a given stand
Basic silviculture	1. An administrative term describing the the practices necessary to establish regeneration of the desired species at specified densities and stocking, free from competing vegetation, and within a certain time limit. ;2. Silvicultural activities required by law. See also intensive silviculture.
Bead	A small rounded, raised profile, routed along the edge of a board.
Beam	Structural member, other than a triangulated frame, which supports load primarily by its internal resistance to bending.
Beam	A structural member that supports a transversely applied load.
Beam	Any framing member placed to support a load. Also called a girder.
Bearer	A sub floor timber beam placed across piers or stringers and supporting floor joists
Bench Dog	A metal or wooden peg that fits into a hole in a workbench and is used to hold a workpiece in place. The peg can be round or square and sometimes fitted with special springs to hold them in place.
Bending Strength	A measure of the resistance of wood to an applied bending stress which is a combination of three primary stresses, i.e., compressive, tensile, and shear stresses.
Best Management Practices (BMP)	A series of forest practices thought to be the best possible for a specific region and forest type. BMP are highly promoted by the American Forest and Paper Association's Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).
Bevel	Any angle not at 90 degrees. Also, a tool for marking such an angle.
Bevel cut	An angled cut through a board.
Big box	Large, warehouse-type lumber and building material stores catering to do-it-yourself (DIY) shoppers. Home Depot and Lowes are examples.
Biodeterioration	The breaking down of timber by natural or biological agents such as fungi and insects.
Biomass	Total woody material in a forest. Refers to both merchantable material and material left following a conventional logging operation. In the broad sense, all of the organic material on a given area; in the narrow sense, burnable vegetation to be used for fuel in a combustion system
Biomass boiler	Biomass boilers burn bark, sander dust and other wood-related scrap not usable in product production. Also called "hogged fuel" boilers, biomass boilers make steam and heat for mill use.
Bird's-mouth	The notch in a rafter that rests on the top plate of a wall.
Birds eye	Figure on the surface of wood that has numerous rounded areas resembling small eyes.
Birds-eye figure	A figure on wood, usually maple and a few other species. The figure is composed of many small BB size rounded areas resembling a birds eye. The figuring is most common on plain and rotary sawn lumber.
Biscuit Joint	A butt joint that is reinforced with a football shaped "biscuit". The biscuits are usually made from compressed pieces of wood, usually birch. When a biscuit comes into contact with glue in the joint it swells creating a tighter joint. Also called a Plate Joint.
Blow down	Tree or trees felled by wind. Also known as windfall
Blue stain	A fungus discoloration, mostly bluish, but somtimes grayish, blackish, or brownish in appearance; found mostly in sapwood, common in pines and in the warmer months of summer. At one time this was thought to be a serious defect; now it is used as high-quality interior finish
Blunting Effect	The effect of a timber on the performance of a machine when the timber is processed.
Board	1. A piece of sawn, hewn, or dressed timber of greater width than thickness. Usually 19 mm to 38 mm thick and 75 mm or more wide. 2. Manufactured products supplied as rigid or semi-rigid sheets, eg. Fibreboard and particle boards.
Board foot	The common volumetric unit of measure in the lumber industry, equivalent to a piece of wood 1Ó thick, 12Ó wide, and 1Ó long.
Board Foot	A unit of measurement of lumber represented by a board which is 1 foot long, 12 inches wide, and 1 inch thick or its metric equivalent. In practice, the board foot calculation for lumber 1 inch or more in thickness is based on its nominal thickness and width and the actual length.
Board foot	A volume of lumber that measures 1" x 12" x 12". The number of board feet in a log is estimated using one of three log scales: Scribner, Doyle, or International Rule. The standard used in Massachusetts is the International Rule. The actual yield of a log after sawn into lumber is often greater than the estimated yield. Both logs and lumber are sold by the thousand board feet or MBF.
Board Foot - Related tip and Formula	A form of wood measurement, where one board foot equals the volume of a board 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 12 inches long.
Board measure	A term indicating that the unit of measure being used is the board foot.
Bole wood	The lower section of the trunk of a tree from the ground to the first limb or branch. Some loggers and whole tree operations delimb trees leaving only the bole or stem portion of the tree. If chipped in a whole tree chipper, the result a "cleaner" chip with fewer leaves, sticks, or pine needles. Tree stem that has roughly grown to a substantial thickness, capable of yielding sawtimber, veneer logs, or large poles
Bolt	Short logs to be sawn for lumber or used for veneer. Also: 1) Any short log, as a pulpwood bolt or pulpwood stick; 2) Any short stick, generally between 2 and 8 feet long; 3) Also referred to as a block.
Bone-dry ton (BDT)	Wood pulp or residue that weigh 2,000 pounds at zero percent moisture content. Also known as an ovendry ton
Bookmatch	A term in veneering, where successive pieces of veneer from a flitch are arranged side by side. A properly done bookmatch will resemble a mirror image of the opposite side.
BoreÊ	The hole for the arbor in a circular saw blade.
Botanical name	The botanical names of species and their relationship to trade names are defined in AS 2543, Nomenclature of Australian Timbers and AS 1148, Nomenclature of Commercial Timbers imported into Australia.
Bound moisture	Moisture which is closely bound to the cell wall constituents of wood.
Bow	A curvature in the longitudinal direction of a board causing the wide face to move away from a flat plane.
Bow	A lumber defect referring to deviation from a straight line drawn end to end along the wide face of a piece of lumber.
Bow - Related Article	A defective piece of lumber that has warped along its length.
Box beam	A built-up beam with solid timber flanges (a) and plywood or wood-base panel product webs (b).
Box joint	A corner joint made up of interlocking "fingers".
Bracing	Secondary structural members that normally do not support gravity loads but are required to provide lateral stability to other structural members or to transfer horizontal loads to the supports.
Brad	A small finishing nail up to 1" long.
Brashness	A condition that causes some pieces of wood to break suddenly and completely with very little splintering. The break or failure usually occurs under comparatively small loads and deformations.
Bridging	Bracing installed between floor joists to stiffen floor and distribute live loads. Also called cross-bridging.
British thermal unit (BTU)	Measure of the amount of heat required to raise 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit. Amount of latent heat available to be released when a substance undergoes combustion.
Bucking	Cutting a felled tree into shorter specified log lengths; rough cutting logs for length.
Bunch	To gather trees or logs into small piles for subsequent skidding by other equipment. To assemble logs together to form a load for transport
burl	1) A hard, woody outgrowth on a tree, more or less rounded in form, usually resulting from the entwined growth of a cluster of buds. Such burls are the source of the highly figured burl veneers used for purely ornamental purposes. 2) In lumber or veneer, a localised severe distortion of the grain generally rounded in outline.
Burl	Bulges and irregular growths that form on the trunks and roots of trees. Burls are highly sought after for the incredible veneer they yield.
Cardboard	A thin, stiff paperboard made of pressed paper pulp or sheets of paper pasted together. Used for playing cards, greeting cards, etc. Corrugated containers are not made of cardboard.
Carriage	The sawmill device on which a debarked logged is placed which moves the log back and forth through the saw blade creating slabs, cants and lumber. The log is also turned on the carriage before making the next cut.
Case hardening	A drying defect characterised by the presence of compression stresses in the outer zone and tensile stresses in the core. It occurs when rapid drying has caused permanent set of the outer zones of a piece of wood.
Case Hardening	A defect in the lumber caused by improper drying. Case Hardening is caused when a board is dried too fast. The outer layers in a case hardened board are compressed while the inner layers are in tension.
Casein glue	An adhesive, primarily for internal use, prepared from casein, sodium silicate, lime, soda and other compounds. It was used largely in plywood manufacturer, has some resistance to water but is not waterproof, ages well and can be made resistant to mould.
Cathedral cut	A variation of the crown cut method of slicing veneers. The growth rings are exactly parallel to the slicer, producing on the face of the veneer an inverted ‘V’ figure resembling the spire of a cathedral.
CCA	Copper chrome arsenate, a wood preservative
Cell	The smallest, microscopic, structure in wood.
Cellulose	The carbohydrate that is the principal chemical constituent of wood and which forms the framework of the wood cells.
Chamfer	A beveled cut along the edge of a piece of furniture. (Usually 45 degrees)
Check	A lumber defect caused by uneven shrinking of the wood during drying. A checked board has splits which develop lengthwise across the growth rings.
Check	A separation of fibres along the grain forming a fissure, but not extending through the piece from face to face. Checks commonly resulting from stresses built up during seasoning. They run radially, across the growth rings.
Checking	A lumber defect referring to the separation of wood fiber across the annual growth rings. Splitting of the wood in logs or lumber, often the result of drying.
Chemically protected lumber	Lumber treated with anti stain chemicals to protect it in transit.
Chipboard	A paperboard, thicker than cardboard, used for backing sheets on padded writing paper, partitions within boxes, shoeboxes, etc.
Chisel	A wedge-like, sharp-edged tool used for cutting or shaping timber.
Choker	Short length of flexible wire, rope, or chain used to attach logs to a winch line or directly to a tractor. 1) Noose of wire rope for hauling a log. 2) Short length of wire rope that forms a noose around the end of a log to be skidded and is attached to the skidding vehicle or to the butt rigging in a wire rope logging system.
Chord	Either of the two outside members of a truss (a) connected and braced by the web (b) members. The term also applies to beam flanges or the perimeter members of a plywood diaphragm.
Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA)	The most commonly used chemical for pressure treating lumber.
Circular sawmill	The traditional sawmill uses a circular saw (large version of hand held power saw). Circular saws are thicker (larger kerf) than band saws and produce more sawdust. Logs can be cut moving on the carriage in only one direction, then the carriage returns and turns the the log for the next cut.
Classification of Lumber Sizes	Strip Under 3/4 inch thick and up to 3 inches wide Batten 3/4 inch and under 1.5 inches thick and from 1 to 3 inches wide Boards 3/8 inch to 1.5 inches thick and 3 inches and over wide Planks and Scantlings Over 1.5 inches and up to 4 inches thick and over 6 inches wide Heavy Scantling or Flitch or Baulk Over 4 inches thick and/or over 6 inches wide Deal Generally, European softwoods, between 2 and 4 inches thick and >9 inches wide.
Clean and bright	The freshly manufactured appearance of lumber as it comes from the planer.
Clear	1. Lumber or logs that are free or practically free of defects. First quality lumber or log. 2. A select grade of lumber.
Clear	A board which is free of defects.
Clear span	The clear horizontal distance between the supports of a load bearing member
Clearcut	To harvest all trees from an area of forest land in a single cut.
Close- grained wood	Wood with narrow, inconspicuous growth rings. The term is sometimes used to designate wood having small and closely spaced pores, but in this sense the term “fine textured” is more often used.
Closed canopy	The description given to a stand when the crowns of the main level of trees forming the canopy are touching and intermingled, and form a barrier to light penetrating the forest floor from above.
Closed Coat	A piece of sandpaper with a surface completely covered with abrasive particles. This type of paper tends to clog easily with sawdust and is generally not used for woodworking. See also – open coat
Co-Gen Operation	Refers to the production of usable steam and electricity using a particular kind of fuel (for example, woodchips, oil, coal, hydro).
Coach screw	Similar to a wood screw except larger and with a hexagonal head so that it can be turned with a spanner.
Coarse-grained wood	Wood with wide conspicuous growth rings in which there is considerable difference between earlywood and latewood. The term is sometimes used to designate wood with large pores, but in this sense the term “coarse textured” is more often used.
Codominant trees	In stands with a closed canopy, those trees whose crowns form the general level of the canopy and receive full light form above, but comparatively little from the sides. In young stands, those trees with above average height growth.
Collapse	The flattening of single cells or rows of cells during the drying or pressuretreatment of wood. Often characterised by a caved-in or corrugated (“washboarded”) appearance of the wood surface.
Collar tie	A horizontal board that connects pairs of rafters on opposite roof slopes.
Collet	In a router, the sleeve that grips the shank of a bit.
Column	A free standing axially loaded compression member, usually vertical.
Commercial thinning	A silviculture treatment that “thins” out an overstocked stand by removing trees that are large enough to be sold as products such as poles or fence posts. It is carried out to improve the health and growth rate of the remaining crop trees. As compared to “juvenile spacing.”
Common Grade Lumber	Lumber with obvious defects.
Composite lumber	See “engineered wood products.”
Compound Cut	An angled cut to both the edge and face of a board.
Compression	A state or condition of being pushed or shortened by a force.
Compression failure	Deformation or fracture of wood fibres across the grain resulting from excessive compression along the grain.
Compression Failure	Localized buckling of fibers and other longitudinal wood elements resulting from excessive compression along the grain. It may also develop in standing trees due to bending by wind, snow, or internal longitudinal growth stresses, or it may result from stresses induced in the tree after it is cut. In surfaced lumber, compression failures may appear as fine wrinkles across the face of the piece.
Compression seat	A fabricated or cast metal bracket into which timber structural members abut, used to joint timber compression elements to other structural members.
Compression Wood	Reaction wood that forms on the lower side of a leaning softwood tree.
Compression Wood	Abnormal wood formed on the underside of branches and inclined boles of softwood trees. It is characterized by excessive longitudinal shrinkage and has physical properties that are different from those of normal wood.
Compressive Stress	The total compression force (force acting on a body which tends to shorten a dimension or reduce the volume of the body) divided by the cross-sectional area of the body upon which the force is being applied.
Comprssion wood	When an actively growing softwood stem is tipped from the vertical, it almost immediately begins producing wood on the underside of the leaning stem that is different from normal. Stems tipped as little as several degrees from the vertical may begin producing abnormal cells within several hours of the change in stem orientation. This wood, known as compression wood, is of interest because its properties are considerably different from, and much less desirable than, normal mature wood. In fact, compression wood has many of the same properties as juvenile wood.
Concave	An inward-curving shape. (I.E. A spoon)
Concentration yard	A large lumber storage and reload facility.
Conditioning	The exposure of a material, such as wood to the influence of a predetermined condition in the surrounding atmosphere for a specific time period or until a required relation between the atmosphere and the material is achieved.
Conditioning treatment	A treatment applied to equilibrate the moisture content of wood to a particular value.
Conifer	Tree that is a gymnosperm, usually evergreen, with cones and needle-shaped or scalelike leaves, producing wood known commercially as softwood.
Construction and demolition (C&D)	Though lumped together to refer to wood waste produced by construction or by demolition, the products can be quite different. Construction wood waste can be clean dimensionally cut lumber such as board ends or cutoffs. Demolition wood waste is often contaminated with nails, sheetrock, paint, etc. Markets for C&D are limited by how “clean” and free of contaminants the wood is. Some businesses specialize in processing and disposing of C&D.
Continuity strap	A piece of flat steel fixed over a butt joint between timber beams to provide a continuos tension connection.
Contract orders	Block orders covering multiple shipments.
Convergence	The coming together of futures market price and the cash market price at the expiration of a contract month.
Convex	An outward-curving shape. (I.E. My belly
Cope-and-stick joint	A method of construction raised panel doors where the tongues of the rails (horizontal) connect to the grooves of the stiles (vertical).
Coppice	Forst regeneration by sprouting (vegetative reproduction) from stumps or roots.
Corbel	A length of timber laid horizontally on the top of a column to transfer loads and to provide a seat for beams. A compound corbel includes several lengths of timber instead of one.
Cord	A unit of measure often used for firewood stacked 4′ long x 4′ high x 8′ long.
Cord	Stacks of hardwood 4′ high by 4′ wide by 8′ long. It is the measure by which firewood is customarily sold , sawdust is sometimes sold, and small diameter logs sometimes bought. One cord is the equivalent of 128 cubic feet, 4.7 Cubic yards. The weight of a cord varies if it is green (freshly cut), seasoned (partially air dried), or dry (KD or kiln-dried).
Cord	Unit of measurement equalling 128 cubic feet true measure.
Corduroy	To build a road by cross-laying it with saplings or small poles
Core Stock	A solid or discontinuous center ply used in panel-type glued structures such as furniture panels and solid hollowcore doors.
Corrugated containers	Containers made with corrugating medium and linerboard.
Corrugating medium	The wavy center of the wall of a corrugated box which cushions the product from shock during shipment (see flute). This layer can contain up to 100% post-consumer recycled fiber content without reducing its ability to protect the product.
Count	The nominal thickness, width, and length used in determining board footage for invoicing purposes.
Countersink	A tool that allows you to drill a hole so that the head of a screw will sit flush with the face of a board.
Creep	Increase in deformation following prolonged loading.
Cripple	A cut in an unseasoned joist, bearer or stud designed to reduce movement in a floor or wall as the structural timber seasons.
Crook	A lumber defect where there is an edgewise warp effecting the straightness of the board.
Crook	1. A lumber defect referring to a deviation from a straight line drawn end to end along the narrow face of a piece of lumber. 2. Abrupt bend in a tree or log.
Cross cut	to cut across the grain.
Cross grain	An arrangement in which the fibres and other longitudinal elements of a piece of wood deviate from a line parallel with the edges of the piece.
Cross-cut	To cut a piece of lumber perpendicular to its length.
Crosscut (crosscutting)	A cut made perpendicular to the grain of a board. See – Ripcut (Ripping)
Crotch	In lumber, a piece of wood taken from the fork of a tree. Crotch Veneer is highly valued for its figuring.
Crown	The live branches and foliage of a tree.
Crown cut	A method of slicing veneers whereby the average inclination of the growth rings to the wider face is tangential or less than 45 degrees. This method is also known as flat cut.
Cunit	A pulpwood measurement, equaling 100 cubic feet of solid wood.
Cunit	Unit of Measurement usually applied to roundwood for pulp manufacture. 1 cunit = 100 ft3 true measure
Cup	A defect in the lumber where the face of the board warps up like the letter U.
Cup	A concave curvature across the grain or width of the a piece
Delamination	The separation of plies or laminations through failure of the bond, visible at an edge.
Density	As applied to timber, density is the mass of wood substance and moisture enclosed within a piece expressed in kilograms per cubic meter. As the mass will vary dependant on the amount of moisture in the piece, density is often expressed at a specified moisture content, usually 12%.
Density	As applied to wood, density is the mass of wood substance per unit of volume. It is variously expressed as pounds per cubic foot, kilograms per cubic centimeter, or grams per cubic centimeter at a specified moisture content.
Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)	Height on the trunk of standing trees from the ground where measurements are usually taken to determine the size of the tree.
Diaphragm	1. In a beam, an element at right angles to the span with the function of connecting the beams so that they resist load as a unit. 2. A relatively thin, usually rectangular, element of a structure that is capable of withstanding shear in its plane and acts as a bracing elements.
Distortion (warp)	A drying defect caused by the differential shrinkage along the three axes of a piece of wood. Distortion may take the form of cup, bow, twist, spring or diamonding.
Dominant trees	Trees with crowns extending above the general level of the canopy and receiving full light from above and partly from the side; taller than the average trees in the stand with crowns well developed. Also see codominant trees.
Dovetail JointÊ – NEW!	A method of joining wood at corners by the use of interlocking pins and tails.
Dowel	A cylindrical timber rod or steel bar generally without nut or thread driven into pre-drilled holes to make a joint.
Dowel Center	A cylindrical metal pin with a raised point that is inserted into a dowel hole and used to locate the exact center on a mating piece of wood.
Dowel joint	A joint where the pieces of timber are joined by dowels running either longitudinally or transversely through the joint.
Doyle Log Rule	In use since about 1870, this scaling method deducts a full four inches for slabs. It grossly underestimates the yield on small diameter logs (less than 14″) . Every fourth Doyle load could be considered free in comparison to International rule, if the logs are within 14 to 20″ inches in diameter and the prices per MBF for both scales were identical. The variance between Doyle rule and other rules is based on diameters, rather than lengths. (Also see Scribner and International Rule.)
Dozuki	A type of Japanese woodworking saw that is used for fine joinery work such as dovetails. Its Western equivalent is a back saw.
Drawer StopÊ – NEW!	A device installed in a cabinet to limit the drawers travel.
Dressed lumber	Lumber that has been trimmed and planed at the sawmill.
Dressed timber	Timber finished to a smooth surface on one or more surfaces.
DressingÊ – NEW!	Shaping the cutting edge of a chisel to correct the bevel.
Dry	Seasoned, usually to a moisture content of less than 19% (less than 15% for selects and factory lumber).
Dry kiln	A chamber in which lumber is dried by controlling the moisture, temperature and air circulation.
Dry lumber	As applied to softwoods, lumber sold as “dry” or “kiln dried” is at 19% or lower moisture content, as specified by the American Softwood Lumber Standards. Hardwoods are generally considered dry when at 10% or lower moisture content, although there is no definitive standard as with softwood species.
Dry rot	A generic term for the decay of timber by fungi that at an advanced stage leaves the wood light and friable. The term is actually a misnomer as all fungi needs considerable moisture to grow.
Dry weight	The oven-dry weight, or simply dry weight, is the weight of wood after drying to a constant weight at a temperature slightly above the boiling point of water (215¡ to 220¡F).
Drying defect	A feature developing during drying which may decrease the value of a piece of timber.
Drying Defect	Any irregularity occurring in or on wood, as a result of drying, that may lower its strength, durability, or utility value. The following are some commonly encountered drying defects: Drying Defect Any irregularity occurring in or on wood, as a result of drying, that may lower its strength, durability, or utility value. The following are some commonly encountered drying defects: Bow The longitudinal distortion, flatwise, from a straight line drawn end to end of lumber; Casehardening A term applied to dry lumber with nearly uniform moisture content but characterized by the presence of residual compressive stresses in the outer layer of cells (shell), and tensile stresses in the inner layer or core; Check A lengthwise separation of wood that extends along the wood grain. It develops during drying and is commonly caused by differences in radial and tangential shrinkage or because of uneven shrinkage of the tissues in adjacent portions of the wood; Chemical Stain A chemical discoloration of wood that is believed to be caused by the concentration and modification of extractives; Collapse The flattening of single cells or row of cells which occurs during drying of some species with very wet heartwood; it is often evidenced by a caved-in or corrugated appearance of the wood surface; Cup A distortion of a plank or board resulting in a troughlike shape with the edges remaining more or less parallel to each other; Honeycomb Internal splitting, often not visible at the wood surface, that develops during drying. It is caused by internal stresses or by the closing of surface checks; Mineral Stain An olive to greenish-black or brown discoloration believed to show regions of abnormal concentrations of mineral matter in some hardwoods. It is common in hard maple, hickory, and basswood. See also Mineral Streaks; Shake A separation along the the grain, the greater part of which may occur at the common boundary of two rings or within a growth ring. It is usually considered to have occurred in the standing tree or during felling; Surface Checks Checks that occur on the wood surface during seasoning; they may extend to varying depths into the wood; Twist A distortion caused by the turning or winding of the edges of a board so that one corner is no more in the same plane as the other three; Warp Any variation from the true or plane surface in a piece of wood that may occur during seasoning. It includes bow, crook, cup, and twist, or any combination thereof.
Drying schedule	A sequence of kiln conditions which result in a gradual decrease in moisture content of the wood.
Durability	1. The natural resistance of timber to biodeterioration due to fungi, insects and mechanical break down caused by weathering, checking and splitting. 2. In building, the efficacy of details in preserving or protecting the fabric of the building from decay or deterioration.
Durability	The ability of wood to resist the attacks of foreign organisms, such as fungi, insects, and marine borers under conditions that favor such attacks. The main reason for the natural durability of some wood species is the presence of substances that are toxic to decay causing organisms. In general, the heartwood of most species is more durable than the sapwood because of the presence of a wide variety of extraneous materials and phenolic substances in the heartwood. Durability ratings usually refer to the heartwood, and are often based on heartwood samples in ground contact under long-term outdoor exposure or on actual reports of in-use performance under decay hazard conditions. The ratings below, which are based on the Princes Risborough Laboratory, United Kingdom, classifications, follow a format that is commonly used. Classification Approx Life in Ground Contact : Very Durable >25 years; Durable 15 to 25 years; Moderately Durable 10 to 15 years; Slightly Durable 5 to 10 years; Perishable. The Building Code of Australia (BCA) requires building material in some building application to have particular characteristics in the early stages of a fire. These are set out in three indexes: ignitibility index (scale 0-20); spread of flame index (scale 0-10); smoke develop index (scale 0-10).
Durability class	Durability is expressed as one of four classes. The value for each species is based on trials of the resistance to both decay and termites of untreated heartwood in the ground. The classes are: Class 1: Timber of the highest natural durability, expected to have a life of at least 25 years and up to 50 years in the ground; Class 2: Timber of high natural durability, expected to have a life of about 15 to 25 years in the ground; Class 3: Timber of moderate natural durability, expected to have a life of about 8 to 15 years in the ground; Class 4: Timber of low durability, expected to have a life of 1 to 8 years in the ground. The sapwood of all species is regarded to be Class 4.
Earlywood	That portion of a growth increment that is formed at the beginning of the growing season. Also called springwood, it is less dense and weaker than Latewood.
Earlywood	The less dense, larger celled, first formed part of a growth ring. Also called “springwood”.
Earlywood (Springwood)	The first part of the tree’s rings to form after winter hybernation. Earlywood is often characterized by larger cells and a lower density.Ê
Eccentric load	Loads that are applied off the central axis of a structural member.
Ecology	The science that studies the interrelationships, distribution, abundance, and contexts of all organsims and their interconnections with their living (biotic) and nonliving (abiotic) environment, in addition to the processes that determine ecosystem function, change over time, and response to disturbances. Ecology takes two main forms: (1) systems ecology, which relies heavily on computer modelling and inventory data; and (2) field ecology, which studies organisms and communities in their natural settings.
Edge guide	A straightedge that is used to guide tools, such as a circular saw or router, along a workpiece.
Edge joining	Smoothing and squaring the edge of a board so that it can be glued up squarely to another piece.
Edger	Lumber cut on circular or band headrigs from the outside portions of logs does not have square edges. These pieces must be passed through a machine called an edger that can make two or more lineal cuts simultaneously. The edgings are chipped for use in generating power or for use in paper production. Square-edged lumber must be trimmed to length.
Electronic data interface (EDI)	The transferring of information, invoices, payments, etc. Between companies via computer rather than by mail or fax.
End grain	The grain shown on a cross cut surface.
End matched	A pattern run on both ends of pieces of lumber; one end has a tongue, the other a groove. When butted together end to end, the alignment forms a joint.
Engineered Wood Products	A composite wood product using glued fiber, lumber and/or veneer to meet specific design criteria. Such products include laminated veneer lumber (LVL), parallel strand lumber (PSL), and structural I-beams. Products under development include various molded, extruded, and other structural and non-structural composites. Although engineerred wood products have a number of advantages over solid lumber (including the ability to make large-sized members from small diameter trees), engineered wood products are more costly to produce than lumber and require the use of more energy to manufacture.
Environmental Profile or Conservation Status	Ten categories used to evaluate the degree of threat posed to the survival of plants and animals within their natural boundaries. The World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) and the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) use the Red Data Book categories to indicate the degree of threat. Although there is no worldwide agreement on a standard criteria for defining the conservation status of plants and animals, the categories applied by IUCN are widely accepted. Extinct Rating Species that are currently known to be out of existence in the wild after repeated attempts to locate them in their natural habitats or other known or likely habitats have failed. Endangered Rating Species whose extinction is imminent if the factors which are currently threatening their survival persist. This category include species whose numbers have been diminished to critical levels or whose natural habitats have been so reduced that they are deemed in immediate danger of extinction.Vulnerable Rating Species that will definitely move into the Endangered category if the conditions which caused their Vulnerability continue. Included in the Vulnerable category are species whose numbers are decreasing because of over-exploitation, extensive habitat destruction or other environmental disturbances, species whose long term security is uncertain because their numbers have been seriously reduced, and species which currently exist in large numbers but are threatened by serious destructive factors throughout their natural habitat. Rare Rating Species which naturally occur in small numbers and which are currently not Endangered or Vulnerable but are at risk. Such species are usually confined to small habitats or are scattered in very small numbers over a wide area. Indeterminate Rating Species that are known (after officially assessing its environmental status) to be Extinct, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Rare but which cannot be placed in a single class because of incomplete of information. ‘Insufficiently Known’ Rating Species that are suspected but are not definetely known to be Extinct, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Rare. The specific category cannot be determined, even after environmental assessment, due to inadequate information. Candidate Rating Species whose environmental status is being assessed, and which is suspected to be Extinct, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Rare. The actual conservation category has not been definitely determined. ‘Out of Danger’ Rating Species which used to belong to one of the above classes but which have now deen determined to be relatively secure because of effective conservation measures, or because of the removal of previously existing conditions that threatened their survival. ‘Not Threatened’ Rating Species that do not belong to any of the above conservation categories. No Information Species for which there is no information regarding their current conservation status.
Epoxy dowel joint	A joint in which the parts are joined by dowels that have been set in oversized holes with epoxy resin.
Epoxy resin joint	A joint in which the parts are bonded using an epoxy resin adhesive.
Equilibrium moisture content	The moisture content at which timber neither gains nor loses moisture from the surrounding atmosphere.
Equilibrium moisture content	When the level of moisture in a board is equal to the moisture in the surrounding air.
ESLP	Englemann Spruce Large Pole pine
exterior plywood	Plywood of naturally durable or treated veneers bonded with waterproof adhesive and capable of withstanding prolonged exposure to severe exterior conditions without failure of the glue-lines.
Extractive	Substances in wood, which can be removed by solution in hot or cold water, ether, benzene, or other solvents that do not react chemically with wood components. The odors and colors in heartwood are usually derived from extractives. Extractives may also affect other physical and mechanical properties of wood, such as resistance to insect attack, permeability, specific gravity, hardness, and compressive strength.
Exudates	Secretions such as resin, gum, oil, or latex over the surfaces of timber, sometimes exacerbated by drying certain species at high temperatures. Excessive secretion of such exudates can adversely affect some machining properties of the timber; saws may gum up and there may be increased difficulty in gluing and finishing operations.
Face Veneer	High quality veneer that is used for the exposed surfaces on plywood.
Factory lumber	Lumber intended to be remanufactured after it leaves the sawmill.
Fascia	A vertical board nailed to the lower ends of rafters.
Fb	The designation for the bending strength design value.
FBM	Feet, board, measure.
Featherboard	A piece of wood with thin “fingers” that hold a board against a fence or down against the table of a power tool, usually a table saw or router..
Feller-buncher	A harvesting machine that cuts a tree by shears or a saw and then piles it.
Fence	A straight guide used to keep a board a set distance from a blade or other cutters.
Green Certification	Landowners who actively manage their woods can apply for green certification. Two agencies perform reviews and issue certification for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): the non-profit Smartwood and the for-profit SCS (Scientific Certification Systems). Both agencies charge to ensure that land is properly and sustainably managed and that loggers employ best management practices (BMP) to cut wood on certified woodlots. To maintain its green certification status from landowner to consumer, lumber mills must also be certified in chain of custody arrangements, that is, they ensure that certified logs are stored and milled separately from non-certified logs. It was originally thought that certified logs would sell at a premium but that has not been the case in New England. The Quabbin Reservoir managed by the Metropolitan District Commission in Massachusetts was the first publicly owned land to be green certified.
Green lumber	Lumber with a moisture content in excess of 19%.
Green Lumber	Freshly cut lumber that has not had time to dry.
Green weight	The term green weight specifically refers to the weight of freshly harvested wood that has the same moisture content (MC) as the standing tree. MC is defined as the weight of water in the wood expressed as a percentage of the weight of the oven-dry wood (wood from which all moisture has beensd removed). Also see “dry weight.”
Green Wood	Freshly sawed or undried wood which still contains the moisture that was present in the standing tree.
Grillage	A system of orthogonal elements, usually beams or trusses, acting together to resist a common load.
Ground wood chips	Ground wood is usually produced from a hammer mill or tub grinder and appears shredded and fibrous with irregular sizes, depending on the screen or grate used. Ground wood is easily disinguished by its geometry from wood chips produced from mill chipper or a whole tree chipper (WTC). WTC and mill chips appear square and evenly cut rather than fibrous and irregular.
Ground wood paper	Newsprint and other inexpensive paper made from pulp created when wood chips are ground mechanically rather than refined chemically.
Growth Ring	The layer of wood growth formed by a tree during a single growing season. In many tropical species, annual growth rings are hardly discernible.
Growth rings	Rings of earlywood and latewood on the transverse section of a trunk or branch marking cycles of growth.
Gum	A natural exudation, also called kino, produced in trees as a result of fire or mechanical damage.
Gum	A generic term for non-volatile viscous plant secretions, which either dissolve or swell up in contact with water.
Gum Canal	Tubular intercellular cavities in hardwoods which may contain gums, mucilage, kinos, resins, or latex depending upon the genus.
Gum vein	A ribbon of gum between growth rings, which may be bridged radially by wood tissue at intervals. Also known as kino.
Gusset plate	Plates (1), often steel or plywood, fixed by nails, bolts or other means to connect timber members in a truss or other frame structure. Gusset plates may be applied to one or both sides of a joint.
Half-Blind Dovetail	A dovetail joint where the cut does not go all of the way through the board. The ends of a half-blind dovetail are concealed.
Hammer	A tool consisting of a metal head set perpendicular on a handle, used for driving nails.
Hardboard	A type of manufactured board similar to particle board but with a much smoother surface. A common brand of hardboard is Masonite.
Hardboard	A pressed homogenous fibreboard having a mean density of not less than 800 kg/sq m.
Hardboard	A generic term used to describe a panel produced mainly from interfelted ligno-cellulosic fibers (usually wood), consolidated under heat and pressure to a density of 31 pounds per cubic feet or greater, and to which other materials may have been added to improve specific properties.
Hardness	A property of wood that enables it to resist indentation. It is measure in kN and is often determined by the Janka hardness test.
Hardness	The property of wood that enables it to resist indentation by other materials.
Hardwood	A general term for timber of broad leafed trees classified botanically as Angiosperm. The term has no reference to the relative hardness of the wood.
Hardwood	Hardwood comes from deciduous trees that lose their leaves during the winter. Hardwoods have traditionally been used in making such products as furniture, strip flooring, interior trim, cutting boards, novelties, and so forth. Wood used in making these products is typically in the form of relatively small and defect-free pieces which are subsequently glued together; it is also generally more costly than wood from softwood species. Because of these factors, hardwood lumber is manufactured to non-standardized length and width dimensions which will minimize trim waste. For the same reasons, such lumber is measured relatively accurately, with rounding of measurements in small increments.
Headsaw	In a sawmill, the large band saw or circular saw used to size the log into lumber.
Heartwood	The wood making up the centre part of the tree, beneath the sapwood. Cells of heartwood no longer participate in the life processes of the tree. Heartwood may contain phenolic compounds, gums, resins, and other materials that usually make it darker and more decay resistant than sapwood.
Heartwood	In a cross section of a log, the heartwood is the center and dead portion where growth rings appear. Also see bark and sapwood.
Heartwood	The dead inner core of a tree. Usually much harder and darker than the newer wood. Also see sapwood.
Heartwood	The inner core of a woody stem or log, extending from the pith to the sap, which is usually darker in color. This part of the wood contains dead cells which no longer participate in the life processes of the tree.
Hectare	A metric unit of area, 100 metres by 100 metres (10,000 square metres) or 2.471 Acres.
Herringbone Pattern	In veneering, a hearing bone pattern is formed when successive layers of veneers are glued up so they form a mirror image. Usually this pattern slants upwards and outwards, like a herringbone.
Hewn timber	Timber with or without wane, finished to size with hand tools such as an axe or adze.
High-Grading	The practice of harvesting only the higher value trees and leaving the lower value trees in the woods (“Take the best and leave the rest”). It is frowned upon in this era of sustainability, and much effort is being made to find suitable markets for lower grade logs.
Hobnail	A pattern of pin-holes left by insect attack.
Honeycombing	A drying defect which occurs when tensile stresses in the core (usually a result of collapse) result in the formation of internal cavities.
Horizontally laminated timber	Laminated timber designed to resist bending loads applied perpendicular to the wide face of the laminations. For vertical loads, this means that the wide face runs horizontally.
Housed joint	A joint where one piece is notched or grooved to receive the other piece.
Hygrometer	An instrument for measuring the humidity of air.
Hygroscopic	Changes its moisture content to be in equilibrium with the atmosphere.
Hyperbolic paraboloid shell	A complex curved surface which has one line which is always straight.
Impact Strength	A strength property of wood that essentially measures energy absorption or work properties and toughness.
Improvement cutting	The removal of trees of undesirable species, form or condition from the main canopy of the stand, to improve health, composition and value of the stand.
Infeed	The direction a workpiece is fed into a blade or cutter.
Insulating Board	A generic term used for a homogeneous panel made from wood or cane fibers characterized by an integral bond produced by interfelting of the fibers, to which other materials may have been added to improve certain qualities, but which has not been consolidated under heat and pressure as a separate stage in the manufacturing process. The board has a density that is less than 31 pounds per cubic feet (specific gravity of 0.50) but greater than 10 pounds per cubic feet (specific gravity of 0.16).
Intensive silviculture	Refers to the treatments carried out to maintain or increase the yield and value of forest stands. Includes treatments such as site rehabilitation, conifer release, spacing, pruning, and fertilization. Also, known as incremental silviculture. Compare with basic silviculture.
Interlocked grain	Grain where the angle of the fibres periodically changes or reverses in successive layers.
Internal Stresses	Stresses that exist within a member even in the absence of applied external forces.
International Log Rule	In use since about 1906. Generally regarded as the most accurate of the three scaling methods, International log rule deducts only 2.12 Inches for slabs and 1/4 inch for kerf. (Also see Scribner and Doyle Rules.) It is the standard rule used in Massachusetts.
Irregular grain	Grain where the fibres contort and twist around knots, butts, curls and so on. Also called wild grain.
Isotropic	Exhibiting the same properties in all directions.
Jamb	The side of a window or door opening.
Jig	A device used to make special cuts, guide a tool, or aid in woodworking operations.
Joinery	Finished timber fixtures of buildings such as doors, windows, panelling, cupboards, etc.
Joint	A prepared connection for joining pieces of wood or veneer.
Joint group	Species of timber are classified into joint groups according to their mechanical properties. There are six joint groups for unseasoned timber (J1, the strongest to J6, the weakest) and six joint groups for seasoned timber (JD1 to JD6).
Joist	A structural framing member used horizontally to support a ceiling or floor.
Joist	One of a series of timber beams used to support the floor boards or ceiling of a building.
Just in time (JIT)	A buying philosophy characterized by minimizing inventories and buying products only as they are needed.
Juvenile spacing	A silvicultural treatment to reduce the number of trees in young stands, often carried out before the stems removed are large enough to be used or sold as a forest product. Prevents stagnation and improves growing conditions for the remaining crop trees so that at final harvest the end-product quality and value is increased. See also commercial thinning.
Juvenile Wood	Formed near the wood pith, it is characterized by progressive increase in dimensions and changes in cell characteristics, and the pattern of cell arrangement. It is also called core wood.
Juvenile wood	The term juvenile wood refers to wood formed early in the life of a tree. By most measures, juvenile wood is lower in quality than wood which forms later; this is particularily true of the softwoods. Juvenile wood is of greatest concern in lumber and other products in which wood is used in solid form. Juvenile wood is of lesser concern in paper and fiber products and in products in which wood is reduced to individual fibers, fiber bundles, or small pieces prior to product manufacture. The two most troubling characteristics of juvenile wood are that: 1) It shrinks and swells along the grain as moisture content changes; 2) Strength is lower, and in some cases much lower, than mature wood of the same tree
kerf	The cut made by a saw blade.
Kerf	The width of the sawblade (circular or band) and the source of sawdust. The more traditional circular sawblades are wider (1/4″ to 3/8″) than the newer band saw blades (1/8″ to 3/16″) and produce more sawdust, a waste byproduct of sawmills.
Kerfing	making a series of parallel saw cuts part way through the thickness of a piece of timber so that the piece can be curved towards the kerfed side.
Kickback	When a workpiece is thrown back, in the opposite direction the cutter is turning.
Kiln	A chamber used for seasoning timber in which the temperature and humidity of the circulating air can be controlled.
Kiln	A heated chamber used for drying lumber, veneer, and other wood products and in which air-flow, temperature, and relative-humidity conditions can be controlled.
Kiln	Freshly cut green lumber may be sold green or first dried in a kiln to accelerate removal of the moisture in the wood. Drying wood in a kiln is an art to ensure that the wood dries evenly to retain its strength and aesthetic properties. Different species dry at different rates. Kiln dried lumber commands a higher price than green or air dried lumber.
Kiln	In lumber drying, a kiln is a room or building where temperature, moisture, and the amount of air circulating are controlled to dry wood.
Kiln Dried	Lumber that has been dried in a Kiln.
Kiln dried (KD)	Describes lumber that has been dried in a kiln (as opposed to being air dried).
Kiln dried after treatment (KDAT)
Log trailer	Built with permanent stakes to carry sawlogs or pulp logs. Log trailers may have a grapple loader mounted front or rear in which case the operator can load himself. The increased cost of a loader on a log trailer means the trucker’s rate will likely be much more. Without a loader, the logger must use his equipment to load the log trailer.
Longitudinal	Generally parallel to the direction of the wood fibres.
LOSP	Light organic solvent preservative. A wood preservative.
Lumber	A wood product manufactured from a log and sawn on all four sides.
Lumber	A North American synonym for timber.
Lumber	Logs which have been sawn, planed, and cut to length.
Lumber	Lumber is simply solid wood that has been sawn to a particular size. Traditionally produced from very large diameter logs, lumber is now often made from logs as small as 8 to 12 inches (20 to 30 cm) in diameter. A variety of equipment is used to produce lumber. Newer mills that process softwood logs combine scanners, computers to calculate optimium sawing sequences, and high speed, thin-kerf saws designed to obtain maximum lumber yield. The newest “lumber” products are not lumber at all in the traditional sense, but composite products created from veneers, thin flakes, or other materials such as plastic. Such products have more uniform strength properties than solid-sawn wood and can be made to large sizes even when using small trees as raw material. Lumber is always measured, bought, and sold based on nominal, rather than actual, sizes. Measurements are affected by moisture content and, in the case of hardwoods, by whether boards are surfaced or unsurfaced. Also see Yield.
Lumber ruler	A tool resembling a ruler with a handle at one end and a hood at the other which is used to calculate the board footage of a piece of lumber.
Lumber-Core Plywood	Plywood where thin sheets of veneer are glued to a core of narrow boards. Lumber-core plywood differs from regular plywood in that regular plywood is made up of successive layers of alternating grain veneer.
Luster	The property of wood that enables it to reflect light. It depends partly on the angle at which the light strikes the surface and the type of cells exposed on that surface.
LVL	Laminated veneer lumber.
Lyctid borer	a wood borer, sometimes known as the powder post borer, that can attack some hardwoods.
Lyctid susceptibility	Timber is classified according to its susceptibility to attack by lyctid borer. Legislation governs the sale and use of lyctid susceptible timber in NSW and Queensland; Australian Standards limit the use of lyctid susceptible sapwood throughout Australia.
Market pulp	White pulp from hardwood trees that is dried into thick blotter-like sheets and baled for shipment to a paper mill for repulping to make paper products.
Marquetry	Decorative inlay and veneer work.
Maximum Crushing Strength	A measure of the ability of a piece of wood to withstand loads in compression parallel to the grain up to the point of failure.
MBF	See thousand board feet.
Mechanically laminated timber	Laminated timber where the laminations are joined with mechanical fasteners.
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF)	A panel product manufactured from wood fibers combined with a synthetic resin or other suitable binder. The panels are manufactured by the application of heat and pressure by a process in which the inter-fiber bond is created primarily by the added binder. The typical density range for MDF is 31-50 lbs/cubic ft.
Medium density fiberboard (MDF)	A special type of tempered hardboard characterized by a very fine, smooth finish. MDF is used in cabinet making.
Medium density fibreboard (MDF)	A panel product manufactured from ligno-cellulosic fibres combined with a synthetic resin or other suitable binder.
Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF)	A panel product manufactured from ligno-cellulosic fibers combined with a synthetic resin or other suitable binder. The panels are manufactured to a density of 31 pounds per cubic foot (0.50 specific gravity) to 55 pounds per cubic feet (0.88 specific gravity) by the application of heat and pressure by a process in which the interfiber bond is substantially created by the binder. Other materials may have been added in the manufacturing process to improve certain properties.
Merchantable timber	A tree or stand that has attained sufficient size, quality and/or volume to make it suitable for harvesting.
Mill chips	After debarking and before a sawmill cuts lumber, it saws off the outer four slabs to reduce the log to a square or rectangular cant. The slabs are mostly the sapwood portion of the log and may be resawn to save low quality boards (e.G., Pallet boards), or the slabs are sent to the chipper. Most chippers pass their chips over a two-deck vibrating screen to separate the “overs,” “accepts” and “fines.” The “overs” are re-circulated through the chipper again and the “fines and sawdust” are blown into their own pile. The chip “accepts” are blown into a chip van trailer, blown into a pile on the ground to be loaded over the top of an open top trailer with a front-end bucket loader, or they are conveyed into an overhead bin which drops chips into an open top trailer.
Millwork	Building materials made of finished wood that have been specially manufactured by a plant or mill. Millwork includes molding and trim, doors and windows and their frames, staircases, cabinets, and other specialty items.
Minimum weight	The minimum weight that will be charged for, regardless of the weight being hauled.
Miter gauge �	A tool that slides in a slot on a power tool such as a table saw, router table, bandsaw, etc. A miter gauge can be adjusted to different angles and is used to slide the stock past the blade.
Miter-and-spline joint	A joint with two mitered surfaces connected by a spline. (See spline)
MMBF	A million board feet.
Modulus of Rupture (MOR)	The maximum load that can be applied, in bending, to a member before it fails.
Moisture content	The weight of moisture contained in a piece of timber expressed as a percentage of the oven dry weight.
Moisture Content	A measure of the amount of water in a piece of lumber.
Moisture Content	Weight of the water within a piece of lumber measured as a percentage of the weight of the dry wood. Typical moisture content for kiln dried construction lumber is 15%. Wood absorbs or gives off moisture depending on the ambient moisture in the air. The percentage of wood that is not moisture is referred to as “dry solids,” that is, dried construction lumber would be 85% dry solids. Product standards for lumber manufactured in the United States are developed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Commerce and administered by the American Lumber Standards Committee (ALSC). Members of the ALSC are representatives of various softwood lumber trade associations. As specified in the ALSC American Softwood Lumber Standard, softwood lumber is sold as “dry” if at a moisture content of 19% or less. Most hardwoods manufactured in the United States are produced to standards developed by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA). No single moisture content, however, is specified for hardwoods because the uses are more specialized. The moisture content must be specified by the buyer and agreed to by the seller; a 10% moisture content specification is common.
Moisture Content (MC)	The weight of moisture in wood or the amount of water contained in wood, usually expressed as a percentage of the weight of the ovendry wood.
Moisture gradient	A progressive decrease (or increase) in moisture content between the core and the surface of a piece of wood.
Molding	A trim piece of millwork used either strictly for decoration or for both decoration and to finsih a joint.
Mortice and tenon joint	A joint where a hole or slot known as a mortice (a) is formed in a piece of timber to receive the reduced end of similar size or tenon (b) from another piece. The joint is often secured with wedges, dowels or steel plates.
Mortise	A rectangular hole cut into a piece of wood to accept a tenon. (See tenon)
Mortise and Tenon joint	A joinery technique where the tenon from one board fits into the mortise of another.
Movement	The extent of expansion and contraction which occurs with dried wood as its moisture content responds to changes in relative humidity in service.
Movement in Service	The changes in dimensions that accompany the usual fluctuations of relative humidity and temperature after wood is placed in service. It reflects the sum of the percentage of shrinkage in the tangential and radial directions in response to a change in relative humidity from 90 to 60 percent at room temperature. The classification below is from Tropical Timbers of the World, USDA Agric. Handbook No. 607. Classification Percent Movement Small Under 3.0 Medium3.0 to 4.5 LargeOver 4.5
Mud Season	The period of weeks between winter and spring or summer and fall when the ground in a forest is largely mud, thawing or freezing between warmer days and colder nights. During mud season, heavy logging equipment is not permitted in the woods nor are trees cut during this time. Industry professionals that depend on a continuous supply of logs must account for these seasons and stockpile sufficient quantities to process during mud season. Truckers are usually available during mud season to haul logs from distant concentration yards which may have accumulated logs for mud season.
Nail	A sharpened piece of metal or plastic driven into timber to fasten a joint.
Nail gun	A hand-operated tool powered by compressed air which drives nails.
Nail plate connector	Sheet metal plates stamped so that nails are formed on one side and pressed into timber to make a joint.
Nail ring	A generally rectangular pattern of nails used to join timber elements.
Net terms	The total amount of an invoice that is due if the discount is not taken.
Net�	net A futures market invoicing term meaning that no cash discount is given for prompt payment.
Nominal	The name for the size of a piece of lumber, not the actual measurement of that piece (i.E., What we call a 2×4 is actually a piece of lumber measuring 1 1�2� x 3 1�2�).
Nominal Size	The rough-sawn size of a piece of lumber. When purchasing planed lumber it is sold by its nominal, rough-sawn, size. For example a 2″x4″ is the nominal size for a board whose actual dimension is 1.4″ X 3.25″.
Non-piloted bit	A router bit without a guide bearing. (See piloted bit)
nosing	The rounded front edge of a stair tread that extends over the riser.
Off grade	Lumber that does not conform to the grade it was represented as being.
Off the market	A trading term meaning that a seller is not currently soliciting business.
Ogee	A decorative molding profile with a S shape.
Old growth	A forest of mature or over mature timber that is beyond its peak growing period.
Old Growth (Virgin Timber)	Old, naturally established trees often characterized by dense straight grain and a lack of knots and defects.
On hand	A rolling unsold railcar that has stopped at a diversion point pending further orders from the shipper.
Open Coat	A piece of sandpaper with abrasive particles that are spread out to prevent clogging. See also closed coat.
Open grained	Common classification for woods with large pores in the grain. Also known as coarse textured.
Oriented strand board (OSB)	Structural panels made of narrow strands of fiber that are oriented lengthwise and crosswise in layers and bound together with resin. Depending on the resin used, OSB can be suitable or interior or exterior applications. Plywood and OSB are also referred to as structural panels and used in applications where strength and stiffness are required, e.G., Roofs, walls, floors, etc.
Outfeed	The side of a power tool where the board exits. (See infeed)
Oven-dried weight	The weight of a piece of lumber that has been dried, under high temperatures, in an oven until it is devoid of all water.
Ovendry Weight	Weight obtained by drying wood in an oven at 102 degrees F. (plus or minus 3 degrees F) until there is no more weight loss.
Ovendry Wood	Wood that has been dried to its ovendry weight.
Overstorey	That portion of the trees, in a forest of more than one storey, forming the upper or uppermost canopy layer.
Pallet	A low wood platform on which material can be stacked to facilitate mechanical handling, moving, and storage.
Paper wrap (PW)	Heavy paper, wrapped around the top and four sides of a unit of lumbr, to protect it during transit and outside storage. Often a condition of sale.
Paperboard	Grades of paper whose thickness is more than 0.012 inches and which are heavier and more rigid than ordinary paper.
Parabolic arch	An arch whose curve is a parabola.
Parallel strand lumber (PSL)	A type of engineered wood product.

Plate	A horizontal framing member laid flat.
Plate Joint �	A butt joint that is reinforced with a football shaped “biscuit”. The biscuits are usually made from compressed pieces of wood, usually birch. When a biscuit comes into contact with glue in the joint it swells creating a tighter joint. Also called a Biscuit Joint.
Plumb	Straight up and down, perfectly vertical.
Plunge Router	A router mounted on a spring loaded base. The router can be turned on and plunged down into the workpiece.
Ply	One layer of a laminated sheet.
Plywood	An assembled product made up of veneers of timber glued together so that the grain of alternate layers is at right angles.
Plywood	Sheets of wood consisting of three or more sheets of wood glued and bonded by heat and pressure with the grain of each sheet running perpendicular to adjacent layers.
Pocket	A patch of bark or gum (kino) completely or partially enclosed in the wood.
Pole	A round timber column.
Poly under top tier (PUTT)	A way of giving some protection to unitized lumber by the insertion of a piece of plastic between the next to top and top tiers.
Porous Wood	Wood with larger than normal pores and vessels
portal frame	A planar frame where the lateral and bending forces are transferred by moment resisting connections from the portal rafters to the columns.
Post and beam structure	A structural frame with repetitive columns and beams.
Precision end trimmed (PET)	Lumber trimmed smooth on both ends and varying no more than 1/16� in no more than 20% of the pieces.
Precision end trimmed (PET)	Lumber trimmed smooth on both ends and varying no more than 1/16″ in nor more than 20% of the pieces. May be a condition of sale.
Preservative	Any substance that is effective in preventing , for a reasonable period of time, the development and action of fungi, borer and insect attack in wood.
Preservative	Any substance which can be introduced into wood to prevent the development or action of decay or deterioration by insects and other organisms for a reasonable length of time.
Pressure�	treated lumber Lumber that has been saturated with chemicals to prevent rot or decay caused by living organisms.
Price at the time of shipment (PTS)	an order committed to by both the buyer and seller, but not having a firm price until it is ready for shipment.
Primary Wood Products	Include logs, softwood lumber, hardwood lumber, plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), medium-density fiberboard (MDF) and particle board.
Procurement forester	A forester employed by and accountable to a sawmill or paper mill and who is responsible for providing a continuous supply of logs for his/her employer. Also referred to as industrial foresters, they purchase trees on the stump or at the landing from landowners or loggers.
Proportional Limit	Refers to the maximum load that marks the limit beyond which there is no more direct proportionality between applied load and deformation produced, during mechanical testing of a material.
Pruning	Pruning of lower dead branches leads to an almost immediate improvement in the quality of wood produced. After several years new wood will cover the severed branch stubs and the subsequently produced wood will be knot-free. This treatment has no effect upon tree growth. Pruning can significantly improve the quality of saw and veneer logs. For maximum effectiveness pruning should be concentrated on lower portions of larger trees which will not be harvested for some 30 to 40 years following treatment. Heavy pruning which removes a substantial portion (i.E., More than one-third) of the green crown should be avoided.
Pulp logs	Logs of lesser value (smaller in diameter with acceptable defects) than sawlogs, of greater value than cordwood. Pulp logs are usually bought by the ton to be debarked, reduced to chips, and used to manufacture pulp and paper.
Pulp Trees	Small trees and saplings that will be ground to produce paper. Lumber farmers often over-plant their acreage and remove smaller trees for pulp as the crop matures.
Pumice �	A fine abrasive powder that is made from volcanic ash. Pumice is used with a a felt block in woodworking to rub out (polish) a finish. (Pumice is also the gritty additive in Lava soap.)
Purlin	One of a series of horizontal framing timbers supporting the rafters or spanning between trusses or frames and supporting the roof. Purlins usually span at right angles to the slope of the roof
Push Stick	A tool used to safely push a board through a table saw or other power tool.
Quarter cut	A method of slicing veneers whereby the average inclination of the growth rings to the wide face is greater than 45 degrees.
Quarter sawn timber	Timber in which the average inclination of the growth rings to the wide face is not less than 45 degrees.
Quarter-sawn	A method of cutting lumber where the annual rings are relatively perpendicular to the face of the board. Quarter-sawn lumber tends to be more dimensionally stable than other forms of lumber, such as plain-sawn.
Quarter-sawn	Wood that has been sawed so that the wide surfaces extend approximately at right angles to the annual growth rings. Same as edge-grained lumber.
Queen Anne	A style of furniture that was first made popular in England during the rule of Queen Ann. It was used almost exclusively by early colonial cabinetmakers. The Cabriole Leg is one of the primary characteristics of the Queen Ann style.
Rabbet	A cut partway through the edge of a board that is used as a part of a joint.
Radial	Coincident with a radius from the axis of the tree or log to the circumference.
Radial Shrinkage	Shrinkage in a piece of lumber that occurs across the growth rings as it begins to dry.
Radially sawn	timber sawn on the radius from the central axis of the tree or log to the circumference, perpendicular to the growth rings. The resulting pieces are generally triangular in shape.
Rafter	One of a series of roof support timbers that provide principal support for the roofing material. Rafters usually span parallel to the slope of the roof.
Rail	(1) A horizontal board that runs along the underside of a table. (2) The horizontal part of a raised panel door.
Raised Grain	A roughened condition of the surface of dressed lumber in which the hard latewood is raised above the softer earlywood but not torn loose from it.
Raised Panel	A piece of wood that is the center of a frame and panel assembly.
Random lengths	A lumber tally containing various lengths.
Ray	A ribbon like figure caused by the strands of cells which extend across the grain in quarter sawn lumber.
Rays	A ribbon-like arrangement of cells, usually oriented in the radial direction.
Reaction Wood	Abnormal wood formed in a leaning tree, often characterized by a dense hard brittle grain and propensity to react irregularly to seasonal moisture changes. In hardwood trees, it forms on the upper side of the lean and is called tension wood. In softwood trees it forms on the lower side of the lean and is called compression wood.
Reaction wood	Reaction wood is wood formed in trees where the main stem is tipped from the vertical. It also often forms following the deflection of a lateral stem (branch) from its normal orientation. Reaction wood formed in hardwoods differs from that formed in softwoods. In softwoods, reaction wood is called compression wood; reaction wood in hardwoods is called tension wood. Both compression wood and tension wood are lower in quality than normal mature wood. As with juvenile wood, reaction wood is viewed as least desirable in lumber and in other products in which wood is used in solid form.
Reaction Wood	Wood with more or less distinctive anatomical charateristics, usually formed in parts of leaning or crooked stems and in branches. It is referred to as tension wood in hardwoods and compression wood in softwoods.
Recessing and Routing	The ease or difficulty with which a timber can be slotted, rebated or routed.
Reconditioning treatment	A high temperature/high relative humidity (100%) treatment applied after drying to restore the shape of collapsed or distorted wood.
Reforestation	The natural or artificial restocking of an area with forest trees.
Refractory	In timber drying this term is used to indicate high resistance to moisture loss during drying.
Refractory Wood	Wood that is difficult to dry, impregnate with preservatives, machine, or to process or manufacture through conventional methods.
Relative humidity	At a given temperature, this is the amount of moisture in air as a percentage of the maximum moisture carrying capacity of the air, i.E. The water vapour pressure as a percentage of the saturated water vapour pressure.
Relative Humidity	Ratio of the amount of water vapor present in the air to that which the air would hold at saturation at the same temperature.
Resawing	The process of sawing lumber in two lengthwise, parallel to the wide face. It is usually, though not always, done through the middle of the board, producing two equal sized boards, each approximately half the thickness of the original. Resawing changes the thickness of the lumber but not its width. Also see Ripping.
Resin	Inflammable, water-soluble, vegetable substances secreted by certain plants or trees, and which characterize the wood of many conifers.
Resin Ducts	Tubular, intercellular spaces which contain and transmit resinous material.
Resistance to Impregnation or Treatability	The natural resistance of wood to attack by fungi and insects can sometimes be improved from low to average, or even better through preservative treatment. Extent of improvement is dependent upon the treatability or the ability of the wood to absorb and retain suitable preservatives in adequate amounts. Treatability varies significantly between species and between sapwood and heartwood of the same species. Classifications usually refer to the heartwood only and should be applied with caution since methods of determining treatability are not standardized.
Resorcinol glue	An adhesive made from resorcinol resin and formaldehyde.
Reveal	The surface left exposed when one board is fastened over another; the edge of the upper set slightly back from the edge of the lower.
Ribbon figure	A striped figure produced by cutting timber that has an interlocked grain. Also called striped figure.
Ridge	The highest part of the roof at the meeting of the upper ends of the common rafters.
Rip	To cut along the grain.
Riparian	Related to or living or or located on the bank of natural watercourse, such as a stream or river or lake or tidewater.
Ripcut (Ripping)	A cut made parallel to the grain of a board. See – Crosscut (crosscutting)
Ripped and bundled	A remanufacturing process in which lumber is ripped and then minor bundled.
Ripping	the process of cutting lumber in two, perpendicular to its wide face. For example, making a 2×12 into two pieces of 2×6.
Ripping	The process of sawing lumber in two lengthwise perpendicular to the wide face. Ripping changes the width of the lumber but not its thickness. Also see Resawing.
Roof batten	Small timbers fixed to the top of rafters to which the roofing material is secured.
Ropey figure	Markings in the form of a twisted rope.
Rotary-cut veneer	Veneer cut in a lathe which rotates a log chucked in the centre against a knife. This method of peeling is used to produce decorative veneers and is a common method of manufacturing veneers for plywood.
Rotary-cut Veneer	Veneer which was cut from a log in one long sheet. Rotary cut veneer is cut from a log like a roll of paper towels.
Rotation age	The period of years required to establish and grow a timbercrop to a specified condition of maturity. The intended age of harvest of mature trees. Long rotations mostly affect those features that are desirable in lumber and in structural and non-structural products made largely of wood in solid form. Harvest age has less impact on the usefulness of wood for use in paper and fiber products and in products in which wood is reduced to small pieces prior to manufacture.
Rough sawn	Surface condition of wood as it leaves the saw, i.E. Not dressed or final sawn.

Seasoning stresses	Stresses in timber caused by variation in shrinkage as it dries.
Select	A high grade of lumber that allows few defects.
Selects	In softwood, lumber which has been graded strictly for its appearance. In hardwood, lumber which is one grade below first and second.
Shade tolerance	The capacity of a tree or plant species to develop and grow in the shade of and in competition with other trees or plants.
Shake	lumber defect referring to a separation of wood fiber through the annual growth rings.
Shake	Separation or breakage of the wood fibres caused by stresses in the standing tree or by felling and handling of the log. It is not caused by shrinkage during drying.
Shake	A separation of the wood along an annual ring (ring shake)or cracks radiating from the heart (heart shake) caused by frost, wind, or felling of the tree.
Shear	A condition of stress or strain where parallel planes slide relative to each other.
Shear connector	Usually metal connectors fitted inside a timber joint to transfer shear across a wide area of grain.
Shear Stress	Result from forces which tend to cause one portion of a body to move with respect to another in a direction parallel to their plane of contact.
Sheet metal connector	A shaped connector made of sheet metal and perforated so that nails can be driven through.
Shelterbelt	A wind barrier of living trees and/or shrubs maintained to protect farm fields or homesteads.
Shelterwood cutting	Any harvest cutting of a more or less regular and mature crop, designed to establish a new crop under protection of the old.
Shipment time	The time indicated for a shipment of lumber to leave a sawmill or reload center.
Shipper	The party paying the freight bill.
Short (position)	A speculative position in which one sells lumber before it is bought.
Shrinkage	The reduction in dimension or volume which takes place in timber when the moisture content is reduced below fibre saturation point, expressed as a percentage of the original dimensions or volume. Linear shrinkage occurs in three directions radial, tangential and longitudinal.
Shrinkage	The percentage change in the dimension of wood with respect to the swollen size as a basis.
Sidecuts	Boards usually 1×3, 1×4 or 1×6 produced in a dimension mill from the thin slabs taken from the outside of logs; slabs not thick enough to make dimension lumber.
Sill	1) A sill plate. 2) The structural member forming the bottom of a rough opening for a door or window. Also, the bottom member of a door or window frame.
Silviculture	The art and science of growing and tending a forest. It includes assessing sites before they are harvested to determine what is growing there now, evaluating soil conditions to determine moisture and nutrient levels as well as assessing the types of plants that are growing on the site.
Skidder	A wheeled or tracked vehicle used for sliding/dragging logs from the stump to the landing.
Slab	A broad flat piece of wood cut directly from the log, often with bark on both edges.
Slab	The exterior portion of a log removed in sawing timber.
Slash	Tree tops, branches, bark, and other debris left after a forest operation.
Sliced veneer	Veneer that is sliced off a log or flitch with a knife.
Sliding Dovetail Joints	A sliding dovetail joint is similar to a tongue and groove joint except the tongue and grove are matching dovetails.
Softwood	Wood from trees commonly referred to as conifers or evergreens.
Softwood	A general term for timber of trees classified botanically as Gymnosperm. Commercial timbers of this group are nearly all conifers. The term has no reference to the relative hardness of the wood.
Softwood	Evergreen trees, conifers, cone-bearing trees or wood cut from these trees. Softwood lumber has long been the mainstay of the residential construction industry where it is used in relatively large-sized pieces. Though some of this wood, such as that used for siding, must be of good appearance, most requires only adequate strength. Because of these factors, and because construction requires material of uniform size which can be stockpiled economically (meaning a relatively small number of standard sizes), softwood lumber is manufactured to standard sizes and is measured accordingly.
Softwoods	Generally lumber from a conifer such as pine or cedar. The name softwood does not refer to the density of the wood. There are some hardwoods, such as Balsa, which are softer than some softwoods, like Southern Yellow Pine.
Sound	A term referring to a board which has no or very few defects which will effect its strength.
Sound knot	A knot that is solid across its face, at least as hard as the surrounding wood, and shows no indication of decay.
Spar	A pole, tower or tree used in cable logging to raise the mainline off the ground.
Specific Gravity	The decimal ratio of the ovendry weight of a piece of wood to the weight of a volume of water equal to the volume of the piece at a given moisture content (green, air-dry, or ovendry).
Specific Gravity	The ratio of the weight of wood to an equal volume of water. The higher the specific gravity, the heavier the wood.
Spermatophyte	Plants that reproduce by seeds. This includes almost all plant species.
Spike top	A tree with a dead top, usually a mark of declining vigor.
Spindle	The threaded arbor on a shaper that holds the cutters.
Splice	To join the ends of timber elements together.
Spline	A thin piece of wood that fits in the mating grooves cut into two pieces of wood.
Split	A defect that occurs when tensile stresses cause the wood fibres to separate and form cracks. Splits are cracks that extend through a piece.
Spring	A longitudinal curvature of the edge of a piece of timber, not affecting the face.
Springing	Support point or origin.
Springwood	The less dense, larger wood cells of an annual growth ring. Also called earlywood to refer to the fact that it is the wood formed early in the growing season. See also summerwood.
Squeeze-out	A bead or drops of glue that are forced out of a joint when pressure is applied.
Stain	1) A discoloration in wood caused by a fungus or chemicals. 2) A die or pigment used to color wood.
Stand	A community of trees sufficiently uniform in species, age, arrangement or condition to be distinguishable as a group from the forest or other growth on the area.
Starved Joint	A poorly bonded joint caused by lack of glue.
Steam bending	The curvature to which a 1 inch (25mm) thick sample may be steam bent with an expectation of a 5% failure rate.
Steaming treatment	A treatment sometimes carried out before commencing a drying schedule. The timber is subjected to live steam. See also reconditioning.
Stem Wood	See Bole Wood.
Sticker �	A thin wood strip that is inserted between stacks of green wood to allow air to flow through the stack to ensure proper drying..
Stickers	Strips or boards used to separate the layers of lumber in a pile and thus improve air circulation.
Stickers	When kiln or air-dryin wood, stickers are pieces of wood placed perpendicularly between layers of boards to allow for airflow through the stack. Stickers are usually placed 12 to 18 inches apart and directly over any support beams under the stack. Placing stickers as close as possible to the end of the boards helps to llimit end checking and reduce warp.
Stiffener	All elements used to support or stiffen the slender webs of box and I-shaped beams and to enhance compressive capability of webs at support points or points of high transverse loads.
Stile	The vertical part of a raised panel door.
Stitch bolt	A long bolt through laminated timber that holds the laminations together.
Straight grained	Timber in which the fibres run parallel to the axis of a piece.
Strength	The ability of a member to sustain stress without failure.
Strength group	Species of timber are classified into groups according to mechanical properties of the wood of that species and AS 2878, Timbers – Classification into Strength Group. There are seven strength groups for unseasoned timber (S1 the strongest to S7 the weakest) and eight for seasoned timber (SD 1 the strongest to SD 8 the weakest).
Stress	Applied force per unit of volume or area. It is expressed as primary stresses, i.e., compression (with forces acting toward each other), tensile (with forces acting away from each other), or shear (with forces sliding on each other). A combination of the three results in bending stresses.
Stringer	1. A beam that joins the top of columns and supports the cross members in floors and ceilings. 2. An inclined member that supports the treads of a stair. 3. A deck element in timber bridges that supports transverse deck planks and runs parallel to the beam span.
Structural I-Beams	Structural I-Beams were developed to take advantage of the fact that compression and tension stresses are greatest at the top and bottom edges of a beam as it is subjected to a load. By concentrating the amount of wood at the the top and bottom edges and by paying close attention to the quality of wood used at these locations, beams are made that have high strength but which use far less wood than solid lumber. Such products are widely used today and were used in 19% of the homes built in the United States during 1996. Structural I-beams are used for the most part as floor joists, replacing 2 � 12, 2 � 10, and 2 � 8 solid-sawn lumber that has traditionally been used for joists.
Structural timber	Timber to be used in construction where its strength is the controlling element in its selection and use.
Strut	A structural timber resisting compressive forces along the grain.
Stud	One of a series of vertical framing timbers used as a supporting element in a wall or partition.
Stumpage	The value of timber as it stands uncut in the woods. The price charged for the right to harvest timber from publically or privately-owned forest land. The University of Massachusetts publishes a local stumpage fee report quarterly based on responses to a survey of local landowners and loggers.
Summerwood	The denser, later-formed wood of an annual growth ring. Also known as “latewood” relating to the time in the growing season that these cells are produced.
Sunscald	Death of cambial tissue on one side of a tree, caused by exposure to direct sunlight.
Surfaced	Lumber that has gone through a planer so that its sides are smooth and uniform in size.
Surfaced Lumber �	A piece of wood that has been planed smooth on one or more surfaces.
Surfacing	The way a piece of lumber has been prepared at the lumber mill.
Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)	The program and polices formed by the American Forest and Paper Association (AFandPA). SFI was developed in response to criticism from environmentalists aimed at logging practices that did not promote forest sustainability. SFI is the industrial counterpart to programs promoted by Smartwood (non-profit)and Scientific Certification Systems (for profit) which promote and certify landowners engaged in proactive and sustainable forest management. AFandPA requires all its members to comply with SFI principles among which is the requirement that forest management be “certified” by an independent third party. SFI certification can be easily confused with “green certification” promoted by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Sustained harvest	A level of harvest that does not exceed annual growth, so that at least as much is available for harvest in 50 years as today.
Sway bracing	Bracing members required to resists the transverse movement of a structural element.
Tied arch	An arch tied at the base with a tension member.
Tier	horizontal course in a unit of lumber.
Timber	A general term for natural or sawn wood in a form suitable for building or structural purposes.
Timbers	Lumber 5� or more in thickness.
Timbers	Lumber 5″ or more in thickness.
Tongue and Groove	A joinery method where one board is cut with a protruding “groove” and a matching piece is cut with a matching groove along its edge.
Tongue and groove joint	A joint where a ridge or tongue in one piece fits a matching groove in the other.
Torque	The amount of force that is needed to turn an object such as a screw or bolt.
Toughness	A quality of wood which permits the material to absorb a relatively large amount of energy, to withstand repeated shocks, and to undergo considerable deformation before breaking. Specific toughness classification are set out in AS 1720.2 SAA Timber Structures Code – Part 2 Timber Properties.
Toughness	A property of wood that enables it to absorb a relatively large amount of energy, to withstand repeated shocks, and to undergo considerable deformation before breaking. Trim The finish materials in a building, such as moldings, applied around openings, e.g., window trim, door trim, etc., or at the floor and ceiling of rooms, e.g., baseboard, cornice, etc.
Trade names	the accepted regional names given to particular species by industry. Trade names are standardised in AS 2543, Nomenclature of Australian Timbers and AS 1148, Nomenclature of Commercial Timbers imported into Australia.
Transverse	Across. A transverse section is a section across the length of a building or room.
Tread	The horizontal platform of a stair.
Trimmer	The structural member on the side of a framed rough opening to narrow or stiffen the opening. Also the shortened stud (jack stud) which supports a header in a door or window opening.
Trimmer	Square-edged boards must pass in a transverse or sideways direction through a battery of saws that precisely end-trim (PET) the lumber to prescribed lengths.
Truss	A frame of members in the same plane joined only at their end and all interconnected to form triangles. Primary stresses are axial so that if loads are applied at the joints, the stress in each member is in the direction of its length.
Trussed beam	A timber beam reinforced with a trussed metal tension rod.
Twist	A spiral distortion along the length of a piece of timber.
Twist	A defect referring to a deviation, flatwise, in a piece of lumber, creating the form of a curl or a spiral.
Twist	Warping in lumber where the ends twist in opposite directions. (Like twisting a towel)
Tyloses	Extensions of parenchyma cells, appearing somewhat like froth, into the pores or vesels of some hardwoods, especially oak and black locust, before or during heartwood formation. Tyloses tend to prevent or greatly impede moisture movement through the pores.
Underlayment	A layer of plywood or other manufactured board used as a base material under finished flooring. Underlayment is often used as a substrate to increase the strength and/or smoothness of the flooring.
Understorey	That portion of the trees or other vegetation in a forest stand below the main canopy level.
Unseasoned timber	Timber in which the average moisture content exceeds 25 %.
Urban wood	Used pallets, wooden shipping crates and clean construction wood diverted from the waste stream and chipped for use in making particleboard and MDF.
Veneer	A thin layer or sheet of wood.
Veneer	A thin sheet of wood cut from a log.
Veneer	Thin sheet of wood sliced, sawed, or rotary-cut from a log or a flitch; Rotary-cut Veneer-Veneer cut in a lathe which rotates a log or bolt, chucked in the center, against a knifel Sawed Veneer-Veneer produced by sawing; Sliced Veneer-Veneer that is sliced off a log, bolt, or flitch with a knife.
Veneer Logs	Although veneer logs are sold by the board foot, they are never converted to lumber. Veneer logs are turned and rotary cut, that is, the wood is peeled off the log by turning it against a stationary knife. The sheets of wood may be laminated into plywood or laminated veneer lumber (LVL) products.
Veneer Sheets	Thin sheets of wood of a specified thickness that are peeled, sliced, or sawn from logs for use in plywood, paneling, and furniture.
Veneer-core Plywood	Plywood made from three or more pieces of veneer glued up in alternating grain patterns.
Veneering	Facing a substrate with a thin layer of ornamental wood.
Vertical integration	In the forest products industry, a vertically integrated company grows its own trees, makes products from them, then makes other products from fiber leftovers from the initial manufacturing operation, then converts and adds value to all these products.
Vertically laminated timber	Laminated timber designed to resist bending loads applied parallel to the wide face of the laminations. For vertical loads, this means that the wide face runs vertically.
Vessels	Relatively large diameter hardwood cells that have open ends and are arranged one above the other to form a continuous tube. The openings of the vessels on the surface of a piece of wood are usually referred to as pores.
Wane	A lumber defect referring to the absence of wood or the presence of bark along an edge or corner.
Wane	The absence of wood on any face or edge of a piece of timber, leaving exposed the original underbark surface with or without bark.
Wane	A lumber defect referring to the absence of wood or the presence of bark along an edge or corner.
Want	The absence of wood, other than wane, from the arris or surface of a piece of timber.
Warp	A lumber defect referring to any combination of bow, crook, cup, or twist.
Warp	Any variation from a true and plane surface. It includes bow, cup and twist and is often caused by irregular seasoning.
Warp	A defect in lumber characterized by a bending in one or more directions.
Warp	A lumber defect referring to any combination of bow, crook, cut, or twist.
Water repellent	A liquid that penetrates wood which, after drying, materially retards changes in moisture content and in dimensions without adversely altering thedesirable properties of wood.
Water-repellent preservative	A water repellent that contains a preservative which, after application to wood and drying, accomplishes the dual purpose of imparting resistance to attack by fungi or insects and also retards changes in moisture content.
Wavy figure	Markings in the form of waves or undulations. Figures with large undulations are described as ‘wavy’, while others with small, irregular undulations are ‘curly’, and those with small, regular undulations are ‘fiddleback’.
Weatherboard	Boards that cover external surfaces and overlap to keep out the rain.
Weathering	The mechanical or chemical disintegration and discoloration of the surface of wood caused by exposure to light, the action of dust and sand carried by winds, and the alternate shrinking and swelling of the surface fibres with the variation in moisture content. Weathering does not include decay.
Weathering	The cumulative effect of surface deterioration in wood exposed to the weather and unprotected by paint or other means. It is also the mechanical and chemical disintegration and discoloration of wood surface caused by exposure to light, dust and sand carried by winds. It does not include decay.
Web	Any transverse lateral stiffener.
Weekly pricing guides	Reports published weekly by independent companies charting the prices of many common lumber items.
Wetwood	Green wood with an abnormally high moisture content that generally results from infections in living trees by anaerobic bacteria, but may also result from water logging during log ponding. The condition can occur in both softwoods and hardwoods; the green lumber is usually difficult to dry without defects. Although difficult to recognize, wetwood is often characterized by a translucent, watersoaked appearance and a sour or rancid odor.
White lumber	Lumber that has not been treated.
Whole tree chips (WTC)	Some mechanized loggers reduce trees that are not otherwise marketable as logs to whole tree chips to be sold to wood energy plants. Whole tree chips differ from mill chips in that they include the bark, sapwood, and heartwood of the tree, as well as branches and leaves (from deciduous or hardwood trees) or needles (from evergreen or softwood trees).
Wholesaler	One who purchases material from a producer or remanufacturer, for resale to retailers, industrial users, etc., While also providing for transportation, credit, and other services.
Wild figure	Irregular markings.
Wind bracing	Bracing members required to resist the forces on a structure resulting from wind pressure.
Wind post	A column that stiffens a framed wall against wind loads.
Wood	The hard compact fibrous substance of which trees and shrubs are largely composed.
Wood Biodeterioration	The destruction and eventual reduction of wood to its component sugars and lignin elements through attack by organisms such as, fungi, and certain insects, for instance, termites. Blue Stain A bluish or DimGrayish discoloration of the sapwood caused by the growth of certain dark-colored fungi on the surface and in the interior of the wood, made possible by the same conditions that favor the growth of other fungi. Also known as sap stain or sapwood stain. Brown Rot Any decay in wood in which the attack is confined to the cellulose and associated carbohydrates rather than the lignin, producing a light to dark brown friable residue – hence the term “dry rot”. An advanced stage of brown rot where the wood splits along rectangular planes, in shrinking, is referred to as “cubical rot.” Dry Rot A term loosely applied to any dry, crumbly rot but especially to that which, when in advanced stage, permits the wood to be crushed easily to dry powder. Marine Borers Mullosks and crustaceans which attack submerged wood in salt and brackish water. Powder-Post Damage Small holes (1/16″ to 1/12″ in diameter) filled with dry, crumbled wood, resulting from the work of beetles (mostly Lyctus) in seasoned and unseasoned wood. Soft Rot A special type of decay that develops in the outer wood layers under very wet conditions, such as in cooling towers and boat timbers. It is caused by microfungi that attack the secondary cell walls (and not the intercellular layer) and destroy its cellulose content. White Rot A type of wood-destroying fungus that attacks both cellulose and lignin, producing a spongy and stringy mass that is usually whitish but which may assume various shades of yellow, tan, and light brown.
Wood energy plants	Electric generating plants that burn wood chips as fuel to produce steam and electricity. A number of these plants were built in the 1970’s subsidized by the federal government and electric utilities when the price of foreign oil rose dramatically.
Wood Preservation	The introduction of preservatives into wood to protect it from agents of destruction and bio-deterioration, such as fire, insects, and fungi.
Work to Maximum Load	In bending, it represents the ability of wood (or other materials) to absorb shock with some permanent deformation and more or less injury to the piece. It is a measure of the combined strength and toughness of wood under bending stresses.
Workability	The degree of ease and smoothness of cut obtainable with hand or machine tools.
Working Life (Pot Life)	The amount of time after mixing that a glue or paint remains usable. Often used when referring to two-part epoxy and polyester glues.
Wormholes	Holes and channels cut in wood by insects.
X	The drafting symbol for a cross section of an object.
Xylem	The cellular tissue inside a tree’s bark often called wood.�
Yield	The proportion of the log converted into lumber is the product that produces the greatest value. The percentage of the log that winds up in as lumber (54-55%), sawdust (4-19%), or chips (27-41%) depends upon: 1) Thickness of lumber being cut; 2) Skill of the sawyer; 3) Type of headsaw; 4) Saw kerf; 5) Losses in edging, trimming, drying, and surfacing

Understanding The Data

Glossary

Understanding The Data