Treesearch

In bridge timbers, wood decay is usually found where water has accessed the end-grain surfaces. In preservative-treated members, end-grain surfaces are most likely to be those resulting from on-site framing cuts or borings. Because these at-risk surfaces are easy to see, it seems feasible to establish a program where diffusible preservatives are repetitively inserted into those critical areas spatially distributed in a grid and on a schedule that will ensure protection, thereby extending the life of the entire structure. The objective of this study was to determine the vertical and lateral...

Because of a combination of circumstances, there is an overabundance of small-diameter timber available in the United States. There is low demand for this material because it has low value. One way to increase the value, and therefore the demand, for this material is to develop or expand markets where the material can be used. We looked at markets where little or no machining would be required before use because this would make it more feasible to use small-diameter material. One such market is that of wood posts in highway applications. In this study, we gathered information on the...

Forests in the United States contain a significant amount of small-diameter and underutilized material. These overstocked stands not only increase the risk of insect, disease, fire, and drought damage, but also are costly to remove. Finding economical and marketable uses for small-diameter and underutilized material would alleviate these problems while improving watershed health and providing economic opportunities for local communities to help offset forest management costs. An extensive research program at the Forest Products Laboratory of the USDA Forest Service is focused on searching...

This guide was prepared to assist inspectors in the use of stress wave timing instruments and various methods of locating and defining areas of decay in timber members in historic structures. The first two sections provide (a) background information regarding conventional methods to locate and measure decay in historic structures and (b) the principles of stress wave nondestructive testing and measurement techniques. The last section is a detailed description of how to apply the use of stress wave nondestructive testing methods in the field. A sample field data acquisition form and...

Statistical Process Control (SPC) provides effective tools for improving process quality in the forest products industry resulting in reduced costs and improved productivity. Implementing SPC helps identify and locate problems that occur in wood products manufacturing. SPC tools achieve their real value when applied on the mill floor for monitoring and troubleshooting processing problems. This paper looks at SPC tools called control charts and describes the interpretation of statistical process control information as it relates to troubleshooting processing problems and improved mill...

Quality control (QC) programs do not often realize their full potential. Elaborate and expensive QC programs can easily get side tracked by the process of building a program with promises of “Someday, this will all pay off.” Training employees in QC methods is no guarantee that quality will improve. Several documented cases show that such activity-centered efforts often see little improvement in quality, cost, or productivity. The discussion in this paper builds on the quality improvement efforts of mill managers and QC supervisors by focusing on specific measurable and achievable results—t...

The North American Pulp And Paper (NAPAP) model and USDA POLYSYS agricultural policy analysis model were linked to project future market scenarios for pulpwood supply from agricultural short-rotation woody crops in the United States. Results suggest that pulpwood supply from fast- growing hybrid poplars and cottonwoods will become marginally economical but fairly limited in the next several decades. This supply could become significant under certain scenarios, such as reduced hardwood pulpwood supply from natural forests or limited future expansion in paper recycling. Woody crops might...

A report of putative ectomycorrhizal fungi from Puerto Rico, Mona, and Guana Island in the Greater Antilles includes four species of Amanita, three of which are new species; two Lactarius, one is new, and two species of Boletus, one new. In addition, new distribution records of Phlebopus beniensis, Russula littoralis, Lactarius ferrugineus, a new small spored Phylloporus, and Suillus brevipes with Pinus caribaea are reported. Ectomycorrhizal hosts for all but the Suillus include Coccoloba uvifera (Polygonaceae) and putative hosts Hymenea courbaril (Caesalpiniaceae) and Andira inermis...

A key to six taxa of Hygrocybe, subgenus Hygrocybe, sections Chlorophanae and Hygrocybe is provided. One species is new and four species are reported for the first time from the Greater Antilles. The new species is H. chimaeroderma (section Chlarophanae). Hygrocybe acutoconica, H. calyptriformis and H. incolor (section Hygrocybe) are reported for the first time, and two new varieties, H. konradii var. antillana and H. calyptriformis var. domingensis (section Hygrocybe) are described. Three new combinations are made: H. acutoconica var. microspora, H. conica var. brevispora and H. luteistipe...

Phanerochaete “pseudomagnoliae” nom. prov. isolated from decayed wood, collected in Stellenbosch, South Africa, is described and illustrated. From fruiting in culture it differs from previously described species of the genus Phanerochaete in that the basidiospores are smaller and it does not produce many chlamydospores on Malt Extract Agar but only on xylose containing liquid media. Phanerochaete “pseudomagnoliae” is compared with other similar species in Phanerochaete. Preliminary biochemical characterization of the strain is included.