Treesearch

Throughout history, the unique characteristics and comparative abundance of wood have made it a natural material for homes and other structures, furniture, tools, vehicles, and decorative objects. Today, for the same reasons, wood is prized for a multitude of uses. All wood is composed of cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, and minor amounts (5% to 10%) of extraneous materials contained in a cellular structure. Variations in the characteristics and volume of these components and differences in cellular structure make woods heavy or light, stiff or flexible, and hard or soft. The properties...

Exterior stains for wood protect the wood surface from sunlight and moisture. Because stains are formulated to penetrate the wood surface, they are not prone to crack or peel as can film-forming finishes, such as paints. This publication describes the properties of stains and wood, methods for applying stains, and the expected service life of stains.

This paper reports prices for aggregations of lumber grades that are representative of the quality and volume of lumber produced from small-diameter timber stands in the Intermountain West area encompassing Idaho and Montana and land east of the Cascade Mountain range in Oregon and Washington. Price data are reported for Douglas Fir1Larch, Hem1Fir, ponderosa pine, and lodgepole pine. Forest managers can use the grade aggregations in conjunction with the Financial Evaluation of Ecosystem Management Activities (FEEMA) software to evaluate silvicultural treatments for small-diameter timber...

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of fungal pretreatment of whole kenaf prior to refining on refiner electrical energy consumption, paper strength, and optical properties. We also explored the suitability of whole kenaf biomechanical pulp for making newsprint in terms of ISO brightness and strength properties. Kenaf was sterilized by autoclaving and treated with the white-rot fungus Ceriporiopsis subvermispora. Control and fungus-treated kenaf fiber was pulped by refiner mechanical pulping (RMP) and chemirefiner mechanical pulping (CRMP) processes. Pulps were then...

Production of a lightweight, high opacity printing paper is a common goal of papermakers using virgin or recycled fibers. Fiber loading is an innovative, commercially viable process that can substantially upgrade and extend most types of wood fibers. Fiber loading, a process carried out at high consistency and high alkalinity, precipitates calcium carbonate (PCC) in situ within pulp fibers. Because paper made from fiber-loaded pulp is stronger than that made by the conventional addition of PCC, it is an ideal technology for producing a reduced basis-weight paper from virgin and recycled...

The purpose of the present investigation was to determine if physiological and/or biochemical factors such as growth rate, tolerance to and ability to degrade PCP or creosote have use for predicting the potential bioremediation performance of fungi. Because we have focused the initial development of a fungal-based soil remediation technology on PCP- and/or creosote-contaminated soils, the groups of fungi that were evaluated in this study were organisms isolated or known to grow on PCP- or creosote- treated wood.

Potently antiviral polyniobotungstates have been structurally characterized; the dimer A-[alpha]-[Si2Nb6W18O77]8– cleaves cleanly to the monomer A-[alpha]-[SiNb3W9O40]7– within 1 min in aqueous solution buffered at physiological (neutral) pH establishing that the monomer and not the dimer is pharmacologically relevant.

Building codes are critically important in the use of wood products for construction. The codes contain regulations that are prescriptive or performance related for various kinds of buildings and construction types. A prescriptive standard might dictate that a particular type of material be used in a given application. A performance standard requires that a particular building or building component meets a specified strength or fire-resistance characteristic based on code-approved testing procedures. For the wood products industry, a change in a prescriptive or performance standard in a...

This report shows pulpwood receipts at wood pulp mills in the United States for the period 1950 to 1996. It is an update of the General Technical Report FPL1GTR173, bUnited States Pulpwood Receipts: Softwood and Hardwood, Roundwood and Residues, 195011989,c published in 1993. This report continues as a compilation of published and estimated data based on information from various sources, including the American Pulpwood Association and the USDA Forest Service. Data are presented for the Northeast, North Central, total north, Southeast, South Central, total south, and total west regions of...

Round timbers and ties represent some of the most efficient uses of our forest resources. They require a minimum of processing between harvesting the tree and marketing the structural commodity. Poles and piles are debarked or peeled, seasoned, and often treated with preservative prior to use as structural members. Construction logs are usually shaped to facilitate construction. Ties, used for railroads, landscaping, and mining, are slab-cut to provide flat surfaces. Because these products are relatively economical to produce, compared with glulam, steel, and concrete products, they are...