Chapter 2: Characteristics and availability of commercially important woods

Abstract

All wood is composed of cellulose, lignin, hemicelluloses, and minor amounts (usually less than 10%) of extraneous materials contained in a cellular structure. Variations in the characteristics and proportions of these components and differences in cellular structure are what give the wood its unique physical properties, such as heavy or light, stiff or flexible, hard or soft. The properties of a single species are relatively constant within limits; therefore, selection of wood by species alone may sometimes be adequate. However, to use wood to best advantage and most effectively in engineering applications, specific characteristics or physical properties must be considered.

Parent Publication

• Wood handbook: Wood as an engineering material

Citation

Wiemann, M.C. . 2021. Chapter 2: Characteristics and availability of commercially important woods. In: Wood handbook—wood as an engineering material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-282. Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 45 pp.