Wood - Wikipedia Page 1 of 17

Wood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wood is a porous and fibrous structural

tissue found in the stems and roots of trees,
and other woody plants. It is an organic
material, a natural composite of cellulose
fibers which are strong in tension embedded
in a matrix of lignin which resists Pine Spruce Larch Juniper
compression. Wood is sometimes defined as
only the secondary xylem in the stems of
trees,[1] or it is defined more broadly to
include the same type of tissue elsewhere
such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a
Aspen Hornbeam Birch Alder
living tree it performs a support function,
enabling woody plants to grow large or to
stand up by themselves. It also conveys
water and nutrients between the leaves, other
growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may
also refer to other plant materials with Beech Oak Elm Cherry
comparable properties, and to material
engineered from wood, or wood chips or
fiber.

Wood has been used for thousands of years

for fuel, as a construction material, for Pear Maple Linden Ash
making tools and weapons, furniture and
paper, and as a feedstock for the production of purified cellulose and its derivatives, such as cellophane
and cellulose acetate.

In 2005, the growing stock of forests worldwide was about 434 billion cubic meters, 47% of which was
commercial.[2] As an abundant, carbon-neutral renewable resource, woody materials have been of
intense interest as a source of renewable energy. In 1991 approximately 3.5 billion cubic meters of wood
were harvested. Dominant uses were for furniture and building construction.[3]

Contents
◾ 1 History
◾ 2 Physical properties
◾ 2.1 Growth rings
◾ 2.2 Knots
◾ 2.3 Heartwood and sapwood
◾ 2.4 Color
◾ 2.5 Water content

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◾ 2.6 Structure
◾ 2.7 Earlywood and latewood
◾ 2.7.1 In softwood
◾ 2.7.2 In ring-porous woods
◾ 2.7.3 In diffuse-porous woods
◾ 2.8 Monocot wood
◾ 2.9 Specific gravity
◾ 2.10 Wood density
◾ 3 Hard and soft woods
◾ 4 Chemistry of wood
◾ 4.1 Extractives
◾ 5 Uses
◾ 5.1 Fuel
◾ 5.2 Construction
◾ 5.2.1 Wood flooring
◾ 5.2.2 Engineered wood
◾ 5.3 Furniture and utensils
◾ 5.4 Next generation wood products
◾ 5.5 In the arts
◾ 5.6 Sports and recreational equipment
◾ 6 Bacterial degradation
◾ 7 See also
◾ 8 References
◾ 9 External links

History
A 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick uncovered the earliest known plants to
have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago.[4] Wood can be dated by carbon dating
and in some species by dendrochronology to make inferences about when a wooden object was created.

People have used wood for millennia for many purposes, primarily as a fuel or as a construction material
for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks, and paper.

The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the prevailing
climate at that time.[5]

Physical properties
Growth rings

Wood, in the strict sense, is yielded by trees, which increase in diameter by the formation, between the
existing wood and the inner bark, of new woody layers which envelop the entire stem, living branches,
and roots. This process is known as secondary growth; it is the result of cell division in the vascular

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cambium, a lateral meristem, and subsequent expansion of the

new cells. These cells then go on to form thickened secondary
cell walls, composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and
lignin. Where the differences between the four seasons are
distinct, growth can occur in a discrete annual or seasonal
pattern, leading to growth rings; these can usually be most
clearly seen on the end of a log, but are also visible on the other
surfaces. If the distinctiveness between seasons is annual, these
growth rings are referred to as annual rings. Where there is little
seasonal difference growth rings are likely to be indistinct or
absent.

If there are differences within a growth ring, then the part of a

growth ring nearest the center of the tree, and formed early in the
growing season when growth is rapid, is usually composed of Diagram of secondary growth in a
wider elements. It is usually lighter in color than that near the tree showing idealized vertical and
outer portion of the ring, and is known as earlywood or horizontal sections. A new layer of
springwood. The outer portion formed later in the season is then wood is added in each growing
known as the latewood or summerwood.[6] However, there are season, thickening the stem, existing
major differences, depending on the kind of wood (see below). branches and roots, to form a growth
ring.
Knots

A knot is a particular type of imperfection in a piece of wood; it

will affect the technical properties of the wood, usually reducing
the local strength and increasing the tendency for splitting along
the wood grain, but may be exploited for visual effect. In a
longitudinally sawn plank, a knot will appear as a roughly
circular "solid" (usually darker) piece of wood around which the
grain of the rest of the wood "flows" (parts and rejoins). Within a
knot, the direction of the wood (grain direction) is up to 90
degrees different from the grain direction of the regular wood.
A knot on a tree trunk In the tree a knot is either the base of a side branch or a dormant
bud. A knot (when the base of a side branch) is conical in shape
(hence the roughly circular cross-section) with the inner tip at the point in stem diameter at which the
plant's vascular cambium was located when the branch formed as a bud.

During the development of a tree, the lower limbs often die, but may remain attached for a time,
sometimes years. Subsequent layers of growth of the attaching stem are no longer intimately joined with
the dead limb, but are grown around it. Hence, dead branches produce knots which are not attached, and
likely to drop out after the tree has been sawn into boards.

In grading lumber and structural timber, knots are classified according to their form, size, soundness,
and the firmness with which they are held in place. This firmness is affected by, among other factors, the
length of time for which the branch was dead while the attaching stem continued to grow.

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Knots materially affect cracking and warping, ease in working, and cleavability of timber.
They are defects which weaken timber and lower its value for structural purposes where
strength is an important consideration. The weakening effect is much more serious when
timber is subjected to forces perpendicular to the grain and/or tension than where under
load along the grain and/or compression. The extent to which knots affect the strength of a
beam depends upon their position, size, number, and condition. A knot on the upper side is
compressed, while one on the lower side is subjected to tension. If there is a season check in
the knot, as is often the case, it will offer little resistance to this tensile stress. Small knots,
however, may be located along the neutral plane of a beam and increase the strength by
preventing longitudinal shearing. Knots in a board or plank are least injurious when they
extend through it at right angles to its broadest surface. Knots which occur near the ends of
a beam do not weaken it. Sound knots which occur in the central portion one-fourth the
height of the beam from either edge are not serious defects.
Wood knot in vertical
section
— Samuel J. Record, The Mechanical Properties of Wood[7]

Knots do not necessarily influence the stiffness of structural timber, this will depend on the size and
location. Stiffness and elastic strength are more dependent upon the sound wood than upon localized
defects. The breaking strength is very susceptible to defects. Sound knots do not weaken wood when
subject to compression parallel to the grain.

In some decorative applications, wood with knots may be desirable to add visual interest. In applications
where wood is painted, such as skirting boards, fascia boards, door frames and furniture, resins present
in the timber may continue to 'bleed' through to the surface of a knot for months or even years after
manufacture and show as a yellow or brownish stain. A knot primer paint or solution (knotting),
correctly applied during preparation, may do much to reduce this problem but it is difficult to control
completely, especially when using mass-produced kiln-dried timber stocks.

Heartwood and sapwood

Heartwood (or duramen[8]) is wood that as a result of a naturally occurring chemical transformation has
become more resistant to decay. Heartwood formation is a genetically programmed process that occurs
spontaneously. Some uncertainty exists as to whether the wood dies during heartwood formation, as it
can still chemically react to decay organisms, but only once.[9]

Heartwood is often visually distinct from the living sapwood, and can be distinguished in a cross-section
where the boundary will tend to follow the growth rings. For example, it is sometimes much darker.
However, other processes such as decay or insect invasion can also discolor wood, even in woody plants
that do not form heartwood, which may lead to confusion.

Sapwood (or alburnum[8]) is the younger, outermost wood; in the growing tree it is living wood,[10] and
its principal functions are to conduct water from the roots to the leaves and to store up and give back
according to the season the reserves prepared in the leaves. However, by the time they become
competent to conduct water, all xylem tracheids and vessels have lost their cytoplasm and the cells are
therefore functionally dead. All wood in a tree is first formed as sapwood. The more leaves a tree bears
and the more vigorous its growth, the larger the volume of sapwood required. Hence trees making rapid

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growth in the open have thicker sapwood for their size than trees
of the same species growing in dense forests. Sometimes trees
(of species that do form heartwood) grown in the open may
become of considerable size, 30 cm (12 in) or more in diameter,
before any heartwood begins to form, for example, in second-
growth hickory, or open-grown pines.

The term heartwood derives solely from its position and not
from any vital importance to the tree. This is evidenced by the
fact that a tree can thrive with its heart completely decayed.
Some species begin to form heartwood very early in life, so
having only a thin layer of live sapwood, while in others the
change comes slowly. Thin sapwood is characteristic of such
species as chestnut, black locust, mulberry, osage-orange, and A section of a Yew branch showing
sassafras, while in maple, ash, hickory, hackberry, beech, and 27 annual growth rings, pale
pine, thick sapwood is the rule. Others never form heartwood. sapwood, dark heartwood, and pith
(center dark spot). The dark radial
No definite relation exists between the annual rings of growth lines are small knots.
and the amount of sapwood. Within the same species the cross-
sectional area of the sapwood is very roughly proportional to the
size of the crown of the tree. If the rings are narrow, more of them are required than where they are
wide. As the tree gets larger, the sapwood must necessarily become thinner or increase materially in
volume. Sapwood is relatively thicker in the upper portion of the trunk of a tree than near the base,
because the age and the diameter of the upper sections are less.

When a tree is very young it is covered with limbs almost, if not entirely, to the ground, but as it grows
older some or all of them will eventually die and are either broken off or fall off. Subsequent growth of
wood may completely conceal the stubs which will however remain as knots. No matter how smooth
and clear a log is on the outside, it is more or less knotty near the middle. Consequently, the sapwood of
an old tree, and particularly of a forest-grown tree, will be freer from knots than the inner heartwood.
Since in most uses of wood, knots are defects that weaken the timber and interfere with its ease of
working and other properties, it follows that a given piece of sapwood, because of its position in the tree,
may well be stronger than a piece of heartwood from the same tree.

It is remarkable that the inner heartwood of old trees remains as sound as it usually does, since in many
cases it is hundreds, and in a few instances thousands, of years old. Every broken limb or root, or deep
wound from fire, insects, or falling timber, may afford an entrance for decay, which, once started, may
penetrate to all parts of the trunk. The larvae of many insects bore into the trees and their tunnels remain
indefinitely as sources of weakness. Whatever advantages, however, that sapwood may have in this
connection are due solely to its relative age and position.

If a tree grows all its life in the open and the conditions of soil and site remain unchanged, it will make
its most rapid growth in youth, and gradually decline. The annual rings of growth are for many years
quite wide, but later they become narrower and narrower. Since each succeeding ring is laid down on the
outside of the wood previously formed, it follows that unless a tree materially increases its production of
wood from year to year, the rings must necessarily become thinner as the trunk gets wider. As a tree
reaches maturity its crown becomes more open and the annual wood production is lessened, thereby
reducing still more the width of the growth rings. In the case of forest-grown trees so much depends

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upon the competition of the trees in their struggle for light and nourishment that periods of rapid and
slow growth may alternate. Some trees, such as southern oaks, maintain the same width of ring for
hundreds of years. Upon the whole, however, as a tree gets larger in diameter the width of the growth
rings decreases.

Different pieces of wood cut from a large tree may differ decidedly, particularly if the tree is big and
mature. In some trees, the wood laid on late in the life of a tree is softer, lighter, weaker, and more even-
textured than that produced earlier, but in other trees, the reverse applies. This may or may not
correspond to heartwood and sapwood. In a large log the sapwood, because of the time in the life of the
tree when it was grown, may be inferior in hardness, strength, and toughness to equally sound
heartwood from the same log. In a smaller tree, the reverse may be true.

Color

In species which show a distinct difference between heartwood

and sapwood the natural color of heartwood is usually darker
than that of the sapwood, and very frequently the contrast is
conspicuous (see section of yew log above). This is produced by
deposits in the heartwood of chemical substances, so that a
dramatic color variation does not imply a significant difference
The wood of Coast Redwood is
in the mechanical properties of heartwood and sapwood,
although there may be a marked biochemical difference between distinctively red.
the two.

Some experiments on very resinous Longleaf Pine specimens indicate an increase in strength, due to the
resin which increases the strength when dry. Such resin-saturated heartwood is called "fat lighter".
Structures built of fat lighter are almost impervious to rot and termites; however they are very
flammable. Stumps of old longleaf pines are often dug, split into small pieces and sold as kindling for
fires. Stumps thus dug may actually remain a century or more since being cut. Spruce impregnated with
crude resin and dried is also greatly increased in strength thereby.

Since the latewood of a growth ring is usually darker in color than the earlywood, this fact may be used
in visually judging the density, and therefore the hardness and strength of the material. This is
particularly the case with coniferous woods. In ring-porous woods the vessels of the early wood often
appear on a finished surface as darker than the denser latewood, though on cross sections of heartwood
the reverse is commonly true. Otherwise the color of wood is no indication of strength.

Abnormal discoloration of wood often denotes a diseased condition, indicating unsoundness. The black
check in western hemlock is the result of insect attacks. The reddish-brown streaks so common in
hickory and certain other woods are mostly the result of injury by birds. The discoloration is merely an
indication of an injury, and in all probability does not of itself affect the properties of the wood. Certain
rot-producing fungi impart to wood characteristic colors which thus become symptomatic of weakness;
however an attractive effect known as spalting produced by this process is often considered a desirable
characteristic. Ordinary sap-staining is due to fungal growth, but does not necessarily produce a
weakening effect.

Water content

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Water occurs in living wood in three locations, namely:

1. in the cell walls,

2. in the protoplasmic contents of the cells, and
3. as free water in the cell cavities and spaces, especially of the xylem.

In heartwood it occurs only in the first and last forms. Wood that is thoroughly air-dried retains 8–16%
of the water in the cell walls, and none, or practically none, in the other forms. Even oven-dried wood
retains a small percentage of moisture, but for all except chemical purposes, may be considered
absolutely dry.

The general effect of the water content upon the wood substance is to render it softer and more pliable.
A similar effect occurs in the softening action of water on rawhide, paper, or cloth. Within certain limits,
the greater the water content, the greater its softening effect.

Drying produces a decided increase in the strength of wood, particularly in small specimens. An extreme
example is the case of a completely dry spruce block 5 cm in section, which will sustain a permanent
load four times as great as a green (undried) block of the same size will.

The greatest strength increase due to drying is in the ultimate crushing strength, and strength at elastic
limit in endwise compression; these are followed by the modulus of rupture, and stress at elastic limit in
cross-bending, while the modulus of elasticity is least affected.[7]

Structure

Wood is a heterogeneous, hygroscopic, cellular and anisotropic material. It consists of cells, and the cell
walls are composed of micro-fibrils of cellulose (40% – 50%) and hemicellulose (15% – 25%)
impregnated with lignin (15% – 30%).[11]

In coniferous or softwood species the wood cells are mostly of one kind, tracheids, and as a result the
material is much more uniform in structure than that of most hardwoods. There are no vessels ("pores")
in coniferous wood such as one sees so prominently in oak and ash, for example.

The structure of hardwoods is more complex.[12] The water conducting capability is mostly taken care of
by vessels: in some cases (oak, chestnut, ash) these are quite large and distinct, in others (buckeye,
poplar, willow) too small to be seen without a hand lens. In discussing such woods it is customary to
divide them into two large classes, ring-porous and diffuse-porous.[13]

In ring-porous species, such as ash, black locust, catalpa, chestnut, elm, hickory, mulberry, and oak,[13]
the larger vessels or pores (as cross sections of vessels are called) are localized in the part of the growth
ring formed in spring, thus forming a region of more or less open and porous tissue. The rest of the ring,
produced in summer, is made up of smaller vessels and a much greater proportion of wood fibers. These
fibers are the elements which give strength and toughness to wood, while the vessels are a source of
weakness.

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In diffuse-porous woods the pores are evenly sized so that the

water conducting capability is scattered throughout the growth
ring instead of being collected in a band or row. Examples of this
kind of wood are alder,[13] basswood, birch,[13] buckeye, maple,
willow,and the Populus species such as aspen, cottonwood and
poplar.[13] Some species, such as walnut and cherry, are on the
border between the two classes, forming an intermediate group.

Earlywood and latewood

In softwood

In temperate softwoods there

often is a marked difference
between latewood and
earlywood. The latewood will be Magnified cross-section of Black
denser than that formed early in Walnut, showing the vessels, rays
the season. When examined (white lines) and annual rings: this is
under a microscope the cells of
intermediate between diffuse-porous
dense latewood are seen to be
and ring-porous, with vessel size
very thick-walled and with very
declining gradually
small cell cavities, while those
formed first in the season have
thin walls and large cell cavities. The strength is in the walls, not the
cavities. Hence the greater the proportion of latewood the greater the
density and strength. In choosing a piece of pine where strength or
stiffness is the important consideration, the principal thing to observe is
the comparative amounts of earlywood and latewood. The width of ring
is not nearly so important as the proportion and nature of the latewood in
the ring.

Earlywood and latewood in a If a heavy piece of pine is compared with a lightweight piece it will be
softwood; radial view, seen at once that the heavier one contains a larger proportion of
growth rings closely spaced
latewood than the other, and is therefore showing more clearly
in Rocky Mountain Douglas-
demarcated growth rings. In white pines there is not much contrast
between the different parts of the ring, and as a result the wood is very
fir
uniform in texture and is easy to work. In hard pines, on the other hand,
the latewood is very dense and is deep-colored, presenting a very
decided contrast to the soft, straw-colored earlywood.

It is not only the proportion of latewood, but also its quality, that counts. In specimens that show a very
large proportion of latewood it may be noticeably more porous and weigh considerably less than the
latewood in pieces that contain less latewood. One can judge comparative density, and therefore to some
extent strength, by visual inspection.

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No satisfactory explanation can as yet be given for the exact mechanisms determining the formation of
earlywood and latewood. Several factors may be involved. In conifers, at least, rate of growth alone does
not determine the proportion of the two portions of the ring, for in some cases the wood of slow growth
is very hard and heavy, while in others the opposite is true. The quality of the site where the tree grows
undoubtedly affects the character of the wood formed, though it is not possible to formulate a rule
governing it. In general, however, it may be said that where strength or ease of working is essential,
woods of moderate to slow growth should be chosen.

In ring-porous woods

In ring-porous woods each season's growth is always well defined,

because the large pores formed early in the season abut on the denser
tissue of the year before.

In the case of the ring-porous hardwoods there seems to exist a pretty

definite relation between the rate of growth of timber and its properties.
This may be briefly summed up in the general statement that the more
rapid the growth or the wider the rings of growth, the heavier, harder,
stronger, and stiffer the wood. This, it must be remembered, applies only
to ring-porous woods such as oak, ash, hickory, and others of the same
group, and is, of course, subject to some exceptions and limitations.

In ring-porous woods of good growth it is usually the latewood in which

the thick-walled, strength-giving fibers are most abundant. As the
breadth of ring diminishes, this latewood is reduced so that very slow Earlywood and latewood in a
growth produces comparatively light, porous wood composed of thin- ring-porous wood (ash) in a
walled vessels and wood parenchyma. In good oak these large vessels of Fraxinus excelsior;
the earlywood occupy from 6 to 10 percent of the volume of the log, tangential view, wide growth
while in inferior material they may make up 25% or more. The latewood rings
of good oak is dark colored and firm, and consists mostly of thick-walled
fibers which form one-half or more of the wood. In inferior oak, this
latewood is much reduced both in quantity and quality. Such variation is very largely the result of rate of
growth.

Wide-ringed wood is often called "second-growth", because the growth of the young timber in open
stands after the old trees have been removed is more rapid than in trees in a closed forest, and in the
manufacture of articles where strength is an important consideration such "second-growth" hardwood
material is preferred. This is particularly the case in the choice of hickory for handles and spokes. Here
not only strength, but toughness and resilience are important.[7]

The results of a series of tests on hickory by the U.S. Forest Service show that:

"The work or shock-resisting ability is greatest in wide-ringed wood that has from 5 to 14 rings
per inch (rings 1.8-5 mm thick), is fairly constant from 14 to 38 rings per inch (rings 0.7–1.8 mm
thick), and decreases rapidly from 38 to 47 rings per inch (rings 0.5–0.7 mm thick). The strength
at maximum load is not so great with the most rapid-growing wood; it is maximum with from 14
to 20 rings per inch (rings 1.3–1.8 mm thick), and again becomes less as the wood becomes more
closely ringed. The natural deduction is that wood of first-class mechanical value shows from 5 to

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20 rings per inch (rings 1.3–5 mm thick) and that slower growth yields poorer stock. Thus the
inspector or buyer of hickory should discriminate against timber that has more than 20 rings per
inch (rings less than 1.3 mm thick). Exceptions exist, however, in the case of normal growth upon
dry situations, in which the slow-growing material may be strong and tough."[14]

The effect of rate of growth on the qualities of chestnut wood is summarized by the same authority as
follows:

"When the rings are wide, the transition from spring wood to summer wood is gradual, while in
the narrow rings the spring wood passes into summer wood abruptly. The width of the spring
wood changes but little with the width of the annual ring, so that the narrowing or broadening of
the annual ring is always at the expense of the summer wood. The narrow vessels of the summer
wood make it richer in wood substance than the spring wood composed of wide vessels.
Therefore, rapid-growing specimens with wide rings have more wood substance than slow-
growing trees with narrow rings. Since the more the wood substance the greater the weight, and
the greater the weight the stronger the wood, chestnuts with wide rings must have stronger wood
than chestnuts with narrow rings. This agrees with the accepted view that sprouts (which always
have wide rings) yield better and stronger wood than seedling chestnuts, which grow more slowly
in diameter."[14]

In diffuse-porous woods

In the diffuse-porous woods, the demarcation between rings is not always so clear and in some cases is
almost (if not entirely) invisible to the unaided eye. Conversely, when there is a clear demarcation there
may not be a noticeable difference in structure within the growth ring.

In diffuse-porous woods, as has been stated, the vessels or pores are even-sized, so that the water
conducting capability is scattered throughout the ring instead of collected in the earlywood. The effect of
rate of growth is, therefore, not the same as in the ring-porous woods, approaching more nearly the
conditions in the conifers. In general it may be stated that such woods of medium growth afford stronger
material than when very rapidly or very slowly grown. In many uses of wood, total strength is not the
main consideration. If ease of working is prized, wood should be chosen with regard to its uniformity of
texture and straightness of grain, which will in most cases occur when there is little contrast between the
latewood of one season's growth and the earlywood of the next.

Monocot wood

Structural material that resembles ordinary, "dicot" or conifer timber in its gross handling characteristics
is produced by a number of monocot plants, and these also are colloquially called wood. Of these,
bamboo, botanically a member of the grass family, has considerable economic importance, larger culms
being widely used as a building and construction material in their own right and, these days, in the
manufacture of engineered flooring, panels and veneer. Another major plant group that produce material
that often is called wood are the palms. Of much less importance are plants such as Pandanus, Dracaena
and Cordyline. With all this material, the structure and composition of the processed raw material is
quite different from ordinary wood.

Specific gravity

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The single most revealing property of wood as an indicator of

wood quality is specific gravity (Timell 1986),[15] as both pulp
yield and lumber strength are determined by it. Specific gravity
is the ratio of the mass of a substance to the mass of an equal
volume of water; density is the ratio of a mass of a quantity of a
substance to the volume of that quantity and is expressed in mass
per unit substance, e.g., grams per milliliter (g/cm3 or g/ml). The
terms are essentially equivalent as long as the metric system is
used. Upon drying, wood shrinks and its density increases.
Minimum values are associated with green (water-saturated) Trunks of the coconut palm, a
wood and are referred to as basic specific gravity (Timell 1986). monocot, in Java. From this
[15] perspective these look not much
different from trunks of a dicot or
Wood density conifer

Wood density is determined by multiple growth and physiological factors compounded into “one fairly
easily measured wood characteristic” (Elliott 1970).[16]

Age, diameter, height, radial (trunk) growth, geographical location, site and growing conditions,
silvicultural treatment, and seed source all to some degree influence wood density. Variation is to be
expected. Within an individual tree, the variation in wood density is often as great as or even greater
than that between different trees (Timell 1986).[15] Variation of specific gravity within the bole of a tree
can occur in either the horizontal or vertical direction.

Hard and soft woods

It is common to classify wood as either softwood or hardwood. The wood from conifers (e.g. pine) is
called softwood, and the wood from dicotyledons (usually broad-leaved trees, e.g. oak) is called
hardwood. These names are a bit misleading, as hardwoods are not necessarily hard, and softwoods are
not necessarily soft. The well-known balsa (a hardwood) is actually softer than any commercial
softwood. Conversely, some softwoods (e.g. yew) are harder than many hardwoods.

There is a strong relationship between the properties of wood and the properties of the particular tree
that yielded it. The density of wood varies with species. The density of a wood correlates with its
strength (mechanical properties). For example, mahogany is a medium-dense hardwood that is excellent
for fine furniture crafting, whereas balsa is light, making it useful for model building. One of the densest
woods is black ironwood.

Chemistry of wood
The chemical composition of wood varies from species to species, but is approximately 50% carbon,
42% oxygen, 6% hydrogen, 1% nitrogen, and 1% other elements (mainly calcium, potassium, sodium,
magnesium, iron, and manganese) by weight.[17] Wood also contains sulfur, chlorine, silicon,
phosphorus, and other elements in small quantity.

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Aside from water, wood has three main components.

Cellulose, a crystalline polymer derived from
glucose, constitutes about 41–43%. Next in
abundance is hemicellulose, which is around 20% in
deciduous trees but near 30% in conifers. It is
mainly five-carbon sugars that are linked in an
irregular manner, in contrast to the cellulose. Lignin
is the third component at around 27% in coniferous
wood vs. 23% in deciduous trees. Lignin confers the
hydrophobic properties reflecting the fact that it is Chemical structure of lignin, which comprises
based on aromatic rings. These three components about 25% of wood dry matter and is responsible
are interwoven, and direct covalent linkages exist for many of its properties.
between the lignin and the hemicellulose. A major
focus of the paper industry is the separation of the
lignin from the cellulose, from which paper is made.

In chemical terms, the difference between hardwood and softwood is reflected in the composition of the
constituent lignin. Hardwood lignin is primarily derived from sinapyl alcohol and coniferyl alcohol.
Softwood lignin is mainly derived from coniferyl alcohol.[18]

Extractives

Aside from the lignocellulose, wood consists of a variety of low molecular weight organic compounds,
called extractives. The wood extractives are fatty acids, resin acids, waxes and terpenes.[19] For example,
rosin is exuded by conifers as protection from insects. The extraction of these organic materials from
wood provides tall oil, turpentine, and rosin.[20]

Uses
Fuel

Wood has a long history of being used as fuel, which continues to this day, mostly in rural areas of the
world. Hardwood is preferred over softwood because it creates less smoke and burns longer. Adding a
woodstove or fireplace to a home is often felt to add ambiance and warmth.

Construction

Wood has been an important construction material since humans began building shelters, houses and
boats. Nearly all boats were made out of wood until the late 19th century, and wood remains in common
use today in boat construction. Elm in particular was used for this purpose as it resisted decay as long as
it was kept wet (it also served for water pipe before the advent of more modern plumbing).

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Wood to be used for construction work is commonly known as lumber in

North America. Elsewhere, lumber usually refers to felled trees, and the
word for sawn planks ready for use is timber. In Medieval Europe oak
was the wood of choice for all wood construction, including beams,
walls, doors, and floors. Today a wider variety of woods is used: solid
wood doors are often made from poplar, small-knotted pine, and
Douglas fir.

New domestic housing in many

parts of the world today is
commonly made from timber-
framed construction. Engineered
wood products are becoming a
The Saitta House, Dyker bigger part of the construction
Heights, Brooklyn, New industry. They may be used in
York built in 1899 is made both residential and commercial
of and decorated in wood.[21] buildings as structural and
aesthetic materials.
The churches of Kizhi, Russia are
In buildings made of other materials, wood will still be found as among a handful of World Heritage
a supporting material, especially in roof construction, in interior Sites built entirely of wood, without
doors and their frames, and as exterior cladding. metal joints. See Kizhi Pogost for
more details.
Wood is also commonly used as shuttering material to form the
mold into which concrete is poured during reinforced concrete
construction.

Wood flooring

A solid wood floor is floor laid with planks or battens which

have been created from a single piece of timber, usually a
hardwood. Since wood is hydroscopic (it acquires and loses
moisture from the ambient conditions around it) this potential
instability effectively limits the length and width of the boards.
[22]

Solid hardwood flooring is usually cheaper than engineered

timbers and damaged areas can be sanded down and refinished
repeatedly, the number of times being limited only by the Wood can be cut into straight planks
thickness of wood above the tongue. and made into a wood flooring.

Solid hardwood floors were originally used for structural

purposes, being installed perpendicular to the wooden support beams of a building (the joists or bearers)
and solid construction timber is still often used for sports floors as well as most traditional wood blocks,
mosaics and parquetry.

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Engineered wood

Engineered wood products, glued building products "engineered" for application-specific performance
requirements, are often used in construction and industrial applications. Glued engineered wood
products are manufactured by bonding together wood strands, veneers, lumber or other forms of wood
fiber with glue to form a larger, more efficient composite structural unit.[23]

These products include glued laminated timber (glulam), wood structural panels (including plywood,
oriented strand board and composite panels), laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and other structural
composite lumber (SCL) products, parallel strand lumber, and I-joists.[23] Approximately 100 million
cubic meters of wood was consumed for this purpose in 1991.[3] The trends suggest that particle board
and fiber board will overtake plywood.

Wood unsuitable for construction in its native form may be broken down mechanically (into fibers or
chips) or chemically (into cellulose) and used as a raw material for other building materials, such as
engineered wood, as well as chipboard, hardboard, and medium-density fiberboard (MDF). Such wood
derivatives are widely used: wood fibers are an important component of most paper, and cellulose is
used as a component of some synthetic materials. Wood derivatives can also be used for kinds of
flooring, for example laminate flooring.

Furniture and utensils

Wood has always been used extensively for furniture, such as chairs and beds. It is also used for tool
handles and cutlery, such as chopsticks, toothpicks, and other utensils, like the wooden spoon.

Next generation wood products

Further developments include new lignin glue applications, recyclable food packaging, rubber tire
replacement applications, anti-bacterial medical agents, and high strength fabrics or composites.[24] As
scientists and engineers further learn and develop new techniques to extract various components from
wood, or alternatively to modify wood, for example by adding components to wood, new more
advanced products will appear on the marketplace. Moisture content electronic monitoring can also
enhance next generation wood protection.[25]

In the arts

Wood has long been used as an artistic medium. It has been used to make sculptures and carvings for
millennia. Examples include the totem poles carved by North American indigenous people from conifer
trunks, often Western Red Cedar (Thuja plicata), and the Millennium clock tower,[26] now housed in the
National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. It is also used in woodcut printmaking, and for engraving.

Certain types of musical instruments, such as those of the violin family, the guitar, the clarinet and
recorder, the xylophone, and the marimba, are traditionally made mostly or entirely of wood. The choice
of wood may make a significant difference to the tone and resonant qualities of the instrument, and
tonewoods have widely differing properties, ranging from the hard and dense african blackwood (used
for the bodies of clarinets) to the light but resonant European spruce (Picea abies), which is traditionally

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used for the soundboards of violins. The most valuable

tonewoods, such as the ripple sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus),
used for the backs of violins, combine acoustic properties with
decorative color and grain which enhance the appearance of the
finished instrument.

Despite their collective name, not all woodwind instruments are

made entirely of wood. The reeds used to play them, however,
are usually made from Arundo donax, a type of monocot cane
plant.

Sports and recreational equipment

Many types of sports equipment are made of wood, or were

constructed of wood in the past. For example, cricket bats are
typically made of white willow. The baseball bats which are
legal for use in Major League Baseball are frequently made of
ash wood or hickory, and in recent years have been constructed Stringed instrument bows are often
from maple even though that wood is somewhat more fragile. made from brazilwood (also called
NBA courts have been traditionally made out of parquetry. pernambuco).

Many other types of sports and recreation equipment, such as

skis, ice hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks and archery bows, were commonly made of wood in the past, but
have since been replaced with more modern materials such as aluminium, fiberglass, carbon fiber,
titanium, and composite materials. One noteworthy example of this trend is the golf club commonly
known as the wood, the head of which was traditionally made of persimmon wood in the early days of
the game of golf, but is now generally made of synthetic materials.

Bacterial degradation
Little is known about the bacteria that degrade cellulose. Symbiotic bacteria in Xylophaga may play a
role in the degradation of sunken wood; while bacteria such as Alphaproteobacteria, Flavobacteria,
Actinobacteria, Clostridia, and Bacteroidetes have been detected in wood submerged over a year.[27]

See also
◾ Burl ◾ Pulpwood ◾ Wood warping
◾ Carpentry ◾ Sawdust ◾ Woodturning
◾ Driftwood ◾ Thermally modified wood ◾ Woodworm
◾ Dunnage ◾ Tinder ◾ Xylology
◾ Forestry ◾ Wood drying ◾ Xylophagy
◾ List of woods ◾ Wood economy ◾ Xylotheque
◾ Parquetry ◾ Wood-plastic composite ◾ Xylotomy
◾ Pellet fuel ◾ Wood preservation

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References
1. Hickey, M.; King, C. (2001). The Cambridge Illustrated Glossary of Botanical Terms. Cambridge University
Press.
2. "Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations" (PDF).
3. Horst H. Nimz, Uwe Schmitt, Eckart Schwab, Otto Wittmann, Franz Wolf "Wood" in Ullmann's
Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2005, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. doi:10.1002/14356007.a28_305
(https://dx.doi.org/10.1002%2F14356007.a28_305)
4. "N.B. fossils show origins of wood". CBC.ca. August 12, 2011. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
5. Briffa, K.; Shishov, V.V.; Melvin, T.M.; Vaganov, E.A.; Grudd, H.; Hantemirov, R.M.; Eronen, M.;
Naurzbaev, M.M. (2008). "Trends in recent temperature and radial tree growth spanning 2000 years across
northwest Eurasia". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 363 (1501):
2271–2284. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2199. PMC 2606779 . PMID 18048299.
6. Wood growth and structure (http://www.farmforestline.com.au/pages/2.1.2.1_wood.html)
www.farmforestline.com.au
7. Record, Samuel J (1914). The Mechanical Properties of Wood. J. Wiley & Sons. p. 165.
ASIN B000863N3W.
8. "Duramen". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 692.
9. Shigo, Alex. (1986) A New Tree Biology Dictionary. Shigo and Trees, Associates. ISBN 0-943563-12-7
10. Capon, Brian (2005), Botany for Gardeners (2nd ed.), Portland, OR: Timber Publishing, p.65 ISBN 0-88192-
655-8
11. "Wood Properties Growth and Structure 2015". treetesting.com.
12. "Timber Plus Toolbox, Selecting timber, Characteristics of timber, Structure of hardwoods".
nationalvetcontent.edu.au.
13. Sperry, John S.; Nichols, Kirk L.; Sullivan, June E; Eastlack, Sondra E. (1994). "Xylem Embolism in ring-
porous, diffuse-porous, and coniferous trees of Northern Utah and Interior Alaska". Ecology. 75 (6): 1736
–1752. doi:10.2307/1939633. JSTOR 1939633.
14. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Products Laboratory. The Wood Handbook: Wood as an engineering
material (http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/fplgtr113.htm). General Technical Report 113.
Madison, WI.
15. Timell, T.E. 1986. Compression wood in gymnosperms. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. 2150 p.
16. Elliott, G.K. 1970. Wood density in conifers. Commonwealth For. Bureau, Oxford, U.K., Tech. Commun. 8.
44 p.
17. Jean-Pierre Barette; Claude Hazard et Jérôme Mayer (1996). Mémotech Bois et Matériaux Associés. Paris:
Éditions Casteilla. p. 22. ISBN 27135-1645-5.
18. W. Boerjan; J. Ralph; M. Baucher (June 2003). "Lignin biosynthesis". Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 54 (1): 519
–549. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.54.031902.134938. PMID 14503002.
19. Mimms, Agneta; Michael J. Kuckurek; Jef A. Pyiatte; Elizabeth E. Wright (1993). Kraft Pulping. A
Compilation of Notes. TAPPI Press. pp. 6–7. ISBN 0-89852-322-2.
20. Fiebach, Klemens; Grimm, Dieter (2000). "Resins, Natural". Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial
Chemistry. doi:10.1002/14356007.a23_073. ISBN 978-3-527-30673-2.
21. "Saitta House – Report Part 1
(http://www.dykerheightscivicassociation.com/saittareport.pdf)",DykerHeightsCivicAssociation.com
22. "Superior Finish - Flooring Explained". www.superiorfinishcontracts.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
23. "Search - APA – The Engineered Wood Association" (PDF). apawood.org.
24. "FPInnovations" (PDF). forintek.ca.
25. "System for remotely monitoring moisture content on wooden elements" I Arakistain, O Munne EP Patent
EPO1382108.0
26. ProfessionalNetSolutions.com. "The Millennium Clock Tower at Edinburgh Royal Museum".
Freespace.virgin.net. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
27. Christina Bienhold; Petra Pop Ristova; Frank Wenzhöfer; Thorsten Dittmar; Antje Boetius (January 2, 2013).
"How Deep-Sea Wood Falls Sustain Chemosynthetic Life". PLOS ONE.

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Wood - Wikipedia Page 17 of 17

◾ Hoadley, R. Bruce (2000). Understanding Wood: A Craftsman’s Guide to Wood Technology.

Taunton Press. ISBN 1-56158-358-8.

External links
◾ The Wood in Culture Association (http://www.woodinculture.fi/en/)
◾ The Wood Explorer: A comprehensive database of commercial wood species
(http://www.thewoodexplorer.com/)
◾ APA – The Engineered Wood Association (http://www.apawood.org/level_b.cfm?
content=prd_main)

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