Timber and Wood Products

Abstract

Trees are an extremely valuable and an often over-exploited and endangered natural resource of timber, fuel and numerous non-wood forest products (Wickens, 1991). Following the primary conversion of the felled trees into manageable forms, they provide timber, i.e. wood other than fuelwood, for construction, carpentry and joinery purposes. Timber uses include heavy and light structural and marine timbers, i.e. beams, pilings, planks, poles, props, stakes, struts and rails, for building houses, ships and boats, vehicle bodies, agricultural implements, bridges, sleepers, fencing, handles, ladders, boxes, crates, food containers, matches, vats, battery separators, pattern making, etc. The more decorative woods are used for veneer, parquetry, turnery and carving, including interior decoration, furniture, cabinet work, musical implements, toys and novelties, sporting goods and precision equipment. Other wood uses, either as timber or as a by-product, are for wood pulp, sawdust, wood wool, plywood, wood chips for particle board, blockboard, chipboard, hardboard, laminated wood, etc. Trees also provide cork and cork substitutes, gums and resins, latexes and rubbers, petroleum substitutes, alcohols, etc. (Keating and Bolza 1982; Cook, 1995).