Wood


Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a :wikt:matrix|matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, 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 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 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 making tools and weapons, furniture and paper. More recently it emerged as a feedstock for the production of purified cellulose and its derivatives, such as cellophane and cellulose acetate.
As of 2005, the growing stock of forests worldwide was about 434 billion cubic meters, 47% of which was commercial. 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.

History

A 2011 discovery in the Canadian province of New Brunswick yielded the earliest known plants to have grown wood, approximately 395 to 400 million years ago.
Wood can be dated by carbon dating and in some species by dendrochronology to determine when a wooden object was created.
People have used wood for thousands of years for many purposes, including as a fuel or as a construction material for making houses, tools, weapons, furniture, packaging, artworks, and paper. Known constructions using wood date back ten thousand years. Buildings like the European Neolithic long house were made primarily of wood.
Recent use of wood has been enhanced by the addition of steel and bronze into construction.
The year-to-year variation in tree-ring widths and isotopic abundances gives clues to the prevailing climate at the time a tree was cut.

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 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, e.g. New Zealand, 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 the bark of the tree has been removed in a particular area, the rings will likely be deformed as the plant overgrows the scar.
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 wider elements. It is usually lighter in color than that near the outer portion of the ring, and is known as earlywood or springwood. The outer portion formed later in the season is then known as the latewood or summerwood. However, there are major differences, depending on the kind of wood.
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 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.

Knots

As a tree grows, lower branches often die, and their bases may become overgrown and enclosed by subsequent layers of trunk wood, forming a type of imperfection known as a knot. The dead branch may not be attached to the trunk wood except at its base, and can drop out after the tree has been sawn into boards. Knots 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" piece of wood around which the grain of the rest of the wood "flows". Within a knot, the direction of the wood is up to 90 degrees different from the grain direction of the regular wood.
In the tree a knot is either the base of a side branch or a dormant bud. A knot is conical in shape 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.
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.
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, 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 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.
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 sassafras, while in maple, ash, hickory, hackberry, beech, and pine, thick sapwood is the rule. Some others never form heartwood.
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.
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.
Sapwood is the younger, outermost wood; in the growing tree it is living wood, 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 growth in the open have thicker sapwood for their size than trees of the same species growing in dense forests. Sometimes trees grown in the open may become of considerable size, or more in diameter, before any heartwood begins to form, for example, in second-growth hickory, or open-grown pines.
No definite relation exists between the annual rings of growth 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.
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. This is produced by deposits in the heartwood of chemical substances, so that a dramatic color variation does not imply a significant difference in the mechanical properties of heartwood and sapwood, although there may be a marked biochemical difference between 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

Water occurs in living wood in three locations, namely:
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 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.

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 and hemicellulose impregnated with lignin.
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 in coniferous wood such as one sees so prominently in oak and ash, for example.
The structure of hardwoods is more complex. The water conducting capability is mostly taken care of by vessels: in some cases these are quite large and distinct, in others 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.
In ring-porous species, such as ash, black locust, catalpa, chestnut, elm, hickory, mulberry, and oak, the larger vessels or pores 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.
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, basswood, birch, buckeye, maple, willow, and the Populus species such as aspen, cottonwood and poplar. 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 denser than that formed early in the season. When examined under a microscope, the cells of dense latewood are seen to be very thick-walled and with very 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.
If a heavy piece of pine is compared with a lightweight piece it will be seen at once that the heavier one contains a larger proportion of latewood than the other, and is therefore showing more clearly 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 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.
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 growth produces comparatively light, porous wood composed of thin-walled vessels and wood parenchyma. In good oak, these large vessels of the earlywood occupy from 6 to 10 percent of the volume of the log, while in inferior material they may make up 25% or more. The latewood 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.
The results of a series of tests on hickory by the U.S. Forest Service show that:
The effect of rate of growth on the qualities of chestnut wood is summarized by the same authority as follows:

In diffuse-porous woods

In the diffuse-porous woods, the demarcation between rings is not always so clear and in some cases is almost 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 and in the manufacture of engineered flooring, panels and veneer. Another major plant group that produces 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

The single most revealing property of wood as an indicator of wood quality is specific gravity, 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. 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 wood and are referred to as basic specific gravity.

Wood density

Wood density is determined by multiple growth and physiological factors compounded into “one fairly easily measured wood characteristic”.
Age, diameter, height, radial 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. Variation of specific gravity within the bole of a tree can occur in either the horizontal or vertical direction.

Tabulated physical properties

The following tables list the mechanical properties of wood and lumber plant species, including bamboo.
Wood properties:
Common nameScientific nameMoisture contentDensity Compressive strength Flexural strength
Red AlderAlnus rubraGreen37020.445
Red AlderAlnus rubra12.00%41040.168
Black AshFraxinus nigraGreen45015.941
Black AshFraxinus nigra12.00%49041.287
Blue AshFraxinus quadrangulataGreen53024.866
Blue AshFraxinus quadrangulata12.00%58048.195
Green AshFraxinus pennsylvanicaGreen5302966
Green AshFraxinus pennsylvanica12.00%56048.897
Oregon AshFraxinus latifoliaGreen50024.252
Oregon AshFraxinus latifolia12.00%55041.688
White AshFraxinus americanaGreen55027.566
White AshFraxinus americana12.00%60051.1103
Bigtooth AspenPopulus grandidentataGreen36017.237
Bigtooth AspenPopulus grandidentata12.00%39036.563
Quaking AspenPopulus tremuloidesGreen35014.835
Quaking AspenPopulus tremuloides12.00%38029.358
American BasswoodTilia americanaGreen32015.334
American BasswoodTilia americana12.00%37032.660
American BeechFagus grandifoliaGreen56024.559
American BeechFagus grandifolia12.00%64050.3103
Paper BirchBetula papyriferaGreen48016.344
Paper BirchBetula papyrifera12.00%55039.285
Sweet BirchBetula lentaGreen60025.865
Sweet BirchBetula lenta12.00%65058.9117
Yellow BirchBetula alleghaniensisGreen55023.357
Yellow BirchBetula alleghaniensis12.00%62056.3114
ButternutJuglans cinereaGreen36016.737
ButternutJuglans cinerea12.00%38036.256
Black CherryPrunus serotinaGreen47024.455
Blach CherryPrunus serotina12.00%5004985
American ChestnutCastanea dentataGreen4001739
American ChestnutCastanea dentata12.00%43036.759
Balsam Poplar CottonwoodPopulus balsamiferaGreen31011.727
Balsam Poplar CottonwoodPopulus balsamifera12.00%34027.747
Black CottonwoodPopulus trichocarpaGreen31015.234
Black CottonwoodPopulus trichocarpa12.00%3503159
Eastern CottonwoodPopulus deltoidesGreen37015.737
Eastern CottonwoodPopulus deltoides12.00%40033.959
American ElmUlmus americanaGreen46020.150
American ElmUlmus americana12.00%50038.181
Rock ElmUlmus thomasiiGreen57026.166
Rock ElmUlmus thomasii12.00%63048.6102
Slippery ElmUlmus rubraGreen48022.955
Slippery ElmUlmus rubra12.00%53043.990
HackberryCeltis occidentalisGreen49018.345
HackberryCeltis occidentalis12.00%53037.576
Bitternut HickoryCarya cordiformisGreen60031.571
Bitternut HickoryCarya cordiformis12.00%66062.3118
Nutmeg HickoryCarya myristiciformisGreen56027.463
Nutmeg HickoryCarya myristiciformis12.00%60047.6114
Pecan HickoryCarya illinoinensisGreen60027.568
Pecan HickoryCarya illinoinensis12.00%66054.194
Water HickoryCarya aquaticaGreen61032.174
Water HickoryCarya aquatica12.00%62059.3123
Mockernut HickoryCarya tomentosaGreen64030.977
Mockernut HickoryCarya tomentosa12.00%72061.6132
Pignut HickoryCarya glabraGreen66033.281
Pignut HickoryCarya glabra12.00%75063.4139
Shagbark HickoryCarya ovataGreen64031.676
Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata12.00%72063.5139
Shellbark HickoryCarya laciniosaGreen6202772
Shellbark HickoryCarya laciniosa12.00%69055.2125
HoneylocustGleditsia triacanthosGreen60030.570
HoneylocustGleditsia triacanthos12.00%60051.7101
Black LocustRobinia pseudoacaciaGreen66046.995
Black LocustRobinia pseudoacacia12.00%69070.2134
Cucumber Tree MagnoliaMagnolia acuminataGreen44021.651
Cucumber Tree MagnoliaMagnolia acuminata12.00%48043.585
Southern MagnoliaMagnolia grandifloraGreen46018.647
Southern MagnoliaMagnolia grandiflora12.00%50037.677
Bigleaf MapleAcer macrophyllumGreen44022.351
Bigleaf MapleAcer macrophyllum12.00%4804174
Black MapleAcer nigrumGreen52022.554
Black MapleAcer nigrum12.00%57046.192
Red MapleAcer rubrumGreen49022.653
Red MapleAcer rubrum12.00%54045.192
Silver MapleAcer saccharinumGreen44017.240
Silver MapleAcer saccharinum12.00%4703661
Sugar MapleAcer saccharumGreen56027.765
Sugar MapleAcer saccharum12.00%63054109
Black Red OakQuercus velutinaGreen56023.957
Black Red OakQuercus velutina12.00%6104596
Cherrybark Red OakQuercus pagodaGreen61031.974
Cherrybark Red OakQuercus pagoda12.00%68060.3125
Laurel Red OakQuercus hemisphaericaGreen56021.954
Laurel Red OakQuercus hemisphaerica12.00%63048.187
Northern Red OakQuercus rubraGreen56023.757
Northern Red OakQuercus rubra12.00%63046.699
Pin Red OakQuercus palustrisGreen58025.457
Pin Red OakQuercus palustris12.00%6304797
Scarlet Red OakQuercus coccineaGreen60028.272
Scarlet Red OakQuercus coccinea12.00%67057.4120
Southern Red OakQuercus falcataGreen52020.948
Southern Red OakQuercus falcata12.00%5904275
Water Red OakQuercus nigraGreen56025.861
Water Red OakQuercus nigra12.00%63046.7106
Willow Red OakQuercus phellosGreen56020.751
Willow Red OakQuercus phellos12.00%69048.5100
Bur White OakQuercus macrocarpaGreen58022.750
Bur White OakQuercus macrocarpa12.00%64041.871
Chestnut White OakQuercus montanaGreen57024.355
Chestnut White OakQuercus montana12.00%66047.192
Live White OakQuercus virginianaGreen80037.482
Live White OakQuercus virginiana12.00%88061.4127
Overcup White OakQuercus lyrataGreen57023.255
Overcup White OakQuercus lyrata12.00%63042.787
Post White OakQuercus stellataGreen6002456
Post White OakQuercus stellata12.00%67045.391
Swamp Chestnut White OakQuercus michauxiiGreen60024.459
Swamp Chestnut White OakQuercus michauxii12.00%67050.196
Swamp White OakQuercus bicolorGreen64030.168
Swamp White OakQuercus bicolor12.00%72059.3122
White OakQuercus albaGreen60024.557
White OakQuercus alba12.00%68051.3105
SassafrasSassafras albidumGreen42018.841
SassafrasSassafras albidum12.00%46032.862
SweetgumLiquidambar styracifluaGreen4602149
SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua12.00%52043.686
American SycamorePlatanus occidentalisGreen46020.145
American SycamorePlatanus occidentalis12.00%49037.169
TanoakNotholithocarpus densiflorusGreen58032.172
TanoakNotholithocarpus densiflorus12.00%58032.172
Black TupeloNyssa sylvaticaGreen4602148
Black TupeloNyssa sylvatica12.00%50038.166
Water TupeloNyssa aquaticaGreen46023.250
Water TupeloNyssa aquatica12.00%50040.866
Black WalnutJuglans nigraGreen51029.666
Black WalnutJuglans nigra12.00%55052.3101
Black WillowSalix nigraGreen36014.133
Black WillowSalix nigra12.00%39028.354
Yellow PoplarLiriodendron tulipiferaGreen40018.341
Yellow PoplarLiriodendron tulipifera12.00%42038.270
BaldcypressTaxodium distichumGreen42024.746
BaldcypressTaxodium distichum12.00%46043.973
Atlantic White CedarChamaecyparis thyoidesGreen31016.532
Atlantic White CedarChamaecyparis thyoides12.00%32032.447
Eastern RedcedarJuniperus virginianaGreen44024.648
Eastern RedcedarJuniperus virginiana12.00%47041.561
Incense CedarCalocedrus decurrensGreen35021.743
Incense CedarCalocedrus decurrens12.00%37035.955
Northern White CedarThuja occidentalisGreen29013.729
Northern White CedarThuja occidentalis12.00%31027.345
Port Orford CedarChamaecyparis lawsonianaGreen39021.645
Port Orford CedarChamaecyparis lawsoniana12.00%43043.188
Western RedcedarThuja plicataGreen31019.135.9
Western RedcedarThuja plicata12.00%32031.451.7
Yellow CedarCupressus nootkatensisGreen4202144
Yellow CedarCupressus nootkatensis12.00%44043.577
Coast Douglas FirPseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesiiGreen45026.153
Coast Douglas FirPseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii12.00%48049.985
Interior West Douglas FirPseudotsuga MenziesiiGreen46026.753
Interior West Douglas FirPseudotsuga Menziesii12.00%50051.287
Interior North Douglas FirPseudotsuga menziesii var. glaucaGreen45023.951
Interior North Douglas FirPseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca12.00%48047.690
Interior South Douglas FirPseudotsuga lindleyanaGreen43021.447
Interior South Douglas FirPseudotsuga lindleyana12.00%4604382
Balsam FirAbies balsameaGreen33018.138
Balsam FirAbies balsamea12.00%35036.463
California Red FirAbies magnificaGreen3601940
California Red FirAbies magnifica12.00%38037.672.4
Grand FirAbies grandisGreen35020.340
Grand FirAbies grandis12.00%37036.561.4
Noble FirAbies proceraGreen37020.843
Noble FirAbies procera12.00%39042.174
Pacific Silver FirAbies amabilisGreen40021.644
Pacific Silver FirAbies amabilis12.00%43044.275
Subalpine FirAbies lasiocarpaGreen31015.934
Subalpine FirAbies lasiocarpa12.00%32033.559
White FirAbies concolorGreen3702041
White FirAbies concolor12.00%3904068
Eastern HemlockTsuga canadensisGreen38021.244
Eastern HemlockTsuga canadensis12.00%40037.361
Mountain HemlockTsuga mertensianaGreen42019.943
Mountain HemlockTsuga mertensiana12.00%45044.479
Western HemlockTsuga heterophyllaGreen42023.246
Western HemlockTsuga heterophylla12.00%4504978
Western LarchLarix occidentalisGreen48025.953
Western LarchLarix occidentalis12.00%52052.590
Eastern White PinePinus strobusGreen34016.834
Eastern White PinePinus strobus12.00%35033.159
Jack PinePinus banksianaGreen40020.341
Jack PinePinus banksiana12.00%4303968
Loblolly PinePinus taedaGreen47024.250
Loblolly PinePinus taeda12.00%51049.288
Lodgepole PinePinus contortaGreen3801838
Lodgepole PinePinus contorta12.00%4103765
Longleaf PinePinus palustrisGreen54029.859
Longleaf PinePinus palustris12.00%59058.4100
Pitch PinePinus rigidaGreen47020.347
Pitch PinePinus rigida12.00%5204174
Pond PinePinus serotinaGreen51025.251
Pond PinePinus serotina12.00%5605280
Ponderosa PinePinus ponderosaGreen38016.935
Ponderosa PinePinus ponderosa12.00%40036.765
Red PinePinus resinosaGreen41018.840
Red PinePinus resinosa12.00%46041.976
Sand PinePinus clausaGreen46023.752
Sand PinePinus clausa12.00%48047.780
Shortleaf PinePinus echinataGreen47024.351
Shortleaf PinePinus echinata12.00%51050.190
Slash PinePinus elliottiiGreen54026.360
Slash PinePinus elliottii12.00%59056.1112
Spruce PinePinus glabraGreen41019.641
Spruce PinePinus glabra12.00%4403972
Sugar PinePinus lambertianaGreen3401734
Sugar PinePinus lambertiana12.00%36030.857
Virginia PinePinus virginianaGreen45023.650
Virginia PinePinus virginiana12.00%48046.390
Western White PinePinus monticolaGreen36016.832
Western White PinePinus monticola12.00%38034.767
Redwood Old GrowthSequoia sempervirensGreen3802952
Redwood Old GrowthSequoia sempervirens12.00%40042.469
Redwood New GrowthSequoia sempervirensGreen34021.441
Redwood New GrowthSequoia sempervirens12.00%3503654
Black SprucePicea marianaGreen38019.642
Black SprucePicea mariana12.00%46041.174
Engelmann SprucePicea engelmanniiGreen3301532
Engelmann SprucePicea engelmannii12.00%35030.964
Red SprucePicea rubensGreen37018.841
Red SprucePicea rubens12.00%40038.274
Sitka SprucePicea sitchensisGreen33016.234
Sitka SprucePicea sitchensis12.00%36035.765
White SprucePicea glaucaGreen37017.739
White SprucePicea glauca12.00%40037.768
Tamarack SpruceLarix laricinaGreen4902450
Tamarack SpruceLarix laricina12.00%53049.480

Bamboo properties:
Common nameScientific nameMoisture contentDensity Compressive strength Flexural strength
Balku bansBambusa balcooagreen4573.7
Balku bansBambusa balcooaair dry54.1581.1
Balku bansBambusa balcooa8.582069151
Indian thorny bambooBambusa bambos9.571061143
Indian thorny bambooBambusa bambos43.0537.15
Nodding BambooBambusa nutans88907552.9
Nodding BambooBambusa nutans874652.4
Nodding BambooBambusa nutans128567.5
Nodding BambooBambusa nutans88.344.788
Nodding BambooBambusa nutans1447.9216
Clumping BambooBambusa pervariabilis45.8
Clumping BambooBambusa pervariabilis57980
Clumping BambooBambusa pervariabilis203537
Burmese bambooBambusa polymorpha95.132.128.3
Bambusa spinosaair dry5751.77
Indian timber bambooBambusa tulda73.640.751.1
Indian timber bambooBambusa tulda11.96866.7
Indian timber bambooBambusa tulda8.691079194
dragon bambooDendrocalamus giganteus874070193
Hamilton's bambooDendrocalamus hamiltonii8.55907089
White bambooDendrocalamus membranaceus10240.526.3
String BambooGigantochloa apus54.324.1102
String BambooGigantochloa apus15.137.9587.5
Java Black BambooGigantochloa atroviolacea5423.892.3
Java Black BambooGigantochloa atroviolacea1535.794.1
Giant AtterGigantochloa atter72.326.498
Giant AtterGigantochloa atter14.431.95122.7
Gigantochloa macrostachya896071154
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia4253.5
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia63.6144.8
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia86.346
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia77.582
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia155687
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia63.3
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia28
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia56.2
American Narrow-Leaved BambooGuadua angustifolia38
Berry BambooMelocanna baccifera12.869.957.6
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides51
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides873063
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides6444
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides6140
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides971
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides974
Japanese timber bambooPhyllostachys bambusoides1254
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis44.6
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis7567
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis1571
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis6108
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis0.2147
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis511751
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis304455
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis12.560360.3
Tortoise shell bambooPhyllostachys edulis10.353083
Early BambooPhyllostachys praecox28.582779.3
OliveriThyrsostachys oliveri5346.961.9
OliveriThyrsostachys oliveri7.85890

Hard versus soft

It is common to classify wood as either softwood or hardwood. The wood from conifers is called softwood, and the wood from dicotyledons 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 is actually softer than any commercial softwood. Conversely, some softwoods 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. 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

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 by weight. Wood also contains sulfur, chlorine, silicon, phosphorus, and other elements in small quantity.
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 based on aromatic rings. These three components are interwoven, and direct covalent linkages exist 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.

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. 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.

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

Flooring

A solid wood floor is a floor laid with planks or battens created from a single piece of timber, usually a hardwood. Since wood is hydroscopic this potential instability effectively limits the length and width of the boards.
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 thickness of wood above the tongue.
Solid hardwood floors were originally used for structural purposes, being installed perpendicular to the wooden support beams of a building and solid construction timber is still often used for sports floors as well as most traditional wood blocks, mosaics and parquetry.

Engineered products

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.
These products include glued laminated timber, wood structural panels, laminated veneer lumber and other structural composite lumber products, parallel strand lumber, and I-joists. Approximately 100 million cubic meters of wood was consumed for this purpose in 1991. 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 or chemically and used as a raw material for other building materials, such as engineered wood, as well as chipboard, hardboard, and medium-density fiberboard. 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 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 and pencil.

Other

Further developments include new lignin glue applications, recyclable food packaging, rubber tire replacement applications, anti-bacterial medical agents, and high strength fabrics or composites.
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.

Art

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.
Other uses of wood in the arts include:
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 from maple even though that wood is somewhat more fragile. NBA courts have been traditionally made out of parquetry.
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, titanium or composite materials such as fiberglass and carbon fiber. One noteworthy example of this trend is the family of golf clubs commonly known as the woods, the heads of which were traditionally made of persimmon wood in the early days of the game of golf, but are now generally made of metal or carbon-fiber composites.

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. Alphaproteobacteria, Flavobacteria, Actinobacteria, Clostridia, and Bacteroidetes have been detected in wood submerged for over a year.