A simple and accessible tool for understanding the fundamental terms related to wood. From the meaning of sapwood and heartwood to the characteristics of texture, grain, and density. A useful resource for professionals, citizens, and students who want to familiarize themselves with the language of the sector.
In wood flooring, it is the shape of the section perpendicular to one of the two main axes of the element in the plane perpendicular to the face.
Sawn timber, which at the end use moisture, was manufactured to achieve a specific, non-rectangular cross-section.
Drying process under controlled conditions. Timber is moved along insulated, vapor-tight tunnels equipped with devices for regulating and creating the required environmental conditions (temperature, relative humidity, and airflow). These can be changed continuously (progressive circulation kiln in the longitudinal direction) or discontinuously, through progressive climate-controlled stages (progressive transverse circulation kilns).
Process by which wood is soaked in an impregnating agent for a period ranging from 1 h to several days depending on the species, size and moisture content of the wood and the type of impregnating agent used.
Maximum stress that a material is capable of supporting by showing a direct proportionality between stress and strain. It corresponds to the point in the stress-strain diagram where the relationship is no longer constant and, for an equal increase in stress, there is a more than proportional increase in strain.
General term for elongated cells with sharp ends. Note: In the past it was used as a collective term for fibers and tracheids, and sometimes for vessel elements, in opposition to parenchyma.
Area where the importation and movement from another territory of harmful organisms or pests is forbidden because they are not endemic to the State under consideration, even though conditions here may be favourable to their establishment.
Term that includes all measures taken in order to prevent degradation of wood caused by biological agents.
Protoplasm mass enclosed by a cell wall.
Primary first-formed xylem, with tracheal elements characterized by annular or spiral thickening.
Geographical area of origin.
Expression included in a given normative document, which takes the form of a statement, instruction, recommendation or requirement.
Standing tree whose lower branches were pruned during the juvenile stage.
Operation by which branches and parts that are unnecessary or harmful to the optimal development of the plants are removed.
An instrument used to measure the amount of water vapor contained in the atmosphere. It consists of two thermometers, one with a dry bulb and the other with a bulb kept wet by water-soaked gauze. Since evaporation is a process that involves cooling and depends on the humidity of the surrounding air, the values recorded by the wet bulb is always lower. The difference in temperature between the two bulbs (called the “wet bulb depression”) is used, through the use of a reference table, to determine the relative humidity of the examined environment.
Wood species Scientific name: Quercus pubescens Willd. Origin: Karst, Istria, Dalmatia, Southern Europe, Austria, Southern Hungary and Croatia, Southern Russia, Western Asia.
Round timber intended for mechanical and/or chemical chipping for the production of pulp or wood-based panels.
Round timber intended to be fragmented for the production of pulp or wood-based panels.
Assortment intended for pulp production.
See “pulpwood”.
Developmental stage of an insect between the larval and adult stages.
Element horizontally arranged on battens or false rafters to provide support for laths.
Distillation process under oxygen-free conditions during which wood, upon heating, loses water and all flammable and nonflammable volatiles.
Tool used to measure temperature (e.g. inside a dryer)
Set of properties and characteristics of a product or service that give it the ability to satisfy expressed or implied needs. In a contractual context, requirements are specified, while in other contexts implicit requirements should be identified and defined. In many cases, needs may change over time: this implies periodic reviews of requirements. Needs are generally translated into priorities and characteristics with well-defined criteria. These needs may include aspects such as ease of use and maintenance, safety, availability, reliability, and even economic and ecological aspects. The term “quality” does not express a level of merit in a comparative sense, nor is it used in a quantitative sense for technical evaluations. In such cases other qualifying terms must be added, for example, the expressions: (a) “relative quality,” when goods or services are ranked according to a level of merit or in a comparative sense; (b) “level of quality” or “measure of quality,” when precise technical evaluations are made in a quantitative sense. The quality of a product or service is influenced by many interacting activities, such as design, production, service, and maintenance.
All the planned and systematic actions necessary to give adequate assurance that a product or service meets certain quality requirements. Quality assurance is fully realized only if the stated requirements fully match the user’s needs. To be effective, quality assurance generally requires continuous evaluation of factors influencing the adequacy of design (and/or specifications) to the intended uses, and also requires checks and balances at the manufacturing, installation, and testing stages. Giving assurance may require the submission of objective evidence. Within an organization, quality assurance is a business management tool. In the contractual context, it also serves to determine trust in the supplier.
In the context of a Quality system or in the management of a Quality Mark, it represents a verification, generally carried out by an independent Organisation, aimed at ensuring that the levels of quality adopted by a company equal or exceed those foreseen by the reference standards. In other words, it is a systematic and independent examination to determine whether the activities carried out for quality and the results obtained are in accordance with what has been planned, and whether what has been put in place is implemented effectively and is suitable for achieving the objectives. The verification programme is based on strict random testing. If the minimum quality levels are not reached, the Organisation may withdraw the Certification or prohibit the use of the Mark until the company re-establishes them adequately. Quality audits essentially concern, but are not limited to, the quality system or its parts, operational processes, products or services: it is therefore possible the term “quality system audit”, “operational process audit”, “product audit”, “service audit”, etc.. Quality audits are carried out by staff who do not have direct responsibility for the areas examined, preferably in cooperation with the staff responsible for them. One of the purposes of the audit is to consider the opportunity for improvement or corrective action. This audit should not be confused with surveillance and testing activities carried out for the sole purpose of controlling an operational process or accepting a product. Quality audits can be performed for purposes internal or external to the company.
As a general term, any activity that helps maximize the value of raw materials and semi-finished products during the production process. As a specific term in the context of quality system, it means the set of operational techniques and activities carried out to meet quality requirements. It tends both to keep operational processes under control (“manufacturing quality control”) and to eliminate deficiencies in the various stages of business operations (“firm-wide quality control”). Specific QC testing can be planned and implemented by total (continuous) or partial (usually random) sampling to ensure that technical requirements are met and satisfied. The adoption of Statistical Control in the 1920s reduced control costs compared to the testing method.
Conceptual model for indicating the activities that, interacting with each other, influence the quality of a product or service in the various stages ranging from the identification of the needs to be satisfied to the verification of their fulfilment.
The component of business management concerned with establishing and implementing quality policy. Achieving the desired quality requires the commitment and participation of everyone in the organization, and the responsibility for corporate leadership for quality rests with top management. Corporate leadership for quality includes strategic planning, resource allocation and other systematic activities aimed at quality (such as planning, achieving and evaluating quality).
A document that specifies operational methods, resources and sequences of activities that influence the quality of a given product, service, contract or project.
The objectives and general directions of an organisation in terms of quality. The quality policy is one of the elements of the corporate policy, and must be established and formally expressed by top management.
Continuous verification and monitoring of the status of procedures, methods, conditions, processes, products and services, examination of reports and certificates against pre-established reference documents, to ensure fulfillment of established quality requirements. Quality surveillance may be carried out by or on behalf of the client to ensure that contractual requirements are satisfied.
Organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes and resources implemented to conduct business for quality. The quality system should include only what is necessary to achieve quality objectives. For contractual reasons, binding requirements or evaluation purposes, demonstration of the implementation of certain parts of the quality system may be required.
Formal assessment carried out by top management concerning the status of the quality system and its adequacy, in relation to the quality policy and any new objectives arising from changing conditions.
A harmful organism of potential economic importance to the threatened area that is either not yet present, or present but not widely distributed and officially controlled.
A cut executed close to the pith or heart of the tree.
Sawn timber having a face tangential to the rays. If the rays are not visible, it can be defined as sawdust having a face perpendicular to the growth rings.
Sawn wood in which one of the faces is at least approximately parallel to the parenchymal rays; if the rays are not visible, it can be recognised because one of the faces is at least approximately perpendicular to the growth rings (resulting in a ‘striped’ type figure).
Sliced veneer obtained by cutting along a radial direction. This often results in the typical “striped” pattern.
1) One of the four quarters of a round log divided lengthwise through two more or less perpendicular diameters. 2) An expression denoting both a mode of cutting and the sawn timber resulting from it. The cutting mode consists of first sawing the log into four quarters; each quarter is then sawn according to cutting planes alternately parallel to the two faces. The result is firstly radial or nearly radial cutting surfaces (resulting in a ‘strip-grain’ pattern), then surfaces on the true quarter and finally on the false quarter.
Wood species Scientific name: Schinopsis balansae Engl. e Schinopsis lorentzii Engl. Origin: Argentine, Paraguay and Bolivia.
See ” quilted (or blister) figured wood”.
Aesthetic effect occurring on the surface of a sawn or sliced veneer. Series of reflections that give the impression of seeing juxtaposed areas of different depths (some appear in relief, others as depressions) more or less rounded in shape.
A measure of mass, currently used but not accepted by the International System, equivalent to 100 kg.
A toothed track which, by means of a gear, moves forward causing the sawbench of a rack saw to advance towards the blade.
It is one of the two main longitudinal anatomical directions. The other is the tangential one. Referring to the trunk or a portion of it, it indicates a plane perpendicular to the growth rings and passing through the centre of the cross-section (i.e. passing through the pith). A quarter sawn timber derives from a cut made along that plane.
Canal transversely decurrent to the wood grain, in radial direction, contained in a fusiform radius.
Section made by cutting the wood parallel to the direction of the grain and along the direction of a parenchymal ray; also of the surface or anatomical section obtained with this cut.
1) Wood shrinkage in the normal direction relative to the growth rings. 2) Wood shrinkage in the parallel direction relative to the rays.
1) Wood swelling in a normal direction relative to the growth rings. 2) Wood swelling in a parallel direction to that of the rays.
Wood species Scientific name: Pinus radiata D. Don. Origin: indigenous to California and widely cultivated in Brazil, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. It is also present in artificial reforestations in Sardinia.
1) Heating performed by means of high-frequency radio waves to accelerate the curing of an adhesive. 2) Method of generating heat in a dielectric material (dried wood) through the use of a relatively low but high voltage, high frequency (radio) electric current. Three aspects of the process are generally implemented: 1- the RF energy is directed parallel to the glue lines (parallel heating), which heat up abruptly as they are more conductive (practice applied mainly for edge-loaded gluing of sawn timber); 2- the RF energy is directed perpendicularly to the glue lines (perpendicular heating) which heat more or less simultaneously with the surrounding wood (practice sometimes applied in plywood gluing); 3- the last aspect involves a combination of the previous two methods. The positive and negative electrodes are placed on the same side of the assembly, and the current follows the most conductive path which is again represented by the glue lines (practice mostly applied in gluing composites or the edges of a panel). See also “High-frequency heating.”
Radioactive isotope of carbon with mass 14. It is used for dating an artifact composed of organic material by measuring the residual amount of organic material in it.
Element of the trusses that is subjected to compressive stress and connects the king post to the bottom chord.
A water-based logging system in which timber is bundled to take the form of floating rafts.
Portion of wood characterised by a colour tone different from that of the surrounding area.
A tooth with no set, interposed between groups of teeth of different shapes (e.g., scoring teeth) and designed to remove cut small chips from them.
Wood species Scientific name: Gonystylus bancanus (Miq.) Kurz ATIBT nomenclature: Ramin.
Veneer with multiple layers, without any choice regarding figure, color, etc.
Procedure for a surface treatment in which the wood is immersed in an impregnating agent for a period ranging from 10 s to 10 min.
Type of steel file on which protruding tips have been cut to remove small chips.
Growth rate expressed as the average width of the growth rings.
Semi-finished solid wood product with perceptibly flat and parallel faces and rectangular cross-section heads. It is obtained by sawing and has the dimensions required for the manufacture of flooring elements.
Raw solid wood element obtained by sawing with flat, parallel faces and a rectangular cross-section. Its dimensions correspond to those required for the production of parquet strips.
Wood which has not been subjected to any treatment or processing.
Rays are aggregates of parenchyma cells arranged radially in the wood. They can be homocellular (if composed of cells of a single type) or heterocellular (composed of cells of two different types). The rays can be very small and visible only under the microscope (especially uniseriate rays, composed of a single row of cells), or they can be made up of many rows of cells (pluriseriate rays); in the latter case, if they are sufficiently large, they can generate shinier areas in the radially cut wood known as ‘silver figure’ (e.g. in Beech) or ‘slumacature’ (a Tuscan term used especially in the case of Oak).
Cambial initial that originates a ray cell generally one of a group and often more or less isodiametric in tangential section.
Tracheid being part of a ray.
Pits between a ray cell and a vessel element. Note: Some anatomists distinguish the following types: horizontally or vertically slit, reniform, large rounded, similar to intervascular pits.
Set of squared wood used on railway lines as a discontinuous surface to support tracks and make switches.
Introduction of Conifers or Broadleaves in sparse or degraded stands to complete the ground cover and to increase wood production.
Wood product crafted using previously used timber.
Abnormal wood that forms in the branches and inclined stems of conifers and broad-leaved trees. Depending on the aforementioned botanical subdivision, it is further distinguished into ‘compression wood’ (characteristic of conifers) and ‘tension wood’ (specific to deciduous trees).
Value compatible with the definition of a given quantity. In other words, it is a value that would be obtained with a perfect measurement. Conventional true value is a reference value that can actually be measured with an instrument of significantly higher accuracy than the one used for the measurement.
Longitudinal stability problem of tractors. It occurs in trailing hauling because of the resistance to forward movement offered by the load when, having eliminated the weight bearing on the front axle, the tractor spins around the rear axle lifting itself anteriorly off the ground.
Stepped cutting of the edge of one board to receive the corresponding part of another board.
Document released on receipt of a sum of money showing that it has actually been collected.
Any saw that cuts with oscillating motion from top to bottom or back and forth, as opposed to the motion of band saws, chain saws and circular saws.
Provision formulating a warning or guidance.
Documents issued by the Commission of the European Union and published in the Official Journal of the EEC, ‘C’ series. These are legislative communications that are not binding on the Member States and merely aim to express the views of the institutions that produced them.
Generic term used to refer to wood-based panels formed from particles or other ligno-cellulosic material bonded by adhesive under certain temperature and pressure conditions. It includes both particle boards and fiber boards.
Period of the drying phase during which the relative humidity and temperature of the dryer are suddenly increased (up to 100°C and 100% RH). The increase is mainly achieved through the injection of saturated steam and is aimed at reducing the observed phenomena of collapse and case-hardening on the surface whose development has been observed.
Wood material that, after becoming waste at the end of a production or consumption cycle, is collected and reused as an input material to replace a virgin material in the production of wood-based panels.
A company who recycle waste wood and has all the required authorizations (it is authorized to receive recycled wood and process it with R3 recovery processes to manufacture semi-finished products).
Wood species Scientific name: Thuja plicata Donn (ex D.Don.) Origin: North America; cultivated in UK.
Wood species Scientific name: Thuja plicata Don. Origin: Western regions of the United States, British Columbia.
Red or brownish colouration, clearly demarcated, which may occur in the central portion of round Beech wood.
Early stage of rot in Coniferous wood. The wood shows irregular areas of yellowish pink color.
The ratio of the tip width to the pitch.
A widely used trade term for the timber of two conifer species, namely Pinus sylvestris, imported to England from northern Europe, and Sequoia sempervirens.
Wood species Scientific name: Sequoia sempervirens Endl. Origin: Southwestern mountainous regions of the United States, from Oregon to California.
Material or substance whose one or more properties are sufficiently well defined to be used for setting an instrument, evaluating a method, measuring or assigning values to materials.
Machinery or equipment (sort of mill) used for refining wood and producing fiber bundles.