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.
A wheeled trailed vehicle for transporting material. In forestry, essentially for safety reasons, wheels-driven vehicles are usually used.
A data acquisition device that converts energy or impulses from one system to another: for example, from electric to pneumatic or hydraulic and vice versa.
See “intermediate wood”.
Operation of wood and lumber handling by which woody material is brought from the landing to the primary processing industries following the main roadway.
See “transporter”.
Tractor that has a cargo box or flatbed on the rear axle. It can have different configurations than four-wheel-drive tractor as well.
In wood products industry, it indicates the direction perpendicular to the grain.
It is the change in the form of treatment (e.g., from occasional cutting to successive cutting forest) within the same form of forest government. In a general, it includes a more or less radical change in stand composition, often associated with conversion (e.g., coniferous tree-planting in a sparse coppice and its initiation to high forest).
Canal formed as a result of trauma to living plant. Note: often abnormal in size, axial or radial.
Parenchyma cells of irregular size, shape, and distribution from trauma to the cambium. It is also called “traumatic parenchyma.”
See “traumatic parenchyma”.
Area of traumatic tissue produced by the cambium that has been damaged by causes such as frost, drought or fire. Tissues may tend to turn brown due to the presence of gums and resins.
Crack crossing the entire log or semi-finished product (extending from one face to the other).
Knot that occurs on both faces of a sawn timber.
Suitability of a wood to be penetrated by a liquid (e.g., a preservative). In relation to its impregnability there are four classes: 1) impregnable; 2) moderately impregnable; 3) slightly impregnable; 4) not impregnable.
Veneer chemically treated for the purposes of attaining particular physical, chemical or aesthetic characteristics.
Sawn or plywood treated under pressure or coated with a chemical component finish designed to inhibit flame spread, development of rot, insect attack, or weathering degradation.
Official procedure intended to kill, inactivate, eliminate, infertilize, or devitalize pests.
Generic name for perennial plants with an erect woody stem that, at some distance from the ground, has branches of various orders with leaves, persistent or deciduous, forming the crown.
Instrument for measuring tree or log diameters. It is normally similar to a common caliper, thus consisting of a graduated rule with a perpendicular arm cast at one end and a sliding arm.
Operation of selecting and marking plants to be felled or plants to be reserved in the imminence of a cut.
Wood species Scientific name: Cercis siliquastrum L. Origin: Mediterranean Regions; mainly used in roadside trees.
Group of parametric values of consecutive annual rings expressed graphically in relation to time.
See “trimming”.
Sawing machine, usually with multiple circular blades, used to cut sawn timber at fixed lengths.
Removal of two lateral laths (known as ‘trims’ or ‘wane’) from the rough boards obtained by sawing, in order to straighten the edges and make them perpendicular to the faces of the board. If the board is reduced to a constant width, it is called ‘parallel-edge trimming’, while it is ‘non-parallel-edge trimming’ if the boards are left tapered. It is also performed on wood-based boards to bring them to the desired size after pressing.
Veneer produced by eccentric rotary cutting in which the log is cut to a greater width than when mounted with the centre fixed in the lathe.
Portion of the stem of a tree. It is usually used to determine the value of a standing tree by establishing its size based on the minimum acceptable diameter at the tip.
Structural unit of reticular design, with several types. Usually without connection between bottom chord and king post.
Wood species Scientific name: Quercus cerris L. Origin: South Europe, Mediterranean basin, Danubian Region.
A change in the colour of wood that, especially in light-coloured woods, generally occurs after a certain period of exposure to sunlight.
Period of time required for a plant to become suitable for cutting.
Helical deformation developing along the length of a semi-finished product. As a result of the defect, the product deforms so that the four corners of each face are no longer in the same plane.
Pallets in which the forks of a forklift can only be introduced from two opposite sides.
Extroversion of the parenchymal cell wall, which penetrates through a pit into the lumen of a vessel, partially or totally occluding it. Various substances (resins, gums, crystals,etc.) may be found inside. Tylosis are generally of traumatic or pathological origin.
Proliferation of a thin-walled epithelial cell within an intercellular canal. Note: A tylosoid differs from a tylosis by the fact that it does not pass through the cavity of a pit.
Indication of intended use, e.g. residential house, industrial building, road bridge.
Classification of plywood based on the bonding characteristics and surface appearance of the plies used in the composition. For example, European standards distinguish structural plywood as follows: – for use in a dry environment (DRY), in accordance with UNI EN 636-1; – for use in wet environment (HUM), in accordance with UNI EN 636-2; – for use in outdoor environment (EXT), in accordance with UNI EN 636-3. Panels presenting specific characteristics and/or requirements such as marine plywood, decorative, etc., are also recognized.
Structural typology designating the arrangement of structural elements, e.g. beam, reticular structure, arch, suspended bridge.
Acts issued by the EU Commission usually relating to problems that may create dangerous situations for people or the environment. They are usually of mandatory transposition by the Member States. Although each directive is binding in its objectives, it allows national authorities to choose the ways and forms of its implementation. The Commission monitors its adoption by the Member States which can be referred to the Court of Justice in the event of non-compliance. According to the EEC ‘New Approach’ (1985), the Directives lay down the essential requirements to which the product or service must conform and entrust CEN with the issuing of the relevant technical specification, whose compliance constitutes a presumption of conformity with the Directive itself.
Wood still having its bark.
Visible knot on the outer surface (usually the term is used in the case of round timber).
An expression that, when referring to a measurement (usually diameter), indicates that it is not including the bark.
Oblique cut, visible on the largest end grain of the butt log, made at the base of the plant during felling in order to direct the fall of the plant. It delimits the hinge anteriorly.
In a flooring element, reduction in the size of the worse face relative to the face, made for the purpose of facilitating the installation.
Wedge cut made at the base of the stem to set the felling direction. It is visible at the basal end of a butt log.
Layer placed between the backing and the floor covering or parquet.
Layer placed directly below a nonstructural finish flooring, such as tile or carpet. Wood panel underlayment can provide a smooth surface for finish flooring and excellent puncture and impact resistance.
Sawn timber with parallel faces but having at least one unsawn edge.
Forest consisting of trees of different ages.
Element whose face has not been subjected to any factory treatment.
Ente Nazionale Italiano di Unificazione: this is the Italian standards body; it is based in Milan with offices in the main Italian cities. The corresponding English body is called ‘BSI’, while in France there is the ‘AFNOR’ and in Germany the ‘DIN’.
Group of standards concerning testing, certification and accreditation activities. 45001/2/3: laboratories; 45011/12/13: certifying bodies for products, systems, people; 45014: supplier’s declaration of conformity.
Group of standards relating to company quality systems. They are basically the transposition and translation of ISO 9000 for Italy.
Standards harmonized and equal in substance, but not in presentation.
Pitting in which a single pit subtends two or more smaller pits in the adjacent cell.
Paratracheal parenchyma limited to the outer (abaxial) or inner (adaxial) sides of the vessels. Note: Such parenchyma can be further distinguished into unilateral discontinuous, aliform or confluent. It is also called “abaxial parenchyma” or “adaxial parenchyma.”
Ray one cell wide (seen in tangential section).
Operation by which goods are removed from the transport vehicle on which they have been loaded.
Node affected by rot.
Action of disassembling a set of stacked materials.
See “upper permitted deviation”.
Arithmetic difference between the allowed upper limit of a dimension and the target size.
Ray cell elongated in axial direction. Note: Cells of this type compose some uniseriate rays and parts, typically the margins, of some pluriseriate rays.
Tree which has been blown over by the action of wind or mechanically pushed over, with the root still attached.
The difference in length between the convex and concave faces expressed as a percentage of the length of the neutral centre line.
Synthetic adhesive used in the bonding by hot pressing of plywood and other wood-based panels. Properly performed gluing with urea resin meets the requirements for the use of panels in a dry environment. The glue line generally has a light or transparent coloration.
Conditions in which the wood or wood-based product is covered, totally protected from the weather and not exposed to moisture. NOTE: The term may be defined differently outside Europe.
Conditions in which the wood or wood-based product is covered and totally protected from the weather, but in which a high level of environmental humidity may lead to occasional but not persistent wetting NOTE: The term may be defined differently outside Europe.
Condition in which wood or wood-based product is not covered, not in contact with the ground and is continuously exposed to the weather or is protected from the weather, but is subject to frequent wetting NOTE: The term may be defined differently outside Europe.
A condition in which wood or wood-based product is in contact with the ground or fresh water and is therefore permanently exposed to wetting. NOTE: The term may be defined differently outside Europe.
Condition in which wood or wood-based product is permanently exposed to salt water. NOTE: The term may be defined differently outside Europe.
Woody substances or objects that fulfilled the role for which they were designated.
Wood species Scientific name: Entandrophragma utile Sprague. ATIBT nomenclature: Sipo. Origin: West and East Africa.
Procedure that includes the following steps: – initial vacuum to remove some of the air present inside the wood; – introduction of impregnant and reduction of vacuum to atmospheric pressure; – discharge of the impregnant and final vacuum.
Controlled drying at lower than atmospheric pressure, resulting in lowering the boiling temperature of water below 100°C.
Penetrating treatment during which the flow into the wood of the liquid preservative is enhanced by the use of an initial vacuum prior to immersion in the preservative.
Vacuum process in which, during the immersion phase, pressure is applied to the wood preservative liquid.
A relatively impermeable material consisting, for example, of an aluminum sheet, a plastic film, or an appropriately impregnated sheet of paper used to prevent the passage of moisture (either from the inside to the outside or vice versa) in a composite or structure.
Mean of the squares of the deviations of a population of data from the arithmetic mean of the population. Its square root is the standard deviation.
A mixture of substances (siccative oils, natural or synthetic resins) suspended in a liquid or dissolved in a solvent, which, when applied in a thin layer on a surface, is able to dry, giving rise to a very adherent and resistant film or coating. In the case of coloured paints, pigments of various kinds are added to the base mixture.
Unperforated cell resembling in shape and position a small vessel element. It is also called “imperfect vasal element.”
Paratracheal parenchyma forming a complete covering around a vessel. It has variable thickness and circular or slightly oval shape in cross section.
Short, irregularly shaped tracheid found in proximity of a vessel. It is not part of a defined axial row.
Liquid component of an adhesive (adhesive mixture) or finishing product.
Visible pattern on the surface of a semi-finished product formed by the traces of periodic wood growth.
Thin semi-finished wood less than 7 mm thick.This term, which is standardised at Italian national level, is both generic and underused in technical language. It is preferred to specify the processing method by which the sheet was obtained and is therefore more commonly referred to as “sliced” or “rotary cut” veneer. Thick veneers or veneers of woods that are difficult to cut by peeling or slicing can sometimes be obtained by sawing.