Characteristics of waterlogged western red cedar and western hemlock wood : implications for the salvage of timber from the Kinbasket reservoir in B.C.
Samples of western hemlock [Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.] and western red cedar [Thuja plicata Donn] trees completely submerged standing in a fresh water reservoir for approximately 24 years were examined in terms of relative wood density, extractives content in cedar and mechanical properties of small clear specimens. Due to diameter limitations in the sample material, test results for modulus of elasticity (MOE) in compression parallel-to-the-grain were found to be unreliable, but could be expected to compare to published values in a like manner as other test results. Based on the results of tests for wood density, extractives content and strength properties of small clears, the sound wood quality of submerged western hemlock and western red cedar is comparable to that of these species in general. Mitigating these favourable results, however, were the low proportion of sound logs recovered, external checking of log surfaces, and fine shake observed in red cedar which could have a negative impact on appearance grades. Definite determination of submerged wood quality would require sawing of logs, and evaluation of lumber yield and properties, and long-term tests for durability of the red cedar.
The compendium has been developed to assist practitioners in Western Canada in implementing commercial thinning operations. It describes operations within Western Canada and the northwestern United States; identifies equipment in use or with potential in commercial thinning and provides contacts and manufacturers. Additions will be made to the compendium on an ongoing basis.
A new National Lumber Grades Authority (NLGA) standard for evaluating structural wood adhesives has been approved by the NLGA Board and will be available shortly for use by Canadian fingerjoined lumber manufacturers. Development of this document was in response to an urgent industry need to provide a procedure for evaluating structural wood adhesives other than phenol resorcinol formaldehyde or resorcinol formaldehyde (PRF/RF). While these adhesive have performed satisfactorily for many years, not having a means for evaluating newer adhesive technology severely limited the ability of Canadian glued wood product manufacturers to maintain the competitiveness of their products.
When adhesives offering lower overall manufacturing costs or light-coloured bond lines were made available to manufacturers of competing wood products, Canadian manufacturers were not able to take advantage of these adhesives. This forced Canadian manufacturers to use overseas or US adhesive standards. While this provided a solution, it created an awkward situation where Canadian production could not be used in Canada because the adhesive did not meet the requirements of the Canadian wood product standard and thus the Canadian building code.
The development of the new NLGA adhesive standard occurred in two stages. The first stage, which was funded under the Canadian Forest Service Value-Added program, consisted of the following: a survey of industry stakeholder needs; a review of existing North American and overseas structural wood adhesive and glued wood product standards; and drafting and verification of the proposed standard in an inter-laboratory test. Two working groups were established: an Industry Working Group (IWG) consisting of several Canadian lumber and glued lumber producers; and an adhesive manufacturers group consisting of several Canadian and US manufacturers of wood adhesives. At the completion of the planned program, it was the opinion of the project team that the proposed standard and supporting technical information could only be used to assess structural wood adhesives for dry service conditions. Although it was estimated that nearly all of the glued wood applications, especially those involving alternative adhesives, would be for dry service conditions, the IWG and the NLGA Standards Committee (NLGASC) recommended that additional effort be put into developing a standard that would be suitable for wet or exterior use.
The rationale for this request was that although most of the applications would be for dry service conditions, the need to mark the product as being only suitable for such conditions would give the end-user the appearance that the product is “inferior” to a competing product without such markings. This would be the case in the US market where a US producer using the same adhesive would not be required to mark the product as “intended for dry service conditions only”.
The research program was subsequently extended, which is the subject of this report.
The study identified for stand managers the margin at which faster growth rate of boreal white spruce on good sites in northeastern British Columbia becomes detrimental to commercially important wood attributes. One hundred and eight white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench.) Voss)) trees were selected in equal numbers in 30 cm, 40 cm and 50 cm tree diameter-at-breast height (d.b.h.) classes from each of three natural stands with mean ages of 119, 109 and 99 years. Disks were cut from stump, breast height and at 20 percent stem height intervals to determine radial and vertical trends in basic relative density, heartwood/sapwood proportions and moisture content, and incidence and severity of spiral grain, longitudinal shrinkage, and compression wood. Mechanical properties were determined from clear wood specimens obtained from bolts cut at breast height and 40 percent tree height. Wood density, bending MOE and MOR, MOE in compression and UCS, all declined significantly as tree d.b.h. class increased from 30 cm to 50 cm. Spiral grain angle was unrelated to growth rate, but the typical offsetting radial trend of left-to-right hand spiral was not fully developed. Longitudinal shrinkage was greatest near the pith and increased with tree d.b.h. class in two of the three samples. Percent compression wood content was low and unrelated to growth rate. Heartwood proportion was significantly lower in the lowest age sample. Branch size increased with increased d.b.h. class. A wood quality discount will apply to white spruce grown at a rate corresponding to 50 cm d.b.h. in 100 years.
This report presents the results of personal interviews and surveys with small builders and consumers conducted in Japan from March 1998 to June 1998. Each of the six products groups are presented in separate reports starting with Wood Furniture followed by Outdoor Furnishings, Interior Finish, Wood Structural Members, Engineered Structural Products and Building Systems. This section summarizes the results for Building Systems.
This report presents the results of personal interviews and surveys with small builders and pre-cutters conducted in Japan from March 1998 to June 1998. Each of the six product groups are presented in separate reports starting with Wood Furniture followed by Outdoor Furnishings, Interior Finish, Wood Structural Members, Engineered Structural Products and Building Systems. This section summarizes the results for Engineered Structural Products.
This report presents the results of personal interviews and surveys with small builders, designers and consumers conducted in Japan from March 1998 to June 1998. Each of the six product groups are presented in separate reports starting with Wood Furniture followed by Outdoor Furnishings, Interior Finish, Wood Structural Members, Engineered Structural Products and Building Systems. This section summarizes the results for Interior Finish, which includes items such as moulding, cabinets, flooring, stairways and wainscoting.
The primary goal ofthis project is to identify value-added opportunities in Japan where BC wood products have the greatest potential for competitive advantage, sustainability of the resource, and maximizing the number of jobs created per tree. The project offers a powerful tool for secondary and primary producers in their development of product and market strategies, both for the short and the long terms. The project will also provide a common basis for the industry associations' promotional efforts. Finally, the project will provide a foundation to guide the government in trade (for example, facilitating market access), policy (for example, prioritizing silvicultural investments) and research. The overall objective of this study is to compare wood product attributes demanded to those that can be profitably and competitively supplied to the Japanese market by the BC primary and secondary wood products sector. There are three phases to this project, all interlinked. The first phase is covered in this report and addresses the attributes the Japanese market demands in both building products such as windows, doors, structural components and secondary manufactured wood products such as furniture and outdoor furnishings. The second phase is a competitor examination using an international trade-flow analysis to highlight areas of competitive advantage for the BC value-added wood products sector. The initial development of this model is already complete and is titled Competitor Analysis 1. Forest Renewal BC received it August 1998. Competitor Analysis 2 will refine the model with input from this Attribute Analysis and is scheduled to be complete by the end of 1998. The third phase is to use the expertise that resides at Forintek Canada Corp. to examine the attributes demanded by Japanese customers to determine which species of BC can supply what attributes. That is, given our resource which of these attributes can be supplied by BC producers. The trade-flow analysis will assist in determining who else could supply those attributes, that is the competition. This report is organized to facilitate use by businesses as well as policy makers.
This report presents the results of interviews and surveys with consumers conducted in Japan from March 1998 to June 1998. Each of the six product groups will be presented in a separate section starting with Wood Furniture followed by Outdoor Furnishings, Interior Finish, Wood Structural Members, Engineered Structural Products and Building Systems. This section summarizes the results for Outdoor Furnishings and Decking.
This report presents the results of personal interviews and surveys with consumers and designers conducted in Japan from March 1998 to June 1998. Each of the six product groups are presented in separate reports starting with Wood Furniture followed by Outdoor Furnishings, Interior Finish, Wood Structural Members, Engineered Structural Products and Building Systems. This section summarizes the results for Wood Furniture.
