It is often necessary or desirable for a variety of reasons such as stress grading, grouping for improved drying efficiency or segregation for specialty markets, to identify lumber species during mill processing. Diagnostic chemical colour tests offer the greatest potential for doing this with sufficient visual precision and for automating the process. The objective of this ongoing study is the development of fast, reliable chemical colour tests which might be used for these purposes.
The objective of this research is to improve the ability of industrial technologists to identify wood to species under mill processing conditions. Specifically, the objective will be met by developing rapid chemical colour tests for the separation of Douglas-fir, spruce-pine-fir (SPF) and other species lumber which are capable of being automated under mill processing conditions.