Assessing Wood Quality for Structural Use

Speaker: David E. Kretschmann
Project Name: Engineering Properties of Wood

Project Objectives:
Develop methods for detecting changes in existing resources mechanical properties. Develop property information for underutilized species. Investigate the effect of juvenile wood on properties of softwood and hardwood in composites. Examine the impact of fertilization and other silvicultural management practices on wood properties.

Users:
Wood Product producers, manufacturers, and consumers

Tangible Benefits:
Wood quality directly impacts the performance of solid sawn and wood based composite lumber. With better information about wood quality's impact better decision can be made about thinning of small diameter material and selection of future seed stock. Also, improved understanding of early wood and latewood interaction on longitudinal shrinkage will assist in better grading of decking materials.

Funding:
State and Federal funding, industrial support