Thank you. I am moved and honored by the confidence you've shown in me by giving me the opportunity to head the Executive Board of the Forest Products Society this year. The Board represents each and every one of the Society's members so please, I invite you to make your voices heard. Every president comes into this post with ideas of what he or she would like to do with a year at the helm, and I'm no different. I have learned much about FPS operations in my last 2 years on the Executive Board and I believe that there
Tennessee is in the center of the Eastern hardwood region and has experienced large declines in employment by primary and secondary hardwood processors since 2005 in a pattern similar to the one these processors have experienced nationally. The objective of this article is to examine changes in national hardwood processing industries between 2005 and 2009 and compare these changes with changes in secondary manufacturing employment and hardwood lumber production in Tennessee. The decline in employment in Tennessee's furniture industry was caused by increased imports of wooden furniture from Asia and reduced domestic furniture demand as the result of the 2009 recession. Reduced employment in Tennessee's flooring and kitchen cabinet industry was a function of the decline in home construction, large firms shifting production to other states, and the 2009 recession. Employment in the millwork industry was less affected perhaps because of shifts in production by larger firms from northern and western states to Tennessee. Declines in hardwood lumber consumption caused most large and very large sawmills in Tennessee to downsize and several medium and small mills to go out of business. The short-term outlook for Tennessee's secondary and primary hardwood manufacturers continues to be bleak except for pallets, crossties, and exports.Abstract
Logging residue and nonmerchantable stems are an important component of present and future bioenergy resources. Integrated harvesting systems that chip or grind logging residues and nonmerchantable stems with the harvest of roundwood may be the most feasible technology and most likely to produce material at a competitive cost. We conducted simulated harvests on a wide range of southeastern US pine forests using a sample of Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) inventory plots and Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) to model silvicultural treatments and intensities of pine management. In the simulation break-even marginal costs for biomass were typically present when residue volume exceeded 100 m3 ha−1 or ratios of roundwood to biomass were less than 4:1. Increased roundwood harvesting productivity also increased the rate at which residue arrived at the landing for processing, which improved chipper utilization and lowered costs. In integrated systems some roundwood that meets pulpwood specifications may be merchandized as biomass because of the cost savings available from increasing chipper utilization. Cost savings from merchandizing all pulpwood as biomass could support stumpage payments that may be equivalent to pulpwood stumpage in areas with low pulpwood prices and low pulpwood demand.Abstract
This study investigated the relationship between visual images of wood color and wood grains of wood products manufactured from select Taiwanese commercial hardwoods. The Taiwan Forestry Research Institute provided samples for 23 species of commercially available woods, each with tangential and radial sections (46 samples total). Wood color parameters were measured, followed by a survey using a Semantic Differential scaling method to discern the consumers' mental perception toward the wood products. Finally, factors involved in constructing different images underwent statistical analysis to offer designers and consumers a reference for designing a product or wood product selections. Among Taiwan's commercial woods, Swietenia mahogoni was perceived to be advanced, elegant, and exquisite in the tangential section and warm, soft, and possessive of a natural image in the radial section. The tangential section of Paulownia taiwaniana was perceived to possess a common image; meretricious and rough images were associated with the tangential section of Cassia siamea. Cold and hard images were associated with the tangential and radial sections of Actinodaphne nantoensis, and Cyclobalanopsis longinux was perceived to possess an artificial image. In terms of color (Commission Internationale d'Eclairage L*a*b*), the relative images of advanced and common, elegant and meretricious, and warm and cold were closely related to L* and a*; the relative images of exquisite and rough and of soft and hard were related to a*. In terms of grains, the relative images of soft and hard and of natural and artificial are closely related to thickness of the wood lines.Abstract
Appropriate log sorting and optimal sawing patterns are indispensable for efficient lumber production. It is also important to clarify the relationship between the quality of logs and that of sawn lumber to determine effective sorting and optimal sawing patterns. Although some information on lumber quality has been obtained for medium sugi (Cryptomeria japonica D. Don) logs, little is known about lumber quality in large logs, the supply of which is expected to increase imminently. We investigated the influence of the sawing patterns of large sugi logs on lumber quality. Large sugi logs (30 to 40 cm in diameter) were converted into sawn lumber using different sawing patterns. Sawing yields varied for each sawing pattern. Sorting logs by Young's modulus (Efr) would be useful for the efficient production of reliable sawn lumber from large logs, especially when the dimensions of the main products are large. Conversely, it is important to note the variation of Efr in logs when several main products were sawn. Lumber warp was affected by sawing pattern rather than the log sweep. There is potential to produce reliable lumber by considering sawing patterns based on the variation of Efr within a log and the difference of lumber warp.Abstract
A study of energy consumption and efficiency for Appalachian hardwood sawmills was conducted in the Appalachian region. Primary data were collected through a mail survey on sawmills in the region in 2010, while secondary data were obtained from site audits at 17 sawmills over the last 10 years in West Virginia. The results from the mail survey showed that hardwood lumber production volume ranged from 700 to 600,000 board feet (BF) per wk, and monthly electricity consumption per mill averaged 220 kWh per thousand board feet (MBF) with an average electric bill of $17.78/MBF/mo. The energy audit results indicated that hardwood lumber production volume ranged from 4,250 to 400,000 MBF/y, and the energy use and total cost per thousand board feet of lumber production averaged 160.89 kWh/MBF and $10.04/MBF, respectively. The average marginal cost for all energy audits was $17.87/MMBtu (¢6.10/kWh). The annual carbon dioxide emission conserved was 587,045 pounds per mill. On average, engineers on site visits proposed changes that could save approximately 14.89 percent of the annual energy used. The results presented in this article provide energy profiles for Appalachian hardwood sawmills and reveal some potential techniques for reducing energy consumption.Abstract
Year after year, water-based coatings gain market share due to new regulations on volatile organic compound emissions and voluntary certification programs. Work still has to be done on wood surface preparation, however, for water-based finishes to become truly reliable. In this research, water-based and solvent-based coatings were applied to edge-glued panels of yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis Brit.). Sandpaper grits from 150 to 280 were used to prepare wood surfaces prior to coating application. A first series of specimens was prepared with a wiping stain and a second series with a spray stain. Contact angle measurements showed that surface preparation—more precisely the sandpaper grit—strongly affects water wettability and hence coating adhesion. Adhesion was found to change with the contact angle of the water. It was found that using a 150-grit sandpaper leads to unfilled wood cavities, high contact angles, and poor coating adhesion. At the opposite end of the range, using a 180-grit sandpaper leads to good wetting and good adhesion. In our tests, surface preparation had no significant effect on the color of systems using a spray stain. With a wiping stain, however, the grit of the sandpaper was found to affect the color of the specimens.Abstract
Preservative treatments are required whenever glued laminated beams are exposed outdoors. Treatments can be either water-based systems applied to individual laminations prior to layup or organic solvent–borne systems applied after the beams are fabricated. Water-based systems are not recommended for posttreatment because of concerns over checking and the potential for reductions in flexural properties, but there are few data on the effects of these treatments. The effects of pressure treatment with disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (boron) on flexural properties, glue-line shear, and visual appearance were investigated using Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) glued laminated beams. While treatment did result in the presence of drying checks on some beams, boron treatment followed by air seasoning or mild kiln drying did not produce any significant effects on modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, or glue-line shear. The results indicate that boron treatment does not affect load-bearing properties.Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate some of the properties of experimental medium-density fiberboard panels made from rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis) using a combination of cassava (Manihot utilissima) starch and a low percentage of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin as a binder. Experimental panels with density levels of 0.65 and 0.80 g/cm3 were made using 10 percent starch, 10 percent starch and 3 percent UF, and 10 percent UF for the control samples. The panels manufactured with 10 percent starch did not have satisfactory physical and mechanical properties based on Japanese Industrial Standards. However, average modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, and thickness swelling values of the sample types E and F manufactured using a combination of starch and UF were 2,044 MPa, 22.49 MPa, and 35.50 percent, respectively, which met required limits listed in Japanese Industrial Standard A-5908. The results of this study indicated that starch can be used as a viable alternative binder with limited addition of UF resin without having any significant adverse influence of bending properties of the samples. Based on formaldehyde emission tests, specimens made with 3 percent UF had an average value of 18.5 mg/100 g, while control samples having 10 percent UF resulted in 38.5 mg/100 g.Abstract
Development of natural adhesives that do not depend on fossil resources is very important for the future of wood-based materials. We recently found that citric acid can be used as a natural adhesive for wood-based moulding. In this study, we investigated the effects of moulding temperature on the characterization of wood-based moulding bonded with citric acid. Wood powder obtained from Acacia mangium was mixed with 20 percent (by weight) citric acid, and the powder mixture was moulded at a temperature ranging from 140°C to 220°C. The press pressure and heating time were set at 4 MPa and 10 minutes, respectively. The bending properties were affected by the moulding temperature, and the moulding fabricated at 180°C showed excellent values. The average impact strength of the moulding at 180°C was 1.1 kJ/m2. Water resistance increased with moulding temperature, and good resistance against boiling water was achieved. Thermal properties were also clearly increased with moulding temperature. However, few significant differences were found in the mouldings after a repeated boiling treatment. Based on the results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ester linkages between wood and citric acid were confirmed, especially at high moulding temperatures.Abstract
The physical and mechanical properties (density, modulus of elasticity, and modulus of rupture) of standard and humidity-resistant types of particleboard and fiberboard were determined by standardized test and wave propagation velocity, obtained from the natural frequency in a nondestructive longitudinal vibration test. Four batches of 66 specimens for each type of panel (particleboard and fiberboard) and for each kind of panel (standard and humidity resistant) were tested under initial conditions and after each one of the three aging cycles defined in European Standard EN 321:2001. Each aging cycle consisted of immersion in water, freezing, and high-temperature drying. The decreasing ratio of wave velocity was used to predict the decreasing ratio of properties. There was a strong relationship between both variables, and an exponential regression model is proposed to predict physical and mechanical properties, with a determination coefficient (R2) from 0.93 to 0.98.Abstract