Glossary
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Click a letter to jump to that section This glossary was derived from various sources and represents generally accepted usage of terms in the forest products industry. |
Actual Yield: The actual amount that is produced.
Adhesive: A substance that causes materials to stick to each other through surface attachment.
Air Dried: Dried by exposure to air in a yard or shed, without artificial heat.
Air Reversal: Changing the airflow to flow in the opposite direction through a load of drying lumber or products.
Allowable Unit Stress: The value of a strength property normally published for design use. Allowable unit stresses are identified with grade descriptions and standards, reflect the anisotropic structure of wood, and anticipate certain end uses.
Anemometer: an instrument for measuring air velocity.
Anisotropic: Not isotropic; that is, not having the same properties in all directions.
Annual Layers (rings): The layers of wood grown by a tree during a single growing season; in the temperate zone, annual layers of many species are readily distinguished because of differences in the cells formed during the early and late parts of the season
Armoire: A large cupboard, for storing clothes. Probably an adaptation of the aumbry, or ambry, used in early English times for the storing of arms and armor.
Assembly Time: The minimum and maximum time allowed after glue spreading before pressure must be applied to form a satisfactory wood-glue bond.
Baffle: In forced air or kiln drying, a canvas, metal, or wood barrier used for deflecting, checking, or otherwise directing the flow of air.
Balloon Frame System: A framing system, principally used for two-story housing, in which the studs run the NH height of the building from the foundation wall to the top plate supporting the roof. Floor joists of the upper story rest on a sill nailed to the studs.
Bandsaw: A band of steel with teeth on one edge (single cutting) or both edges (double cutting), running on a set of large wheels. Used for longitudinal cutting of wood. See also twin and quad bandsaws.
Barker or Debarker: A machine for removing bark either mechanically or by high-pressure water jets.
Bark Pockets: Small patches of bark that have become partially or wholly enclosed by the growth of a tree.
Barrier or Base Coat: An initial coating applied to protect plastics from being attacked by the solvents in subplastics from being attacked by the solvents in subsequently applied finishing materials. Also called base coat.
Beam: A structural member that supports a load applied transversely to it. See also timbers, rectangular.
Bent Wood: Curved wood formed by steaming or boiling, or by special finishing, and then bending to a form.
Bevel Angle: The angle of the knife face in relation to the lathe knife.
Bill Out Tickets: Tickets used in production systems to provide count and information control.
Birds-Eye Figure: Figure produced on flat-sawn or rotary-cut surfaces by small, conical depressions of the fibers, which form numerous rounded areas of the grain remotely resembling small eyes. Generally limited to hard maples.
Bleed-Through: The exudation of colored wood extractives or of coating materials through a paint film.
Blister Spot: or area where veneer does not adhere and bulges like a blister. (In Veneer & Plywood terms) Produced by rotary or half-round cutting through uneven contour of annual rings to give the effect of blisters.
Blistering: The formation of bubbles or pimples on the surface of finished work. Caused by exposure to excessive heat, by grease or other volatile material under the finish, by moisture in the wood or by the too frequent application of coats. Anything which causes a gas or vapor to form under the film may cause blistering.
Blooming: The formation of crystals on the surface of treated wood by exudation and evaporation of the solvent in preservative solutions.
Blue Stain: A bluish or grayish discoloration of the sapwood caused by the growth of certain dark-colored fungi on the surface and in the interior of the wood, made possible by the same conditions that favor the growth of other fungi.
Board Lumber: that is less than 38 mm (2 in.) thick and wider than 38 mm (2 in.).
Board Foot: A standard unit of measurement for logs, usually expressed in multiples of a thousand (MBM). Represents the equivalent number of 1-foot-wide, 1-foot-long, and 1-inch-thick units that can be sawn from a log.
Bolt: A short section of wood, as cut for shingles, shakes, rough dimension stock, stakes, pallet and crating material, and rotary-cut veneer.
Bound Water: Water contained within the cell walls of wood and held by hygroscopic forces.
Bow The distortion of lumber along the face of a piece from end to end, measured at the point of greatest deviation from a straight line.
Boxed Heart The term used when the pith falls entirely within the outer faces of a piece of wood anywhere in its length. Also called boxed pith.
Box Shook Veneer cut primarily for use as box sides, bottoms, and other box parts.
Brash Wood Wood with low resistance to shock and with a tendency to sudden and complete breakage across the grain without splintering.
Brown Rot A condition caused by fungi that decompose the cellulose and associated carbohydrates in wood rather than the lignin. The result is a brown, friable residue. Sometimes called "brown cubical l rot" because of the formation of cracks caused by shrinkage.
Brown Stain See stain.
Buffer Coat A coat of finishing material applied over another dried film to protect it from the solvent action of the succeeding coats.
Bull Edger A combination circular gang resaw and edger used to break down small cants as well as for edging.
Burl Figure Swirled figure produced by cutting through burls, which are hard, woody outgrowths on trees.
Butt Joint An end joint formed by abutting the squared ends of two pieces of wood.
