TIMBER

Growth of Timber: A Tree has three main parts, viz., Roots: During the spring season, roots suck up their food called Sap from the soil. Sap consists
of mineral salts in solution. Branches and Stem: Sap rises up, through the capillary tubes of the stem and reaches to the top. Leaves: Leaves, in the
presence of sunlight, absorb CO2 from the atmosphere and evaporating the moisture of the sap.
The sap, thereby, thickens and descends and finally deposits around the stem and branches, beneath the bark. This thickened sap, after drying forms a
thin layer of softwood, which is known as Annual Ring. So, each year an annual ring is added to the thickness of the stem. By counting the number of
annular rings, the age of a tree can be determined.
Structure of Timber: If an exogenous tree is cut, following parts are seen in the cross-
section:
Pith: The innermost central portion of the tree having a dark-brown colour.
Heart-wood: A layer of darker colour wood around the pith, which is dense and has a
compact structure.
Sap-wood: A raw wood layer over the heart wood, which is yellowish in colour and can be
easily decayed.
Cambium layer: A thin film of thickened sap wood just below the bark.
Medullary rays: Thin fibres erected from the pith outwards. Their function is to hold the
annular rings together.
Bark: The outermost cover of the stem or branches. Its lower portion is called inner bark
and upper portion as outer bark. The older the tree, more rough, the outer bark will be.
Important Indian Timber Trees:
Deodar: Found in Himalayas. It has straight tall trunk, having short branches, and pointed leaves. It is of a light colour, having close, well defined
grains, but strong and durable. It takes a very fine polish. A valuable timber and is used for making Railway sleepers, etc.
Babul: Available in abundance all over India. It has small leaves and thorns. It is close grained, tough and of a pale-red colour. But, is not available in
large sizes. It is used for making tool handles, wheels and bodies of carts, ploughs and other structural works.
Chir: Found in Himalayas. It is soft, light and reddish brown in colour. It has coarse grains and of an inferior quality but seasons well. It is used for
inferior quality of works and for packing cases.
Sal: It grows abundantly at the root of Himalayas. The best timber available in India. It is of a dark brown colour, very hard, close-grained, heavy and
durable. A valuable timber and is recommended for all structural purposes. It is used for the construction of bridges, railway sleepers, doors and window
frames, etc. It is not recommended for ornamental work as it is difficult to work with it.
Mango: Found all over India. It is of an inferior quality, coarse and open grained, yellowish grey colour, containing large amount of moisture and sap.
Hence, is very cheap. It is used for making inferior quality of doors and windows, packing cases etc.
Shisham: Found in UP, Punjab, and some parts of Central India. It grows along the road-side. It is of a dark brown colour, close-grained, heavy, strong
and durable. Best wood for furniture work. It is also used for making piles, cart-wheels, railway sleepers, etc.
Teak: Abundantly available in Southern India. It is of a dark-brown colour, strong and durable. Light and easily worked and takes a very fine polish.
Very valuable timber and is suitable for making furniture, radio cabinets and all decorative works.
Kail: An evergreen tree and grows on Himalayas. It is closely grained, hard and durable. It is of a yellowish brown colour. It is suitable for making
furniture, railway sleepers, etc. The braches and useless portions of the timber is used for making charcoal.
Mahogany: Found throughout in India. It gives a reddish brown colour wood, strong, hard and very durable when kept dry. It has straight grains and
uniform colour. It is used for decorative works, as it can take a very good polish, such as hand railing of stairs, radio cabinet, furniture etc.
Sissoo: Found in UP, Punjab, Bengal, Maharashtra, etc. A strong and durable wood of a reddish brown colour. It is used for making furniture etc. as it
takes a very good polish.
PRESERVATION OF TIMBER
The preservation of timber means the increase in the life of timber by making it immune to attack by fungi and insects. The objective of preservation
is to increase the life and durability of timber, and maintenance of its properties. The general methods of preservation of timber are tarring, charring,
painting and creosoting.
Tarring consists in coating timber with coal tar put on hot. This is adopted for work of rough nature such as ends of doors and windows built into walls.
Charring is applied to the surfaces of timber to be inserted in moist soil with the object of closing the external pores permanently. Timber must be
previously well seasoned otherwise the confined moisture will cause decay.
Painting consists in putting on three or four coats of an oil paint. The paint should be renewed from time to time.
Creosoting consists in allowing timber to absorb creosote oil pumped under a high pressure of about 10 kg/cm2 at a temperature of 10°C in an air tight
vacuum chambers for about 2 hours or as long as the timber will absorb the oil.
Painting and Varnishing: Paints and varnishes are used for preservation of timber (protection of wood surfaces from the moisture and atmospheric
changes) and for making the surface decorative.
Oil paint consists of following ingredients:
Base: It is the finely ground powder, which after mixing with the oil, is applied on surface. It is the body of the paint. It provides strength to the coated
film of the paint.
Vehicle: It acts as carrier of base material and pigments. Because of the vehicle, the paint can stick to the surface on which it is applied. The commonly
used vehicles are linseed oil-raw, single or double, boiled, refined etc., nut oil, stand oil.
Pigments: Pigments are used to impart the colour to the paints. They are available in the fine powder form. A good pigment is one which should not
change its colour in course of time and when exposed to whether conditions.
Solvent or Thinner: It gives fluidity to the paint. Because of the solvent, the paint easily spreads on the surface on which it is applied. Addition of the
much thinner to paint is avoided. Turpentine is mostly used as a thinner.
Drier: Because of the drier, the paint dries quickly. Metal compounds are used as drier. Red lead, Zinc sulphate, Lead oxides are used as drier. They
are available in liquid forms or paste forms.
Preservatives: Some chemicals which are easily soluble in water are used as preservatives. The main preservatives used for woodwork are paint,
varnish, polish, tar oil, water-soluble chemical salts, organic solvent chemicals etc. The active agent in practically all preservatives is a specific poison
for the fungi. Zinc chloride, which is a colourless salt and which is readily soluble in water, is a good fungicide. A secondary agent in chemical
preservatives is the water repellent. ASCU is a special preservative which renders wood immune from attack by white ants.
PLYWOOD
Plywood come into general use for the manufacture of doors, panels, furniture, and packing cases. The main difference between
solid timber and plywood products is that with the latter, there is no problem of cross-grained weakness. Plywood is made up
of three or more layers. The central layer, called core, is usually thicker than the face veneers. The veneers glued at the top
and bottom is called as face ply. The finished sheets are trimmed to size and their surfaces scraped. The thickness of plywood
is usually expressed in mm. In the manufacture of plywood, logs of suitable timber are softened by steaming then mounted on
a machine rather similar to a large lathe, fitted with a long blade, which peels off lengths of veneer from the rotating log.
Glue/Adhesives: Glue is a form of adhesive which is widely used in the construction of wood products. The glues most commonly used in wood
working may be divided into following classes:
Animal glues: Made from bones, hide, and other waste parts of animals. These glues are often called the true glues because they harden on cooling
whereas the synthetic resin cements harden on being heating. The point at which animal glues jellify can be retarded by the addition of suitable
chemicals so that they can be purchased in solid, jelly, or in liquid condition.
Liquid glues: The commonly adopted liquid glues are known as fish glues, although some are made of other raw materials. The chief advantage of
liquid glue is that it is available in a prepared form and is ready for immediate use. It remains in working condition as long as it is in the container.
Casein glues: The casein in sour milk is precipitated as curds, which are washed, dried, ground to powder and mixed with alkaline chemicals. They set
partly by chemical action and partly by dispersion of water they contain. They are space filling to some extent, but joints, which have too thick a layer
of glue, due to unevenness of the surfaces. Because of its alkaline nature, they may cause a staining as it reacts with the acids in certain woods.
Vegetable glue: Starch is the fundamental material used in making of these glues. Starches made from corn, wheat, rice, potatoes and the cassava root
are used. They make strong joints, are cheap, can be used cold and do not decay readily. The disadvantages of these glues are that they are viscous, are
not water resistant, stain some kinds of wood and set relatively slowly. Vegetable glues are used extensively in plywood industry.
Vegetable-protein glue: Protein is the basic material used in making of these glues. Peanut meal and soyabean are typical representatives. Glue making
properties and preparation and application are similar to those of casein glue. These are cheap and are used extensively in plywood industry.
Blood-albumin glue: The albumin has the property of coagulating and setting firmly when heated to a temperature of about 70°C, after which it shows
a marked resistance to the effect of water. The greatest draw-back to use of this glue is that they require hot pressing, have a relatively low dry strength
and cannot be sold in the dry mix form. This glue is used in plywood industry.