TIMBER SEASONING

NATURAL SEASONING
ARTIFICIAL SEASONING
 UNIT III TIMBER 8
 Classification of trees, structure of trees, Defects in timber, Storage of timber, Uses of
 timber, characteristics, seasoning of timber, Defects and diseases, Decay of timber,
 Preservation, Fire resistance, Conservation of timber.
 UNIT IV TIMBER PRODUCTS 8
 Market forms of timber, Industrial timber, - Veneers and Veneer Plywoods, Particle board,
 Hard board, Fibre board, Block board and Lamin boards, Laminates, advantages and
 Blockboard uses.
 UNIT V PAINTING AND VARNISHING IN TIMBER 7
 Composition, characteristics, preparation, Primer, Painting different surfaces. Enamels,
 Paint, Varnishing – types of varnishing Miscellaneous paints, defects, uses and cost of
 materials.
 TOTAL: 45 PERIODS
SEASONING
Newly felled tree contains – 50% of its weight in water.
WATER – is I the form of 1. FREE MOISTURE
2. BOUND MOISTURE
The process of drying timber is known as seasoning of timber and that moisture
should be removed under controlled conditions as nearly as uniformly as possible.
Wood is a hygroscopic material.
OBJECTIVE OF SEASONING
 Allows timber to burn readily
 Decreases weight of timber
 Imparts hardness, stiffness and strength.
 Increases resisting power of timber to decay.
 Makes timber easily workable.
 Makes it suitable for receiving paints, for jointing and gluing.
 Reduces the tendency of timber to crack, shrink and warp.
 METHODS OF SEASONING
 NATURAL SEASONING
 Carried out by natural air.
 Also known as AIR
SEASONING
 ARTIFICIAL SEASONING
 Various methods of
artificial seasoning are
 BOILING
 CHEMICAL SEASONING
 ELECTRICAL SEASONING
 KILN SEASONING
 WATER SEASONING
NATURAL SEASONING

Timber Planks

Spacers

Stacked timber during seasoning.

 STEPS INVOLVED
1. Log forms are usually not suitable, hence they are cut into
scantlings or planks.
2. Can be stacked either horizontally or vertically
3. The ground is cleared and leveled for good drainage.
4. Platform is made slightly higher, about 300 mm from the ground
level.
5. Timber pieces are sorted out according to the length and thickness.
They are arranged in layers.
6. Each layer is separated by spacers of dry wood.
7. The distance between the spacers depends upon the sizes of the
timber to be seasoned.
8. The stacks need to be covered by a roof of suitable material so that
it is protected from fast blowing winds rains etc.
 ADVANTAGES
 Moisture content can be
brought down to 10 to 20 %
 It does not require skilled
Supervision
 Uneconomical to provide
artificial seasoning to planks
with thickness of more than
100 mm
 Cheap and simple
 DISADVANTAGES
 Becomes difficult to
control it.
 Drying may not be
uniform and even.
 Chances of the ends
sections not being dried
properly
 If not attended properly,
attack of fungi and
insects may take place.
 Moisture cannot be
brought down to the
necessary level.
 Space required is more
 Artificial seasoning
 Defects such as shrinkage and warping
can be reduced
 Drying is controlled
 No attack of fungi or insects
 Reduces the period of seasoning
 Better circulation of air, humidity
 BOILING
 Timber is immersed in water and then
boiled
 Very quick method
 3- 4 hours
 Then taken out and dried slowly in a shed
 Proves costly
 Chemical seasoning
 Known as salt seasoning
 Timber immesed in solution of salt
 Taken out and seasoned in the ordinary
method
 interior dries faster than exterior.
 External cracks are reduced.
 ELECTRICAL SEASONING
 Uses high frequency alternating current.
 Increases resistance to
 Rapid method of seasoning.
 Initial maintenance costs are very high.
 KILN SEASONING
 The process of kiln drying consists basically of introducing
heat. This may be directly, using natural gas and/or
electricity or indirectly, through steam-heated heat
exchangers, although solar energy is also possible.

 For this purpose, the timber is stacked in chambers, called

wood drying kilns, which are fitted with equipment for
manipulation and control of the temperature and the
relative humidity of the drying air and its circulation rate
through the timber stack
Kilns are usually divided into two classes:

1. Progressive
2. Ccompartment

Both methods rely on the controlled environment to dry out the

timber and require the following factors:

• Forced air circulation by using large fans, blowers,

• Heat of some form provided by piped steam.
• Humidity control provided by steam jets.

Amount and Duration of Air, Heat and Humidity depends

upon:

1. Species
2. Size
3. Quantity
 Progressive Seasoning
 In the progressive kiln, timber enters at one end and
moves progressively through the kiln much as a car
moves through a tunnel.
 Temperature and humidity differentials are maintained
throughout the length of the kiln so that the lumber
charge is progressively dried as it moves from one end
to the other.
 Progressive kilns may be further subdivided into natural
draft kilns in which heated air is allowed to rise
through the material by natural convection,
 and forced draft kilns in which fans are employed to
force the air through the wood. A progressive kiln has
the stack on trolleys that ‘progressively’ travel through
chambers that change the conditions as it travels
through the varying atmospheres.
Progressive Kiln
The advantage of this system,
although much larger, has a continuous
flow of seasoned timber coming off line
 Compartmental Seasoning:
 A compartment kiln is a single enclosed container or
building, etc.

 The timber is stacked as described above and the whole

stack is seasoned using a programme of settings until
the whole stack is reduced as required.

 Compartment kilns differ from progressive kilns in that

the timber is loaded into the kiln and remains in place
throughout the drying process.

 Compartment kilns are usually smaller than progressive

kilns, and because of their construction the temperature
and humidity conditions within them can be closely
controlled.
 Compartmental Seasoning:
 Consequently, they are often used to dry expensive
material or woods which are difficult to dry.

 Circulation may be either forced or natural just as with

progressive kilns.

 Drying conditions cannot be controlled as closely in

natural draft compartment kilns, however, as in forced
draft kilns, and the rate of drying is also slower.

 For these reasons kilns built today are of the forced

draft type and many of the old natural draft types have
been converted
Compartmental Kiln
Compartmental Kiln
 Water Seasoning
 One of the best of these is to immerse the timber in
water as soon as it is cut down, and after it has
remained about a fortnight in water, but not more, to
take it out, and dry it in an airy situation.
 When timber is put in water it must be sunk so as to be
completely under water, as nothing is more destructive
than partial immersion. Salt water is considered best for
ship-timber, ‡ but for timber to be employed in the
construction of dwelling-houses fresh water is better
 Timber that has been cut when the tree was full of sap,
and particularly when that sap is of a saccharine nature,
must be materially benefited by steeping in water;
because it will undoubtedly remove the greater part of
the fermentable matter.
 Methods of sawing timber
ORDINARY SAWN OR FLAT SAWN
1. Parallel cuts made throughout the length of the log
2. Cutting parallel slices of planks
3. Easiest and economical method
4. Shrinkage of sapwood more than the heartwood
5. Causing warp and twisting of planks

QUARTER SAWING
1. Tendency to cup i.e. to curve in a
transverse direction
2. When applied to wood, not having
distinct medullar rays ►this method
produces very fine wood
TANGENTIAL SAWING
1. Boards or planks sawn
RIFT OR RADIAL SAWING tangentially to annual rings
1. Timber cut parallel to medullar rays and 2. Not suitable for flooring
perpendicular to annual rings 3. Planks cut by this method
warp too much
 INDUSTRIAL TIMBER
 VENEERS
 PLYWOODS
 FIBREBOARDS
 IMPREG TIMBER
 COMPREG TIMBER
VENEERS
 veneer refers to thin slices of
wood, usually thinner than 3 mm
(1/8 inch), that are typically glued
onto core panels (typically, wood,
particle board or medium-
density fiberboard) to produce
flat panels

 A rotary lathe in which the wood

is turned against a very sharp
blade and peeled off in one
continuous or semi-continuous roll.
Rotary-cut veneer is mainly used
for plywood, as the appearance is
not desirable because the veneer
is cut concentric to the growth
rings.

 A slicing machine in which the

flitch or piece of log is raised and
lowered against the blade and
slices of the log are made. This
yields veneer which looks like
sawn pieces of wood, cut across
the growth rings.
 VENEERS
crown cut is shown on the left) quarter sawn
Advantages of using veneers
In addition to the obvious savings of our natural resources, many projects built
using wood veneer would not be possible to construct using solid lumber.
Due to expansion and contraction common to all wood products and caused by
changes in humidity, many of the patterns and designs possible with veneers
would self destruct, if attempted with solid lumber. The limitless designs done
with marquetry and parquetry would also be impossible
 TIMBER SUITABLE FOR VENEER

 MAHOGANY
 OAK
 ROSEWOOD
 SISOO
 TEAK
INTERIOR APPLICATIONS
 PLYWOODS
 Plywood is a manufactured wood, made by
gluing together a number of thin veneers or
plies of softwood or hardwood.
 A common reason for using plywood instead of
plain wood is its resistance to cracking,
shrinkage, twisting/warping, and its general high
degree of strength.
 Also, plywood can be manufactured in sheets far
wider than the trees from which it was made. It
has replaced many dimensional lumbers on
construction applications for these reasons
1. Plywood for indoor use
generally uses the less
expensive urea-formaldehyde
glue which has limited water
resistance, while outdoor and
marine-grade plywood are
designed to withstand rot,
and use a water resistant
phenol-formaldehyde glue to
prevent delamination and to
retain strength in high
humidity
2.Marine plywood is specially
treated to resist rotting in a
high-moisture environment.
Marine plywood is frequently
used in the construction of
docks and boats. It is much
more expensive than standard
plywood:
 Applications
Plywood is used in many applications that
need high-quality, high-strength sheet
material.
 Quality in this context means resistance
to cracking, breaking, shrinkage, twisting
and warping
Softwood plywood applications

Typical end uses of spruce plywood are:

1. Floors, walls and roofs in house constructions

2. Wind bracing panels
3. Vehicle internal body work
4. Packages and boxes
5. Hoarding
6. Fencing
 Fibreboard
 Fiberboard is a type of engineered
wood product that is made out of wood
fibers. Types of fiberboard (in order of
increasing density) include particle
board, medium-density fiberboard, and
hardboard.
 Fiberboard is sometimes used as a
synonym for particle board, but particle
board usually refers to low-density
fiberboard
 Plywood is not a type of fiberboard, as it
is made of thin sheets of wood, not
wood fibers or particles. Fiberboard,
particularly medium-density fiberboard
(MDF), is heavily used in the furniture
industry.
Benefits of MDF
1. Is an excellent substrate for
veneers.
2. Is becoming an environmentally
friendly product.
3. Some varieties are less expensive
than many natural woods
4. Isotropic (its properties are the
same in all directions as a result of
no grain), so no tendency to split
5. Consistent in strength and size
6. Flexible.
7. Can be used for curved walls or
surfaces.
8. Shapes well.
Drawbacks of MDF
1. More dense than plywood or
chipboard (the resins are heavy)
2. Swells and breaks when saturated
with water
3. May warp or expand if not sealed
4. Dulls blades more quickly than many
woods
1. Subject to significant shrinkage in low
humidity environments.
2. Trim (i.e. baseboards) comes pre-
primed but this is insufficient for fine
finish painting.
3. Painting with latex paints is difficult
due to rapid water absorption. Most
finishes appear uneven and nail holes
tend to pucker a bit.
4. low weight and easy moving.
 Manufacture
1. The debarked logs are sent to the MDF plant where they go through the
chipping process. A typical disk chipper contains 4-16 blades. Any resulting
chips that are too large may be re-chipped; undersized chips may be used as
fuel. The chips are then washed and checked for defects.
2. The chips are then compacted using a screw feeder, and will be heated for 30-
120 seconds to soften the wood; they are then fed into a defibrator which
maintains high pressure and temperature.
3. The pulp that exits from the defibrator is fine, fluffy, and light in weight and in
colour.
4. Then steam is admitted into the vessel
5. The pressure of the steam is increased to 7 N/mm2
6. The sudden increase in pressure, makes the wood pieces to explode, so the
natural adhesive in them is separated out.
7. The fibres are then allowed to flow out.
8. They are ten cleaned of all superfluous or extra gums
9. Then they are spread on wire sheets or blankets of the suitable thickness.
 Particleboard
Particle board
is an engineered wood
product manufactured
from wood particles, such
as wood chips, sawmill
shavings, or even saw
dust, and a synthetic
resin or other suitable
binder, which is pressed
and extruded.
Particleboard is a
composite material.

Particleboard with veneer.

 IMPREG TIMBER

 Fully or partly covered with resin

 Resin employed- phenol formaldehyde
 Veneers or thin strips of wood are taken and
then immersed in resin.
 The resin fills the space between the wood cells
and by chemicl reaction a consolidated mass
develops.
 It is then cured at a tempersture of 150-160
deg. C
 Available as FORMICA, SUNGLOSS, SUNMICS
1. Not affected by weather conditions
2. Strong and durable
3. Possess more electrical insulation
4. Presents a neat appearance.
 COMPREG TIMBER
 Similar to impreg timber.
 Except that curing is carried out under
pressure.