WOOD RESEARCH Volume 68, Number 2, 2023
Karol Tomczak, Przemysław Mania, and Arkadiusz Tomczak

Quality of beech, birch and oak wood from stands growing on post-agricultural lands

This study assessed the quality of birch, beech, and oak for timber production on former agricultural land. All sample plots for the selected species had the same forest habitat type. All measured trees had already reached the age of felling. Thus, beech was over 120 years old, birch was over 70 years old, and oak was over 140 years old. On each plot, the same morphological features were measured for all trees: diameter at breast height, tree height, height of the first dead branch, height of the first live branch, and crown base. Based on collected data the length and percentage of the trunk suitable for industrial purposes were calculated. In general birch and beech trees from former agricultural land were higher, but had thinner trunks, when in oak reverse observation were noticed. Tree trunks from former agricultural lands have app. 7% shorter knots-free trunk section. The bigger different between forest and former agricultural land was noticed in case of the oak – 14%, then beech – 5% and birch – 1%. Considering the morphological characteristics of the trees and quality indicators, we showed that all species could be used for the afforestation of former agricultural lands to produce high-quality wood for future industrial purposes. However, it should be noticed, that in general calculated standing volume was lower on former agricultural land.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 65, Number 1, 2020
Marcin Jakubowski, Arkadiusz Tomczak, Tomasz Jelonek, and Witold Grzywiński

Variations of wood properties of birch (Betula pendula Roth) from a 23-year old seed orchard

This work presents the results of selected wood properties in birch trees grown on a provenance experiment plot established as a seed orchard. The study concerned: basic density, oven-dry density and compression strength along the grain at a moisture content of 0% and at moisture content above fiber saturation point. Analyses were performed on 971 wood samples collected from 28 trees at the level of breast height. It was found high variability for diameter of breast height (22%) and relatively low for basic density (9%) and oven-dry density (11%). Average basic density was 446.5 kg.m-3 and average oven-dry density was 537.9 kg.m-3. The compression strength at 0% moisture content was four times higher (65 MPa) than the strength at moisture content above the fiber saturation point (16.6 MPa). Most of clones had similar properties within the limits of statistical errors, but a few clones exhibited statistically significant low value.

WOOD RESEARCH Volume 66, Number 3, 2021
Seong Hyun Kim, Do Hoon Kim, Jae Ik Jo, Jong Ho Kim, Seung Hwan Lee, Jung Kee Choi, and Nam Hun Kim

A comparative study on the physical and mechanical properties of Dahurian larch and Japanese larch grown in Korea

To compare the wood quality of Dahurian larch and Japanese larch growing in Korea, the physical and mechanical properties were examined using the Korean standards. The proportion of heartwood was 82% and 72% in Dahurian and Japanese larch, respectively. The percentage of latewood was 42% in Dahurian larch and 35% in Japanese larch. The growth ring width of Dahurian larch was narrower than that of Japanese larch. Dahurian larch showed about 20% higher green moisture content compare to Japanese larch wood. Density and shrinkage of Dahurian larch were higher than Japanese larch. Axial compression strength, young`s modulus in compression, and shearing strength in heartwood of Dahurian larch were 11 MPa, 686 MPa, and 2.3 MPa, respectively, showing higher value than Japanese larch. The hardness was in the range of 13.8–38.7 MPa in Dahurian larch and 17.7–48.4 MPa in Japanese larch. The compression strength parallel to the grain and shearing strength in both species were significantly correlated with oven-dried density. Besides, the hardness in Dahurian larch was significantly correlated with latewood percentage and oven-dried density. In conclusion, the differences in the properties of both species were revealed and the results can be used for quality indices of both wood species.