WOOD

BUILDING MATERIALS & CONSTRUCTION DETAILS I

Anatomy of a Tree
Classification of Timbers

Timbers can be classified under the headings:

1. Hardwoods
2. Softwoods

*This is an indication of the type of tree the wood comes from and is not a guide to the hardness or softness of the wood.

HARDWOODS SOFTWOODS
COME FROM
COME FROM
DECIDUOUS TREES
& GROW SLOWLY EVERGREEN
TREES & GROW
Have broad • ASH QUICKLY
leaves • BEECH Has pines & cones
• OAK • CEDAR
• MAHOGANY • SCOTS PINE
• MORE • PARANA PINE EVERGREEN TREES ARE
DECIDUOUS TREES LOSE THEIR
BROAD LEAVES IN THE EXPENSIVE • SPRUCE GREEN ALL YEAR ROUND AND
AUTUMN THEY HAVE PINES AND CONES
Classification of Timbers

Hardwoods Softwoods
Type of Tree Deciduous trees (i.e. sheds its leafs Coniferous trees (i.e. evergreen - grow needles
seasonally) and cones as opposed to leaves)

Time to Mature Slow growing and can take up to 100 years to Softwood grows at a faster rate and take
mature approx. 30 years to mature depending on
species.
Price Generally more expensive due to time to Generally cheaper as quick to grow and easy to
reach maturity replace

Properties Because of their condensed and more They are flexible, lighter in weight and less
complex structure, (untreated) hardwoods dense than most hardwoods.
generally offer a superior level of strength
and durability.
Examples Oak, Teak, Sapele, Iroko, Beech, Maple and Pine, Spruce, and Fir
Walnut
 Conversion

Conversion is the term given to sawing the log into marketable timber.

Transport to Sawmill
Tree Felled

Cut into Planks

Conversion

Conversion – Through and Through (Slab Sawn)

Advantages Simplest, quickest and cheapest method

Disadvantages Some planks are likely to warp, bow or twist
Description Parallel cuts through the log
Use Frequently used on softwoods as they are smaller in
diameter
Conversion

Quarter Sawn (Radial Sawn)

Advantages Better quality and is less likely to warp, bow or

twist.
Promotes grain pattern.
Disadvantages Time consuming process and involves much
more man handling of the log.
Wasteful process. More
expensive.
Description Quarter sawing tries to make the growth rings as
short as possible to reduce warping.
Use Hardwoods.
Seasoning

Timber takes in moisture from a damp atmosphere but gives it up in a dry one.
Disadvantages of unseasoned timber:
Seasoning aims to remove excess,
• Damp wood shrinks in dry air unwanted sap and moisture from
timber
• Dry wood swells in damp air

• Unseasoned green timber will twist, warp and crack

Advantages of seasoning:

• Timber is more stable and is less likely to warp and crack and it
makes it immune from rot and decay
Natural Air Seasoning

A traditional form of drying hardwood used for centuries.

Hardwood stacked within an A sloping roof protects

open sided shed and natural against direct sunlight and
air allowed to flow around rain
them

Advantages Disadvantages

Traditional method Depends on weather conditions

Cheap to operate Takes one year to season each

1 inch thick timber, plus a year or more for timber
above 1 inch thickness.
Artificial Kiln Seasoning

Wood stacked on trolleys and wheeled into kiln

Steam is introduced which soaks the timber

Pressure and humidity reduced

Steam drawn out by fans Advantages

Quicker, more controlled

Heat introduced and temperature raised reliable method. Quicker
process – 2 weeks per inch
thick plank.
MATERIALS & THEIR PROPERTIES - SOFTWOOD

Softwoods are less expensive than hardwoods due to growing faster.

PINE Cedar Fir

Colour
White or pale yellow
Strength/durability
Easy to work with/ lightweight prone
to scratches/dents
Used for
Furniture, window frames, panelling,
and roofing,
Colour
Red/brown in colour
Strength/durability
quite strong and durable
used for
Musical instruments, furniture,
decking, fence posts/ pencils
Colour
A reddish brown wood and fairly
knot free
Strength/durability
It is a strong and durable.
used for
In the production of plywood.
Range of joinery work.
MATERIALS & THEIR PROPERTIES - HARDWOOD

Hardwoods are more expensive due to growing slowly and travelling further.

BEECH ASH OAK MAHOGANY

Appearance
This wood has a very close
straight grain which is White
to pinkish-brown in colour
Strength
Very hard but is also very easy
to work with. It does warp
very easily.
Uses
It is often used for furniture,
toys, tool handles.
Appearance Appearance
The timber has a Light, Light brown in colour. It has Appearance
creamy-brown colour, it is an Open grain. Has a reddish brown
open-grained Strength interlocking grain
Strength The timber is very strong and Strength
The wood is tough but Hard to work with. It is fairly strong but easy to
flexible. Uses work
Uses The wood corrodes steel Uses
make screws and fittings therefore it . This wood is very expensive.
Sports equipment, wooden is used mainly for Interior It is used for high quality
ladders, tool handles, cricket woodwork and good quality indoor furniture
bats furniture
MATERIAL STOCK FORMS

Material stock forms are the standardised sizes that different material can be bought in.

Timber planks Timber boards Strip

(not as thick as Square timber Dowel
(thin slices of wood- 3mm)
planks)
FINISHING & PROTECTING WOOD

Seasoning
Varnish Wax Stain Bleaching (remove Oil
moisture)

Various functions/ purposes.

Protect, resistance to moisture, enhance grain, easier to clean, seal pores to prevent bacteria, look more expensive, prevent insect
attacks.
Manufactured boards

Manufactured boards are timber sheets which are produced by gluing wood layers or wood fibres
together. Manufactured boards often make use of waste wood materials.

Manufactured Board properties:

• make use of waste wood materials (i.e. saw dust for MDF)
• Are inexpensive so are often used instead of real woods.
• However do not look as good as real woods look.
• Often covered with a thin layer of real wood which
is called veneer this improves their appearance.
Manufactured boards

Manufactured Description Uses

timber
MDF Smooth, even surface. Easily machined and painted or Furniture and interior panelling .
stained. Often veneered or painted.

Plywood A very strong board which is constructed of layers which Strong board used in building
are glued at 90 degrees to each other. construction. Furniture making.

Chipboard Made from chips of wood glued together. Usually
veneered or covered in plastic laminate.
Hardboard A very cheap particle board which sometimes has a
laminated plastic surface.
Used for kitchen/bedroom
furniture/Shelving/DIY work. usually
veneered or covered with a plastic
laminated.
Used for furniture backs, covering
curved structures, door panels.
Wo o d w o r k i n g
making joints
Using Joints
Basic Butt Joint

• The butt joint is the most basic woodworking

joint. Commonly used when framing walls in
conventional, stick-framed homes, this joint
relies on mechanical fasteners to hold the
two pieces of stock in place.
• These joints can be used in making simple
boxes or frames, providing that there will
not be too much stress on the joint, or that
the materials used will take nails or screws
reliably.
Mitered Butt Joint

• A mitered butt joint is basically the same as a basic butt

joint, except that the two faces of wood members are
joined at an angle (instead of square to one another). The
advantage is that the mitered butt joint will not show any
end grain, and as such is a bit more aesthetically
pleasing.

• The simplest joint that requires any form of cutting is a

miter joint - in effect this is an angled butt joint, usually
relying on glue alone to construct it. It requires accurate
45° cutting, however, if the perfect 90° corner is to
result.

• To reinforce the plain joint, biscuits or splines are often

used (the spline being trimmed after the glue has cured).
Rabbet Joint

• Another common cabinetry joint is the rabbet. A rabbet is

basically a dado cut along the edge of a board. Rabbets
are often used at the back of cabinets and other similar
assemblies for attaching the back to the sides of the box,
adding a considerable amount of strength to the assembly.

• A rebate (or rabbet) cut in a piece of stock is also a joint.

The purpose is to make assembly easier and to increase
glue surface area. It is also possible to screw or pin
through the rebate from underneath, or through the side.

• Rebates can be simple or complex, but are effective joints

and much stronger and easier to assemble than butt
joints.
Half-Lap Joint

• The half-lap joint is where half of each of the two boards

being joined is removed, so that the two boards join
together flush with one another. This type of joint can
obviously weaken the strength of the two adjoining
boards, but its stronger joint than butt joints.

• This requires the removal of stock to exactly half of the

overall thickness of the piece, in order that a similar
piece can mate with it. This technique is also used in the
cross-halving joint (see later).

• The main uses for this joint are to allow two pieces of
stock to meet - usually at a right angle - so that the joint
is contained within the overall thickness of the material.
Used for face frames or garden projects. Glue alone can
be used as a fixing method, or combined with screws or
nails.
Cross Half-Lap Joint

• The cross-halving joint is another form of half- lap, but

used where one piece of stock crosses another, in order
to retain the same dimension. These joints are often used
in braces, especially where stretchers cross over. If
accurately constructed, this is an extremely strong joint.

• Cross-halving joints can also be used in trellis

construction, making box compartment dividers and as
the bracing ribs of a torsion box.

• The halving joint has good glue surface area and will
resist side forces if accurately made with tight
tolerances.
Mortise and Tenon Joint

• The mortise and tenon is a classic woodworking joint.

These joints have been used since the early times of
woodworking, and are still among the strongest and most
elegant methods for joining wood.
• Frequently-used joint for assembling a variety of projects
where strength and reliability are required. The mortice
can either be a through mortice - passing all the way
through the stock - or a blind mortice that only partly
pierces the stock.
• Mortice and tenon joints have several advantages,
including a lot of glue surface area, shoulders to resist
side forces acting on the finished project, neatness and
virtual invisibility if required, plus the option to be used as
a decorative feature if constructed as a through mortice,
using a contrasting wood wedge.
Mortise and Tenon Joint

• In addition to gluing, dowel pins can also be used to

secure the joint - this can be an advantage if the joint
may need dismantling later.
Dowel Joint

• Dowel joints are basically substitutes for mortise and

tenon joints. A dowel joint is made by fitting a butt joint
and then drilling corresponding holes in the two pieces
of wood to be joined and inserting the dowel pin or pins
before joining the pieces. Glue is used in this type of
joint, and the dowel pins serve as round tenons, holding
the two pieces together.
Corner Bridle Joint - finger joint

• A development of the halving-type joints is a corner

bridle joint. This uses an open mortise with a through
open tenon.

• There is plenty of glue surface area and the joint will

be strong, but screws or dowels can be used as
reinforcement to help the joint to resist side forces.

• Useful joint in frame construction. The visible end

grain can be also be utilised as a decorative feature.
Dovetail and Box Joints

• Of all woodworking joints, the through dovetail may be

the most revered. A classic through dovetail is beautiful
and very strong, and adds a touch of Aesthetics to any
piece. There are a few methods for creating through
dovetails.
Dovetail Joint

• Natural enhancement to this joint is the

inclusion of the dovetail.

• The dovetail will prevent the joint separating

laterally through side forces.
• Through dovetail joints are also extremely strong
- again due to the vast amount of glue surface
area they contain.

• Although more time-consuming to make, they

have a major advantage over box joints as the
shape of the tails and pins mean that the joint
cannot be pulled apart. For this reason, they are
much used for drawer fronts, where they resist
the pulling forces well.
Through Dovetail Joint
Half-Blind Dovetail Joint

• Half-blind dovetail joints are also very

strong and resist pulling forces well.

• The advantage with this joint is that it

allows a plain drawer front, whilst
retaining all the strength qualities of the
through version.

Through Dovetail Joint

Box Joint

• Dovetail joints are beautiful and strong, but not

always practical. A box joint is a simpler alternative
to the dovetail joint.

• A straightforward joint (which in a way is a

development of the bridle joint) is the box joint, also
known as the finger joint - because of the similarity
to interlaced fingers. This is a very strong joint due to
the vast amount of glue surface area.

• The end grain of the fingers can be a problem, as it

will inevitably stain or finish darker than the
remainder of the piece, but this is often used as a
feature or decorative element.
Tongue and Groove Joint

• When joining two boards along a long edge, one can simply
butt the joint together and hold it with glue. However, the
tongue and groove joint is stronger and provides more glue
surface.
Spline Joint
• The natural development of a rebate is a groove, as shown
here in a spline joint, which uses a separate strip of wood
(the loose spline) to join two pieces of stock via a groove in
each.
• The advantage of this method over simply butting and
gluing, or using flat plate dowel technology (biscuits) is that
the glue surface area is at least doubled and the spline
helps to prevent bowing or cupping.
• A more common development is in the tongue and groove
joint, which uses a milled tongue in place of a separate
loose spline to achieve the same result.
Biscuit Joint

• Another method for joining boards along the edges

(like the tongue and groove joint) is to cut slots and
use beechwood biscuits to hold the boards in place.
This is a very common modern woodworking joint,
relying on glue and the swelling of the beechwood
biscuit to hold the boards in place.
Half lap joinery
3 Member joint Butterfly Joint
Wood Fasteners

• NAILS
• SCREWS
• WOOD GLUE
Using nails

- clamp and secure both pieces before connecting with nails.

- if the nails are too large, pre-drill small hole t o guide your nail
- sink the head of the screw by drilling larger hole just bit under
the surface
-dont force it!! Forcing nails t o your piece will bend the nail and
damage your wood.
TYPES OF NAILS
Using screws

1. clamp and secure both pieces before connecting with

screws. 2 .pre drill holes for screws t o prevent splitting of
your wood.
3. sink the head of the screw by drilling larger hole just bit under the
surface.
4. dont force it!! Forcing screws may strip the head grove and brake the
screw.
5. using drywall screws may split your wood piece.
Manufactured Joints
Using Adhesives

- sand smooth and clean both surfaces before gluing together.

-apply even thin layer of glue t o both surfaces. D o not put too
much! it may weaken your connection
- clamp and secure both pieces and let the glue completely dry.
Resources
Furniture Joints http://www.efi-costarica.com/antique-furniture-joints.html

How to make joints http://woodworking.about.com/od/joinery/tp/JoineryHub.htm

Common woodworking joints http://www.raygirling.com/wwjoints.htm

Overview of wood working tools http://www.technologystudent.com/equip1/equipex1.htm

Overview of wood working joints http://www.technologystudent.com/joints/joindex.htm

Exotic wood http://www.macbeath.com