Timber trees is useful in some limited engineering

purposes.
Wood is one of the most used natural building
materials in the world. A number of valuable properties Examples: bamboo, palm, cane etc.
such as low heat conductivity, small bulk density,
relatively high strength, amenability to mechanical Structure of a Tree
working etc. makes wood as famous building material.
The structure of tree can be divided in to two
Timber can be used in most economical way categories as follows.
without wasting any of the derivatives of it. Even the
1. Macrostructure
saw dust obtained during wood sawing can also be
used to make fiber boards, paper etc. The structure of a tree which is visible
to the naked eye is called macro structure of
Types of Trees for Timber Production
tree. Macrostructure of tree contains following
The trees are classified into following types components
based on their mode of growth.

1. Exogenous

Exogenous trees are outward growing

trees. Horizontal section of such tree contains
several rings which are nothing but annual
rings. These rings can be used to predict the
age of tree. Most of the exogenous trees are
useful for many engineering purposes.

Exogenous trees are sub classified

into following types.
a. Pith
a. Conifers
The core part or innermost
Conifers are nothing but soft part of the tree is called as pith. It
wood producing trees which are also contains cellulose tissues which are
called as ever green trees. The timber helpful for the growth of plant during
of these trees is light colored, light in its young age.
weight, low dense and poor against
fire. b. Heart wood

Examples: Pine, Fir, redwood, Heart wood is the portion

spruce, deodar, cedar etc.
b. Deciduous
Deciduous trees are hard
wood producing trees. The leaves of
this type of trees are generally broad
in size and they fall in autumn and
grow in spring. Deciduous trees are
most suitable for constructional
purposes. Timber of deciduous trees
is dark colored, dense, heaviest and
good against fire.
Examples: Maple, Mahogany,
Oak, teak, walnut, babul etc.
around the pith which is dark in color
and contain some annual rings in it. It
is very hard and provides rigidity to the
tree. Heart wood is used for several
engineering purposes because of its
strength and durability.
c. Sap wood
Sap wood contain outer
annual rings. This indicates the recent
growth of tree and is light in color. It
contains sap which helps in the growth
of tress.
d. Cambium Layer

2. Endogenous Cambium layer contains sap

which will turn into sap wood after
Endogenous trees are inward growing some time. It should not exposed to
trees which contains fibrous mass in their
longitudinal section. The timber from these
 atmosphere otherwise the tree may
dead.
e. Inner bark
The protecting layer of cambium
layer is known as inner bark.
f. Outer bark
The outermost layer of the
tree section is called outer bark or
cortex. It contains cells of wood fiber.
g. Medullary rays
The rays extending from pith
to cambium layer are known as
medullary rays. These rays hold the
annual rings of sap wood and heart
wood together.
2. Microstructure
Micro structure of a tree can only be
visible with great magnifications. It contains
cells of different shapes and sizes. These cells
are responsible for many actions like nutrients
transport to branches from stem, strength of
tree etc.
Processing of Timber
Processing of Timber contains following steps
1. Felling of Trees
Felling of trees is nothing but cutting of
trees which are suitable for engineering
purposes. Felling should be done when the
tree is matured. Then only it contains more
amount of heart wood than sap wood. The
perfect age of trees for felling varies from 50 to
100 years. The best season for felling of trees
is Mid-winter for plain areas and mid-summer
for hilly areas.
Firstly a cut is made at the lower most
part of the trunk on a side where tree is
expected to fell. The cut should be beyond
center of gravity of tree. Then provide parallel
cut which is exactly opposite to the first cut.
Then tie up the tree top with 4 ropes on 4
sides.
Now pull the rope of first cut side and
loosen the rope on the opposite side. Using
other two ropes swing the tree slowly. Then
the tree starts breaking along the cuts and
gently fall on the ground. The branches are
chopped off, bark is removed and is cut into
required sizes.
2. Seasoning of Timber
Seasoning of timber means removal of
moisture content from timber. A newly fell tree
contains water up to 50% of its dry weight. The
timber contains free moisture and bound
moisture.
Free moisture is present in timber as
water vapor while bound moisture is present in
cell walls. When it is allowed to seasoning,
free moisture evaporated first and this point is
called as fiber saturation point.
After Fiber saturation point, the timber
will shrink on drying which is nothing but
evaporation of bound moisture.
There are two methods of seasoning
are there namely:
 Natural seasoning
 Artificial Seasoning
3. Conversion of Timber
Conversion of timber is the process of
cutting of timber into required sections. This
can be done by using power machines. Skilled
persons should be required for economic
conversion of timber. The conversion can be
done by four types as follows
a. Ordinary sawing
It is the most used and easy
method of sawing. The cutting is done
through the section of timber piece at
perpendicular to the annual rings.
Wastage of timber is minimum in this
case.
The obtained planks are not of
equal strength. The outer planks
contain sap wood and shrinks more
while the inner portion planks contain
heart wood which shrinks less.
b. Tangential sawing 4. Preservation of Timber

In this type of sawing the cuts
are tangential to annual rings and they
meet each other at right angles. This
method is suitable when the annual
rings are very distinct with each other.
The final stage of timber processing is
preservation which is carried out to increase
the durability of timber and also to resist the
attacks of fungi, insects etc. on timber. In
general ASCU, Coal tar, Oil paints, Solignum
paints etc. are used as preservatives.

c. Quarter sawing

In quarter sawing, the cuts are

made right angles to each other. This
is suitable when the timber have no
distinct medullary rays.

d. Radial sawing

In this type of sawing, the cuts

are made parallel to the medullary
rays radially. In this method wastage
of timber is maximum.
Asphalt
The asphalt is a mixture which consists
alumina, lime, silica and asphaltic bitumen. At low
temperatures, it is in solid state and at high
temperatures it is in liquid state.
Asphalt is produced in two different ways as
follows.
nature and it is used for flooring, roofing, water
proofing material etc.
4. Mastic Asphalt
Mastic asphalt is obtained by heating
natural asphalt with sand and mineral fillers. It
is impermeable matter does not contain any
voids.

1. Natural Asphalt Hardness and melting point of mastic

asphalt can be managed during the process of
Natural asphalt is obtained directly heating. It is in solid state and by heating it can
from the nature especially from the two be brought to liquid state. It is used for damp
resources lakes and rocks. proofing course.

The lake asphalt contains 40 to 70 %

of pure bitumen which is boiled in tank and
water content evaporates and impurities are
separated. The final product is called as
asphalt which a=can be used for laying roads
etc.

Rock asphalt contains 10 to 15% of

pure bitumen and calcareous matter. These
rocks are crushed and heated and
consolidates by sudden cooling. This asphalt
is used for paving tiles etc.

2. Residual Asphalt

Residual asphalt is obtained artificially

by the distillation of crude petroleum oil with
asphaltic base.

Forms of Asphalt

The available forms of asphalt are:

1. Cutback Asphalt

Cutback asphalt is in liquid state.

Asphalt is dissolved in a volatile solvent to get
this cutback asphalt. It is used for
manufacturing bituminous paint, repairing
roofs etc.

2. Asphalt Emulsion

Asphaltic emulsion is obtained by

adding 50 to 60% water to the asphalt in
presence of 1% emulsifying agent. The
emulsifying agent forms water proof film when
water evaporates. So, it can be used in cold
conditions.

3. Asphalt Cement

Natural asphalt is subjected to high

pressure air under high temperature to get
asphalt cement. Asphalt cement is plastic in