utilization of the southern pines

744 Pages·2012·45.86 MB·English

UTILIZATION
OF THE
SOUTHERN PINES
PETER KOCH
Agriculture Handbook No. 420
In two volumes:
The Raw Material
II Processing
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE
Southern Forest Experiment Station
For sole by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Woshington, D.C. 20402 -Price $11.25 per two volume set.
Sold in sets only.
Stock Number 0100-1483
Date: August 1972
Library of Congress Card No: 79-188-856
Separates
Separates of the chapters in this handbook are available. To request,
list the FS num_ber (found at top right of the beginning of each chapter)
and quantity for each separate you want. Send requests to: U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture, Forest Service I&E, Publications, Printing and Dis
tribution; Washington, D.C. 20250.
Disclaimer
Mention of a chemical in this text does not constitute a recommenda
tion; only those chemicals registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency may be recommended, and then only for uses as prescribed in the
registration-and in the manner and at the concentration prescribed. The
list of registered chemicals varies from time to time; prospective users, there
fore, should get current information on registration status from Pesticides
Regulation Division, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C.
The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for
the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not con
stitute an official endorsement or approval of any product or service by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the exclusion of others which may
be suitable.
For sale in two-volume sets only by the Superintendent of Documents,
Washington, D.C. 20402, Price ?
Stock Number 0100-1483
The Author
Peter Koch is one of America's most eminent scientists in wood tech
nology.
After gaining early experience in the design and manufacture of heavy
duty planers and matchers, he spent a year studying the effects of chip
formation on cutterhead horsepower and quality of surfaces generated in
peripheral milling. His Ph.D. thesis, accepted by the University of Wash
ington in 1954, contained high-speed photos of chips forming under the
action of knives and was basic to later work on the chipping headrig.
After 2 years of teaching and research at Michigan State University and
5 years of managing a New England lumber company, he wrote the book
Wood Machining Processes.
For the past 9 years, he has been in charge of the Southern Forest
Experiment Station's timber utilization laboratory at Pineville, in central
Louisiana. Here, in 1963, he cooperated with two manufacturers of wood
working machines to construct three experimental versions of chipping
headrigs. These headrigs square a log by converting the round sides into
pulp chips without creating slabs or wasting material as sawdust. They
are now in wide industrial use throughout North America and comprise
one of the major wood-machining advances of the 20th century.
During 1964, when manufacture of southern pine plywood was in early
stages of development, he provided data that were instrumental in the
formulation of gluing practices for the industry. Next, he invented a system
of gluing up single-species wooden beams by placing the most limber
laminae in the center and the stiffest in the outer, most highly stressed
regions. Beams thus assembled are stronger, stiffer, and more uniform than
those made by conventional methods.
For these three developments Koch was awarded, in 1968, the Superior
Service medal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has received
patents on the method of beam construction and on a system of making
straight studs from southern pine veneer cores and boltwood. Patent appli
cation has been made on a process for drying southern pine studs in 24
hours under restraints that prevent warping.
Acknowledgments
In preparing a work of this scope, characterizing an important and vari
able resource in relation to its industrial use, an author receives essential
assistance and services of many kinds. Especially significant contributions
were made by the researchers who wrote the papers referred to in foot
notes of many of the chapters. Most of these were prepared for the sym
posium "Utilization of the southern pines," presented by the Southern
Forest Experiment Station and the Forest Products Research Society at
Alexandria, La., November 6-8, 1968. Cooperating were the Louisiana
Forestry Association, Southern Pine Association (now the Southern Forest
Products Association), American Plywood Association, American Pulp
wood Association, and American Wood Preservers' Association.
Special acknowledgment is due the more than 100 scientists who metic
ulously studied and criticized various chapters and sections.
I also wish to express my great appreciation for aid from within the
Department of Agriculture. Indispensable knowledge and guidance were
provided by the Forest Service's Division of Forest Products and Engineer
ing Research and by the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis.
The New Orleans office of the Southern Forest Experiment Station sup
plied unfailing support and counsel, including the most essential editorial
and library services.
To members of the Forest Products Utilization Research Project at the
Alexandria Forestry Center, Pineville, La~, I owe particularly persona1
thanks. The scientists accelerated their research to fin many gaps in infor
mation, the technicians assisted them in ways that often went beyond
the call of duty, and the administrative personnel efficiently handled
infinite details of correspondence and text.
Since the book is a digest of research observations specific to the prop
erties and utilization of the southern pines, a substantial effort was made
to abstract, or to make reference to, all major work published prior to
1971. Some findings published or in process during 1971 were also in
cluded. Inevitably some worthwhile work has been overlooked; for such
omissions, I apologize.
Peter Koch
Pineville, La.
January 1972
CONTENTS
VOLUME I-THE RAW MATERIAL
Page
Part I-BACKGROUND
1 INTRODUCTION _________________________________ 1
2 THE RESOURCE __________________________________ 5
3 SPECIES __________________________________________ 11
Part II CHARACTERIZATION OF WOOD _______________ 53
4 PHYSIOLOGY OF WOOD FORMATION __________ 55
5 ANATOMY _______________________________________ 83
6 CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS ____ .:..________________ 187
7 SPECIFIC GRAVITY ______________________________ 235
8 WOOD-WATER RELATIONSHIPS ________________ 265
9 PHYSICAL PROPERT IES _________________________ 337
10 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES _____________________ 391
11 DEFECTS AND GRADES OF TREES AND LOGS ___ 425
Part III-BARK, ROOTS, AND NEEDLES ______ _____ 465
~----
12 BARK _____________________________________________ 467
13 ROOTS ___________________________________________ 535
14 NEEDLES _________________________________________ 575
Part IV-REACTION TO ENVIRONMENT ___ -___________ 603
15 E.FFECTS OF CHEMICALS, HEAT, AND
RADIATION ______________________________________ 605
16 A TTA CK BY PLANT ORGANISMS ________________ 643
17 ATTACK BY INSECTS, MARINE BORERS,
AND BIRDS ______________________________________ 665
VOLUME II-PROCESSING
Page
Part V-PROCESSES ______________________________________ 735
18 _________________________________________ 737
S1rORI~(;
19 _____________________________________ 755
MACHI~I~G
20 __________________________________________ 949
])RYI~G
21 _________________________________________ 1037
BE~])I~G
22 _______________________________________ 1061
TREATI~G
23 _________________________ 1151
GLUI~G A~]) BO~])I~G
24 . MECHANICAL ______________________ 1221
FASTENI~G
25 _______________________________________ 1325
FI~ISHI~G
26 ________________________________________ 1367
BUR~I~(;
27 _________________________________________ 1411
PULPI~(;
28 CHEMICAL ________________________ 1475
PROCESSI~G
29 MEASURES AN]) YIELI>S OF PRO])UC1rS
RESIDUES _______________________ __________ 1511
A~D ~
__________________________________________________ 1619
I~])E){
Part I-BACKGROUND
Chapter Title
1 INTRODUCTION
2 THE RESOURCE
3 SPECIES

Separate No. FS-311
1
Introduction
The southern pines comprise the primary softwood timber species in the
United States. Further, their relative importance is increasing. It is esti
mated that by the year 2000, 51 percent of the softwood used in this
country will come from the South (USDA Forest Service 1965, p. 112).
These pines occupy about 20 percent of the 509 million acres of com
mercial forest land in the United States (USDA Forest Service 1965,
pp. 76, 80, 146). In the opinion of many foresters, the bulk of the
southern pine lands are capable of growing in excess of a cord of wood
per acre annually.
The southern pineries furnish the raw material for about 15 percent
of the softwood plywood manufactured in the United States (Anderson
1968; Hair and Ulrich 1969, p. 25), 23 percent of the particleboard
( Suchsland 1968; Dougherty 1968), 25 percent of the softwood lumber
(Hair and Ulrich 1969, pp. 15, 16), 36 percent of the fiberboard \ almost
40 percent of the market dissolving pulp (Durso 1969), 41 percent of the
groundwood pulp (Trevelyan 1969), a major share of the kraft pulp
(Kleppe 1970), over 75 percent of the poles ( Christopher 1969), and
nearly 100 percent of the turpentine and rosin (King et al. 1962).
Some of the commodities are also important in international markets.
In 1968 the kraft mills of the South produced approximately 25 percent
of the total pulps and. 45 percent of the kraft pulps required in the world;
the southern pines provided wood for about 77 percent of this pulp
(Christopher' and Nelson 1963; Slatin 1967; Kleppe 1970). They addi
tionally supply about one-half of the world's naval stores and three-fourths
of the crude tall oil produced outside the Sino-Soviet bloc (King et al.
1962) .
In the South-not including the mid-Atlantic or Central States of
Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Kentucky-the timber-based
industry in 1958 employed about 1 million people and added over $6
1 Turner, H. b. Fiberboard, hardboard, and moulded fiber from southern pine
wood-processes and products. Presentation at a symposium, "Utilization of the
Southern Pines", Alexandria, La., November 6-8, 1968.
1
2
UTILIZATION OF THE SOUTHERN PINES-KOCH AH 420
billion to the gross national product (Hair 1963, pp. 80 and 82). Eco
nomic importance of the industry is increasing. In 1969 it was estimated
that through production and distribution of wood products the 12 Southern
States contributed $4 billion to the economy of the North, while adding
$10 billion to the economy of the South (Southern Forest Resource
Analysis Committee 1969, p. 48).
There are good reasons why the southern pines are preeminent as a
source of raw material for industry.
First, substantial volumes of timber are available now and the resource
is rapidly renewable. The trees can be grown economically on a short
rotation in pure stands over a broad range of sites throughout the South.
Technologies for regenerating and managing the stands are highly de
veloped.
Second, geography favors the growth, utilization, and marketing of the
species. Mechanized harvesting and year-round woods operations are made
possible by the mild climate and generally flat to rolling terrain. Most
of the resource is within 2 or 3 miles of existing all-weather roads. Labor
and land costs are competitive with those of other regions. Water is
abundant. Nowhere is the growing region distant from primary markets.
Third, the wood itself has an unusual combination of desirable proper
ties. Its strength is outstanding. It is a prime material for structural ply
wood. Its light color and the strength of its fiber adapt it for pulping by
both chemical and mechanical processes. The self-pruning attribute of the
major species permits clear lumber for millwork to be produced in quan
tity. Further, the form of the trees favors their broad acceptance for poles
and piling. The permeability of the wood facilitates drying and preserva
tive treatment.
The southern pines, then, are an important national resource. To
further the efficient use of this resource is the ultimate purpose of this
book.
The presentation encompasses two major objectives: characterization of
the southern pine tree as raw material, and description of the processes
by which it is converted to use. Information is mainly from three sources:
literature on southern pine dating back to near the turn of the century;
research within the last 8 years designed to fill obvious gaps in the litera
ture; and reviews by authorities in their fields, of information specific to
other species but extendable to southern pines.
The current dramatic expansion of the plywood, particleboard, and
fiber industries of the South has brought a new generation of men into the
region, many of whom have no prior experience with southern pine.
The book is addressed primarily to the oncoming generation of research
ers and industrial managers in the southern pine industry. Foremen,
superintendents, quality control personnel, wood procurement men, for
est managers, extension workers, professors and students of wood tech
nology should all find the handbook of value. The text is not a treatise