Timber engineering research at Scion

Moving the research back a step from timber to the whole log, wood scientist, Jonathan Harrington has been linkingforest management decisions to final product quality by developing within-stem wood property maps of individual trees.The same types of maps are also of use in for segregating logs for harvest or processing and post-harvest. The project,which is funded by Future Forests Research, includes a collaboration with the University of Canterbury.Harrington and his team have been working in this area for several years. During this time, four key wood properties(chemical composition, microfibril orientation, density and grain orientation) found to significantly determine the qualityof solid wood products have been much more thoroughly understood. From this knowledge, new cost-effective methodsof assessment can dramatically reduce the expenses associated with predicting product quality. While the variation inthese properties exhibit broad patterns, individual trees can diverge wildly from these patterns, and this divergenceoccurs at fine geographical scales, i.e. two trees right next to each other can be as different as two taken from far apart.A better understanding of forest management decisions on quality (as well as quantity) of products produced may lead toimproved forest valuation, better resource planning, and better log allocation to processors. The large tree-to-treevariation observed so far would suggest that in any forest there is exceptionally good material present. The trick isefficiently finding and utilising it while avoiding unnecessarily reducing the returns from lesser quality material.