Search Results (2)

Hardness is commonly used to determine the suitability of a timber species for flooring applications. In this study, Janka hardness test is conducted on sawlog managed Eucalyptus nitens and regrowth forest Eucalyptus obliqua sourced from Tasmania, Australia. Plantation E. nitens timber is currently entering the Australian market and the feasibility of using this fast grown species in value added applications such as timber flooring is advantageous. Further to testing Janka hardness on solid timber samples, a regime of engineered timber flooring prototypes consisting of plantation E. nitens top layers, veneers and solid densified E. nitens boards were developed and subjected to Janka hardness test. The results were compared against solid E. obliqua flooring and a commercially available engineered flooring product with Tasmanian Oak top layer. The results showed that Janka hardness of plantation grown E. nitens, and E. obliqua currently available in the market are lower than the values published in the literature. This indicates that the material properties of fast grown plantation timber and regrowth forest material are different to the native forest timber properties published decades earlier. Furthermore, some of the tested engineered flooring prototypes showed similar behaviour to timber flooring products currently in market, suggesting that E. nitens engineered flooring would be suitable for domestic/light commercial flooring applications despite the general conception of unsuitability due to lower densities. Full article

The aim of the presented research is to characterize the scale of transport work performed on the supply of large-size pine wood to the sawmill, with indication of factors influencing structure and parameters. Analyzes were carried out for deliveries to a sawmill in northern Poland, which supplies pine sawlogs and long wood assortments. The distance of deliveries on public and forest roads was determined, as well as transport work for each type of road and the total value. The transport work was defined as a multiplication of driven kilometers with the load and the weight of the load in ton kilometers. Data on the transport distance were obtained on the basis of information from the driver, and the parameters of the transported pine sawlogs from the delivery note. Based on the collected data over a period of 12 months, the transport work was determined for selected courses. The total transport work for the 1509 analyzed deliveries was 3,447,486 ton-kilometers (tkm). The average transport work for one course amounted to 2286 tkm and was characterized by a high variability SD = 1207. The minimum value of the transport work was recorded at the level of 83 tkm, and the maximum as much as 7803 tkm. The median of the analyzed deliveries was 2220 tkm, while the first quartile Q1 = 1358, and the third quartile Q3 = 2997. With very similar cargo volumes (m³) and cargo weight (kg) the transport distance and the total number of deliveries have a significant effect on the transport work performed with the transport of timber. Purchase of wood in seven forest districts located up to 50 km from the sawmill accounts for 30.1% of the analyzed deliveries (1509), resulting in only transport work at the level of 476,104 tkm, which is only 13.8% of the total transport work of all deliveries. Full article