QUALITY FROM FINLAND – WOODPRODUCTS.FI A BUYER’S GUIDE TO WOOD PRODUCTS AN ECOLOGICALLY SUSTAINABLE CHOICE Wood is a renewable material. Finland’s sustainably managed for- ests produce considerably more good-quality wood than is used. Annual forest growth is roughly 109,9 million cubic metres, about half of which is used. The limit for sustainable felling is about 70 million cubic metres. When you buy Finnish wood products, you can be sure of the sustainability of your choice. Finnish forest industry companies only use legally acquired wood in their pro- duction. The companies know the origin of the wood. Knowing the origin of the raw material is a prerequisite for the sustainable use of forests. The conservation rate of Finnish forests is unsurpassed in Europe. Finland strictly protects 2,7 million hectares of forest, equivalent to 12 % of its total area of forests. The forest industry supports the use of impartial and widely approved international certification systems. Forest certification can ensure that the fun- damentals for sustainable forest use are in place, and that inter- national comparability is preserved. Of Finland’s commercial forests, more than 95 % is subject to third-party forest certification. Correspondingly, less than 10 % of forests in the rest of the world are certified. THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF BUILDING PRODUCTS 4000 3000 2000 SKILFUL FINLAND 1000 THE USE OF WOOD MITIGATES CLIMATE CHANGE Finland is known for its top-level expertise, excellent Particle board board (OSB) Strand Conifer plywood Sawn timber CLT timber Glued laminated board Plaster-carton Siporex Aluminium steel Stainless Copper Leca block Concrete educational system and forests. Finland is a pioneer of 0 • The use of wood precipitates forest renewal. Growing the forest-based bioeconomy, and it produces a di- forests bind more carbon dioxide than a fully grown verse range of sustainable solutions from wood. Finn- -1000 forest. ish people are renowned as responsible and reliable • The consumption of energy and natural resources partners who honour the contracts that they make. It’s and CO₂ emissions caused by the manufacture of -2000 easy to do business with Finns. wood products are less than manufacturing using other materials. In fact, in the production of sawn CO₂e g/kg stored CO₂ g/kg and planed products, more energy is created than FINNISH WOOD PRODUCTS Source: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, €CO project 2 consumed. The Finnish wood industry manufactures • Wood is a carbon store as it sequesters CO₂ from the and markets high-quality wood products air as it grows. One cubic metre of wood absorbs for the global market. The manufacture about one tonne of carbon dioxide. In long-lasting of wood products has long traditions. The wood products, carbon is stored in the wood for a choice of products is extensive, from sawn long period of time. timber to engineered products, interior de- • Wood can be used to replace materials whose sign products, and furniture from top-class manufacture is harmful to the environment. designers. • At the end of their life cycle, wood products can be Common to all manufacturers are ex- used to produce renewable energy and so replace tensive knowledge of wood as a material, fossil fuels. The amount of CO₂ released when the utilisation of modern technology and burning wood is equal to the amount that it has high-quality raw material, which is obtained sequestered during its growth. from sustainably managed forests. The • Neither wood nor the products produced from its products are tailored to the requirements elements generate hazardous waste. of the customer. 2 QUALITY FROM FINLAND – WOODPRODUCTS.FI A BUYER’S GUIDE TO WOOD PRODUCTS 3 STRONG WOOD FROM THE NORTHERN CONIFEROUS FOREST BELT IN THE COLD, WOOD GROWS SLOWLY TECHNICAL PROPERTIES OF A NORDIC CONIFER Finland is one of the best areas in the world for tree growth. COMPARED TO NORTH AMERICAN AND JAPANESE SPECIES OF TREE It belongs to the cold climatic belt in which sub-zero winters alternate with warm summers. The summer season lasts only SPECIES COMPRESSION TENSIONAL BENDING MODULUS BREAKING DENSITY 100 days, during which the trees grow. The short growing sea- STRENGTH STRENGTH STRENGTH OF STRENGTH ELASTICITY son means slow growth, which may take 60-120 years. along the against the along the Commercial/scientific name grain grain grain N/mm2 N/mm2 N/mm2 kg/m3 THE RESULT – STRAIGHT-GRAINED, N/mm2 N/mm2 N/mm2 TOUGH TIMBER WITH FEW KNOTS FINNISH This slow growth provides the best possible timber: there are Spruce / Picea abies 39 5,3 116 87 10.000 6,8 470 few knots, and they are small. Growth is symmetrical and the Pine / Pinus sylvestris 50 7,0 95 91 10.900 9,1 540 trunks are straight and round. Growth rings are thin and tight- NORTH AMERICA ly-packed. The proportion of juvenile wood is small and that Douglas Fir / Pseudotsuga menziesii 43 5,9 95 66 11.300 7,2 520 of heartwood great. The result is a hard, tough and straight- grained timber with low tension and few internal cracks. Coast Redwood / Sequoia sempervirens 30 4,1 70 50 6.800 6,8 430 Low-resin, evenly patterned Finnish wood is first-class material Western hemlock / Tsuga heterophylla 44 5,2 69 79 10.500 8,2 480 for many applications. Longleaf pine / Pinus palustris 59 6,9 105 78 10.900 9,8 680 European larch / Larix decidua 50 6,5 97 90 12.500 8,2 470 JAPANESE Japanese cedar / Cryptomeria japonica 35 90 65 7.500 6,0 380 Japanese cypress / Chamaecyparis obtusa 40 120 75 9.000 7,5 440 Japanese red pine / Pinus densiflora 45 140 90 11.500 9,5 520 Japanese black pine / Pinus thunbergii 45 140 85 10.500 9,0 540 Japanese white pine / Pinus parviflora 35 80 70 7.000 8,0 450 The values for strength and elasticity are averages and based on measurements of flawless test pieces in 12 % humidity. They are not intended to be used as design values, for which values given in national standards must be used. 4 QUALITY FROM FINLAND – WOODPRODUCTS.FI A BUYER’S GUIDE TO WOOD PRODUCTS 5 GRADES, NAMES AND DIMENSIONS OF SAWN TIMBER Pine (commercially known as redwood) SAWN TIMBER GRADES and spruce (commercially known as whitewood) are sawn, dried and sorted US V VI VII according to technical standards, mois- US I US II US III US IV ture content and dimensions. COMMON CROSS-SECTIONAL DIMENSIONS MAIN GRADES Sawn timber • The main grades are US, V, VI and VII. Thickness Width (mm) • US is the highest production grade, and (mm) 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 225 250 it is subdivided into sub-grades US I to 1) US IV, of which US I is the highest. 19 • Production grades V and VI have no sub- 22 2) JH JH grades. 25 1) • Grade VII has no numerical values. All SPRUCE, US SPRUCE, V SPRUCE, VI SPRUCE, VII 32 wood properties are allowed, but the sawn timber piece must remain in one 38 piece. The saw blade must touch the 44 2) majority of the timber piece’s surfaces, 50 JH but a piece where one third of its 63 length is untouched by the blade is still 75 JH acceptable. 100 DIMENSIONED SAWN TIMBER means 125 sawn timber, which is rough-planed to a 150 precise measurement. Sawn timber is di- 1) usually pine mensioned by planing about 1 mm from all 2) usually spruce sides at a rapid feeding speed. The result JH = usually done by splitting afterwards, whereby the width is 2 mm less that the nominal size of the planning is rough and the product = standard size = rarely produced size might exhibit unplaned areas and ridges. Dimensioned sawn timber is typically avail- Dimensioned sawn timber able in lengths between 2.7 and 5.4 m, at PINE, US PINE, V PINE, VI PINE, VII Thickness Width (mm) 300 mm intervals. (mm) 48 66 73 95 98 120 123 145 148 173 198 223 248 PLANED SAWN TIMBER means all-round 20 1) planed sawn timber in the shape of a rec- 42 PERMITTED DIMENSIONAL DEVIATIONS tangle. In the planing of sawn timber, at 48 least 2 mm is planed from all sides. The The maximum permitted dimensional deviations from nominal sizes for sawn timber are shown in the following tables: 1) finely-sawn surface surface should be smooth and there should = standard size = rarely produced size be no sawing roughness or ridges. Planed Sawn-surface sawn timber All-round planed sawn timber sawn timber is typically available in lengths All-round planed sawn timber Dimension Dimensional deviation Dimension Dimensional deviation between 2.7 and 5.4 m, at 300 mm intervals. Thickness Width (mm) Thickness and width ≤ 100 mm - 1,0 … + 3,0 mm Thickness ≤ 20 mm ± 0,5 mm (mm) 1) STANDARD SIZES: 15 21 28 33 45 70 95 120 145 170 195 Thickness and width > 100 mm - 2,0 … + 4,0 mm Thickness > 20 mm ± 1,0 mm 8 Length 1800...6000 mm - 0 … + 50 mm Length ≤ 100 mm ± 1,0 mm THICKNESSES, WIDTHS AND LENGTHS 12 Length when cut to the specified size ± 2,0 mm Length > 100 mm ± 1,5 mm Dimensions mean nominal sizes when the 15 1) Length when sorted moisture content of the sawn timber is - 25 … + 50 mm Dimensioned sawn timber according to length 20 %. 18 2) Length when cut The most common lengths vary be- 21 1) Dimension Dimensional deviation ± 2,0 mm to the specified size tween 2.7 m and 6.0 m in steps of 300 mm.