Research fer Temerrow tomorrow. More efficient use also is Forest contributing to an effective extension of timber supplies. Future research will be focused on more closely matching product end- Wood use requirements with raw material quality and processing technology. In Utilization^ 1952, only 60 percent of the residues generated at forest-products manufac- and Products turing plants were used for other pur- poses, but in 1976 all but 4 percent of of the Future timber brought to the mill was used. H. M. Mon trey, deputy director, Nearly 60 percent of processing resi- dues were used for pulp and about 20 Forest Products Laboratory, and John L Zerbe, manager, Energy percent for fuel. The remainder was exported or used in particleboard and from Wood Program, Forest Products Laboratory, Forest a variety of other products. In the future, more of the residues Service, Madison, WÍ are expected to go into composite panel products that may be used in #n the United States, wood is still a structural applications which previ- major construction and industrial ously required boards or plywood. material. Wood housing has been the Research over the past decade has mainstay of the American family from the time of the first European set- accelerated the manufacture of non- tlers, and it remains important to our veneered structural panels such as way of life. Today most of our hous- oriented Strandboard and waferboard. ing is predominantly wood framed. As for other particleboard and fiber- board products, manufacturing of Even single-family houses and low- these nonveneered structural panels rise apartment buildings with ma- does not require large or straight- sonry walls often have wood framing growing trees. Composite panel also behind the masonry veneer and fram- can be made from a large variety of ing in floors, partitions, and roofs. Re- species, including hardwoods, which sults of today's research in improving are often produced in excess. the use of wood from foundation to Growth and use of forest products rooftop will ensure an adequate sup- may be managed to enhance the en- ply of comfortable housing at a rea- vironment through resisting erosion sonable cost of construction in the by water and damage by wind. Well- future. managed forests also may help in soil The United States is fortunate that conservation by maintaining a desira- it also has adequate wood supplies. ble soil nutrient balance. Harvest rev- Improvements in harvesting methods enues may pay for better forestry and forest-management practices are practices as well as other forest uses helping hold costs of timber to afford- such as recreation. Research and de- able levels. Production of this versa- velopment efforts can lead to im- tile, renewable, and abundant mate- proved harvesting methods, higher rial now exceeds harvest, and levels of forest land management, and available supply is increasing by 1 increased benefits. percent a year. Today much of the ex- Just as housing construction has cess is in lower grade hardwoods been based on wood, U.S. industry (broad-leaved trees), but research also has long depended on wood as an im- is leading to ways of making these portant raw material. In 1972 the Na- trees attractive for use in products of Forest Harvesting, Wood Utilization, and Products of the Future 2S3 Research for Tomorrow energy crises of 1973 and 1979, gen- erally use blades made of wood. Mfood Use in Housing One of the most innovative uses of wood in housing construction and one likely to grow significantly in the future is wood foundations. Histori- cally, builders have contended that durable foundations have to be built of masonry. But research has shown that suitably treated wood and ply- wood foundations with proper drain- age of water away from the founda- tion wall can provide some economic, structural, and esthetic design advan- tages. Wood foundations should prove to be particularly beneficial in colder Spaceboard—a molded structural cUmates where they may be erected sandwich product made from paper—will during most of the year and easily fit- be used for a variety of applications, including wall and ceiling panels and ted with insulation. decking. Mfood Floor Framing. Wood floor framing has been improved recently tional Commission on Materials Policy with the acceptance of a construction found that, of the 21 tons of material method in which floor surfacing, per capita required annually in indus- such as plywood, is glued to load-car- trial operations, 9 tons were for fossil rying floor joists to provide composite fuels, % ton for metals, and 1 'A tons structural action. The result is more for forest products. Comparing dollar stiffness and strength with less mate- values for these materials is difficult, rial. Increased use is being made of but the value of primary forest prod- parallel chord trusses and I-beams, ucts is clearly comparable to that of particularly for long spans, as availa- metal products. bility of wide lumber decreases. In Besides its obvious uses in indus- the future, floor joists may be molded trial and consumer products, wood into structural shapes, such as I- has several intriguing applications in beams, from available particulate ma- national security and emergency pre- terial as is used in the manufacture of paredness. Wood is not comparable to oriented Strandboard. Already, the metals in importance for armaments first plant is being built to construct and ammunition, but it can replace framing members with an inner core scarce metals in other applications weaker material and an outer web of and has some unique uses for which stronger material. The plant wül metals cannot compete. Last year manufacture Com-PIy®, which forms marked the first time since World a rectangular cross section like con- War II that the Department of De- ventional lumber studs and joists but fense awarded a contract for mine- has a particleboard core and veneer sweepers, and these ships wül be surface layers. made entirely of wood. Successful large wind electrical generators, Wall Framing, Future wall framing which have been designed since the for houses wiU likely see more appfi- 254 OUR FOREST RESOURCES Research for Tomorroiv The Truss-Framed System uses less lumber and requires tewer supports than conventional framing. cations of composites and other im- board is composed of three layers of proved structural shapes that may be aligned strands bonded together with fabricated from more abundant lower- a liquid phenoUc resin. The wood value materials such as strands from strands in the top and bottom layer hardwoods. A new product type from lay parallel to panel direction; those pulp fiber being studied at the Forest in the core lay perpendicular to the Products Laboratory shows promise panel direction. for building modules as well as im- In 1980, there was only one struc- proved paperboard containers. This tural flakeboard plant in the United product—Spaceboard—is a molded States. Today, there are over 15, and structural sandwich that has superior construction of other facilities has strength-to-weight characteristics and been announced. Future research will is not as limited in orientation to load lead to molded oriented strand prod- application as conventional framing ucts tailored for specific end-use materials. Engineered paperboard application. structures could become a reality and make better use of our wood re- Prebuilt Frames. A new develop- sources if adverse effects of moisture ment gaining acceptance for floor, and humidity can be overcome. waU, and roof framing is the Truss- Oriented Strandboard is a new Framed System developed by Forest product that fulfills a need for a com- Products Laboratory engineers. The posite panel board with mechanical system incorporates an open-webbed properties equivalent to those of floor truss, an open-webbed roof structural plywood. Oriented strand- truss, and conventional wall studs in Forest Harvesting, Wood Utilization, and Products of the Future 255 Research for Tomorrow a unitized frame. These frames are New Ways to Use Hard- delivered prebuüt to the construction WOOdSm A new process, Saw-Dry- site and erected on the foundation. Rip, uses medium-density hardwoods The frame is constructed primarily to make structural-grade lumber, from 2 by 4 lumber instead of the which is normally made from scarcer more expensive and less available and more expensive softwoods. Cur- 2 by 8 and 2 by 10 lumber common rently, little or no structural lumber is in conventionally designed homes. made from hardwoods, in part be- Because the trusses can span the cause it warps and twists when it is v^idth of most homes, supports are sawed and dried conventionaUy. With not needed in the basement and load- Saw-Dry-Rip and with additional ben- bearing waUs are not necessary on efit from high-temperature drying, the first floor. This vñll provide for stresses in the wood are relieved and more flexibility in using space to best warp is reduced. This means the advantage. Future construction prac- wood is cut straight and stays tice will incorporate increased use of straight. this and other innovative modular Press drying of paper will also per- systems. mit the use of hardwoods for more As pressures build within the wood- conventional purposes, Traditionally, products industry to penetrate new papermakers prefer softwoods be- mai'kets, innovative building systems cause their fibers bond more easily will be developed to allow wood to than high-density hardwood fibers, substitute for steel in nonresidential which are short and stiff. By applying construction. heat and pressure to a wet web of wood fibers simultaneously rather Exferfor House Materials, Al- than separately, press drying pro- though the use of wood for exterior duces strong paper from 100-percent house siding has decreased, exterior hardwood pulp.