The ability to treat Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Norway spruce (Picea abies) with oilborne copper-8-quinolinolate or with waterborne chromated copper arsenate, ammoniacal copper zinc arsenate, or ammoniacal copper quaternary was assessed using commercial treatment facilities in the Pacific Northwest. In general, Scots pine was more easily treated than was...
Understanding how silvicultural treatments and changes in the forest resource will affect wood quality characteristics, including heartwood natural durability, is a critical need for forest managers. Because heartwood properties can be affected by environmental disturbances, including silvicultural practices used to grow trees faster, we need to know if increased growth...
While wood plastic composites have gained an increasingly large share of the market for decks and other outdoor structures, there are many questions about the long-term potential for biodeterioration of these materials. While the plastic does appear to retard moisture uptake, thereby slowing the rate of degradation, a number of...
Supercritical fluids can markedly enhance preservative treatment of wood, but the high pressures employed can lead to collapse. We investigated the effects of the rates of pressure application and release on displacement of white spruce lumber during supercritical impregnation with carbon dioxide. Displacement was greatest when pressure was rapidly increased...
The development of pressure inside wood during preservative impregnation was studied using Douglas-fir heartwood and ponderosa pine sapwood. Pressure sensors mounted on sample holders provided the most reliable measurements. As expected, pressure equilibrated most rapidly with air as the treatment medium and ponderosa pine as the test species. Pressure changes...
The ability of white and brown rot fungi to colonize wood-plastic composites was investigated by measuring weight loss and anatomical changes. Three composite materials were evaluated. The material containing a 70/30 wood-high density polyethylene (HDPE) mixture was most susceptible to fungal attack, while two different 50/50 wood-HDPE composites experienced little...
The air permeability of western hemlock from coastal forests in western Oregon was assessed. Permeability varied widely among trees, as well as by position within individual trees. Permeability tended to decrease with distance inward from the bark, a trend implying that this species produces a heartwood zone. These variations may...
The effect of process variations under supercritical conditions on cyproconazole retention and distribution in ponderosa pine sapwood boards was assessed. While pressure and temperature appeared to affect biocide solubility to some extent, the overall results suggested that biocide movement into wood was influenced more by diffusion than bulk flow. Biocide...
This paper reviews literature on the formation of heartwood and on the components that affect natural durability. It includes discussion about the function of heartwood in living trees, factors influencing the natural durability of heartwood, the process of heartwood formation, and variations in heartwood quantity and quality. Heartwood formation is...
The heartwood of western redcedar (Thuja plicuta) is known for its natural resistance to fungal attack, but some users of western redcedar utility poles have suggested that its durability may be diminished as suppliers begin to harvest trees from younger stands. The decay resistance of western redcedar samples from the...
The levels of copper, chromium, and arsenic in soil surrounding CCA-treated posts and beneath CCA-treated stakes were investigated at a plot near Gainesville, Florida. Metal levels were elevated in soil immediately adjacent to the treated wood, but decreased with distance away or depth. Mean extractable arsenic levels ranged from 1.74...
The chemical composition of the boles of 14 Douglas-fir trees growing in the central Willamette Valley of western Oregon was examined to determine whether differences in various chemical component levels might help to explain arthropod or microbial colonization patterns. Levels of nearly all cations as well as N and P...
An aging electricity distribution system and reduced availability of naturally durable tropical hardwoods in Australia will
combine in the next decade to produce a major shortage of poles. One approach to mitigating this shortage is to utilize lower
durability species and improve the penetration of preservatives into the refractory heartwood...