Back to: Basic Technology JSS 1
Welcome to class!
In today’s class, we will be talking more about wood. Enjoy the class!
Properties and Uses of Wood
Properties of wood
The main physical properties of wood include colour, lustre, texture, macro-structure, odour, moisture, shrinkage, internal stresses, swelling, cracking, warping, density, sound – electro – thermal conductivity. Colour, shine, texture and macro-structure determine the appearance of wood.
Sensory characteristics include colour, lustre, odour, taste, texture, grain, figure.
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Colour:
It covers a wide range — yellow, green, red, brown, black, and nearly pure white woods exist, but most woods are shades of white and brown. Variations may show on a single piece of wood, depending on colour differences between heartwood, sapwood, early-wood, late-wood, rays, and resin canals. Natural colour is subject to change by prolonged exposure to the atmosphere and by bleaching or dying. Some woods (for example, black locust, honey, and several tropical species) are fluorescent.
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Natural lustre:
It is characteristic of some species (for example, spruce, ash, basswood, and poplar) and more prominent on radial surfaces.
Odour and taste are due to volatile substances contained in wood. Although difficult to describe, they are helpful distinguishing characteristics in some cases. The term texture describes the degree of uniformity of appearance of a wood surface, usually transverse.
Grain is often used synonymously with texture, as in coarse, fine, or even texture or grain, and also to denote direction of wood elements, whether straight, spiral, or wavy, for example. Grain sometimes is used in place of figure, as in silver grain in the oak. The term figure applies to natural designs or patterns of wood surfaces (normally radial or tangential).
Uses of wood
Home construction and Domestic constructions made out of wood were popular many years ago and are still widely used. Commonly, wood in home construction is used like the flooring, frames of the doors and windows and so on. There are a lot of types of wood that can be used in this sphere. For example Deodar (Cedrus deodara) and walnut wood (Juglans sp).
1. Fencing and decorating gardens:
It’s a very fashionable trend nowadays to decorate your home and garden. And when it comes to this, such material as wood is a perfect decision.
It is very popular for fencing as well.
2. Building:
- Woods are used for building boats and lorry bodies.
- They are also used for construction and furniture works.
- Woods are also used in hospitals to produce clutches.
- They are used to form tool handles.
In our next class, we will be talking about Identification and Types of Alloys. We hope you enjoyed the class.
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