Forest Utilisation Chapter 10: Uses of Wood, Matchwood, Pencils, Sports Goods, Sleepers and Bobbins
Forest Utilisation Notes · Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Uses of Wood
Requirements and species for aircraft, boats, cooperage, match, pencil, packing and tea chests, sports goods, rifles, bobbins, toys, sleepers, piles and structural uses.
1. Choosing wood for a use
The suitability of a timber for a use depends on a combination of properties: weight, strength, hardness, flexibility, elasticity, toughness, durability, colour, grain and figure. This chapter is mainly a list of which species suits which use, a favourite area for one-line MCQs.
2. Special-purpose woods
| Use | Best wood | Indian woods or notes |
|---|---|---|
| Aircraft | Sitka spruce (imported) | Fir and spruce as substitutes |
| Floats, life buoys (lightness) | Balsa (Ochroma pyramidalis), world's lightest commercial timber | Bakota, Cryptomeria, Erythrina |
| Bearings | Lignum vitae | Extreme hardness and self-lubrication needed |
| Battery separators | — | Fir and spruce |
| Bent wood articles | — | Mulberry, ash, Celtis |
| Ship building | Teak, 'the best ship building timber in the world' | Oars of dhaman; masts of conifers |
| Pencils | Pencil cedar (Juniperus virginiana) | Deodar and cypress after wax treatment; alder and juniper for high grade |
| Rifle parts and gun stocks | Walnut | Must be well seasoned |
| Bobbins | Birch, beech, maple | Haldu is the most used Indian bobbin wood |
| Toys | — | Light, easily worked woods; dudhi (Wrightia tinctoria), sandalwood for carving |
3. Match industry
- Started in India in 1922 after an import duty; all matches were imported up to 1921.
- Annual timber need about 2,00,000 m³; 60% made in factories, rest in cottage units.
- ISI considers 25 species suitable; FRI has tested 93 species.
- Best matchwoods in the world: European aspen (Populus tremula) and Tilia japonica.
- Indian matchwoods: semal, bakota, dhup (Canarium), banati, udal, gutel, kadam, mango, chatian (Alstonia), Ailanthus and others.
Qualities of a matchwood: straight grain, good fissility, strength and toughness with lightness, white colour, no knots, easy peeling, and ability to absorb paraffin.
4. Sports goods
| Article | Wood |
|---|---|
| Cricket bats | Willow; best is English cricket bat willow, Salix alba var. caerulea, now grown in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh |
| Hockey sticks | Mulberry (Morus alba); Celtis australis as substitute |
| Cricket stumps | Mulberry |
| Bows | Yew; for arrows, bamboo and reeds |
| Skis | Ash and hickory abroad; sissoo, mulberry and axlewood in India |
| Rackets | Built-up frames of ash and mulberry |
| Golf clubs | Hickory shafts (imported); ash |
5. Packing, cooperage and furniture
Large end use for fruit, machinery and glass; light, non-tainting woods such as mango, salai and kanju.
3-ply tea chests have practically ousted solid boxes; nearly 85% of plywood output is tea-chest plywood.
Tight cooperage for liquids (strong, durable, non-tainting wood); slack cooperage for dry goods.
Teak, rosewood, sissoo, walnut, toon, deodar; with secondary timbers like mango, salai and kanju now used.
6. Structural and outdoor uses
| Use | Notes |
|---|---|
| Railway sleepers | About 10 million sleepers needed a year for renewals and new lines; about 3200 sleepers per km of track |
| Fresh water work | Wood always submerged stays sound; for alternate wetting and drying use babul, deodar, sal, mesua, aini, irul |
| Marine piles | Need resistance to marine borers; pressure treatment with creosote or ASCU prolongs life |
| Shingles | Thin wooden roof tiles |
| Paving blocks | Wooden blocks set in bitumen for street paving |
| Oil and sugar mills | Hard, tough, abrasion-resistant: babul, khair, hiwar, bael, siris |
7. Quick revision
- Teak: best ship building timber in the world.
- Balsa: lightest; lignum vitae: bearings; sitka spruce: aircraft.
- Match industry from 1922; aspen and Tilia japonica best; 25 ISI species, 93 tested at FRI.
- Pencil cedar = Juniperus virginiana; deodar used in India after treatment.
- Cricket bat = Salix alba var. caerulea; hockey = mulberry; bobbins = haldu.
- About 85% of plywood output goes into tea chests.
- About 10 million sleepers a year; 3200 per km.
8. Interactive MCQ Quiz
15 questions. Tap an option to see the answer and explanation, then go to the next question.
Comments
Post a Comment