DEFECTS IN TIMBER

Timber (often referred to as wood simply) is an engineering material

widely used in the field of civil engineering for making doors,
windows, flooring, plywood, etc. To be specific, timber differs from
wood which is a fibrous material constituting the major part of the
tree. Whereas, the wood which is characterised by withstanding
chemical composition and the physical natural structure, and is
thereby ready to be used for engineering work after being seasoned
is called timber.

The timber being for work needs to be seasoned properly, moreover

there may exist some defects in it due to various reasons during it’s
growth stage as well.
The various factors contributing for development of defects on
timber are broadly classified as:
 Defects due to abnormal growth
 Defects due to conversion
 Defects due to seasoning
 Defects due to bacterial and fungal action
 Defects due to insects and rodents

1. DEFECTS IN TIMBER DUE TO ABNORMAL GROWT

If the growth of the wood yielding timber is not proper it may lead to
following defects:
 CHECKS: These are longitudinal (normal to annular rings) cracks
developed which permits air and water thereby reducing the
durability and strength.
 SHAKES: These are longitudinal separations developed between
the annular rings which ultimately deteriorate the timber quality
by adversely affecting it’s shear strength and also making it
undesirable in appearance. They may be of following types:
 HEART SHAKES: these are cracks initiating from the pith to the
sap wood which originate due to shrinkage of sap wood.
 CUP SHAKES: when the tree is young many a times it is seen
that due to excessive frost action there occurs curved splits
which leads to separation of annular rings.
 STAR SHAKES: these are radial cracks which initiates from the
circumferences and diminishes toward the centre of tree due
to successive alternative heating and cooling (frost action)
causing wood to dry even below fibre saturation point.

 KNOTS: they basically occur due to presence of bases of twigs

or branches attached to the main trunk which disturbs the grain
structure and annular rings so formed. A knot may be:
 Live knot: Cannot be separated
 Dead knot: Can be separated
 TWISTED FIBRES: As a stimulus response if the trunk of a tree
over a period of time grows continuously in a twisted or bent
direction the sides of the trunk may experience compression
(soft wood) or tensile force (hard wood), which make the
workability difficult with that twisted timber, thereby making it
defective.
2. DEFECT DUE TO CONVERSION
When wooed in converted it is machined too. If during thing
process of conversion be it by Flat swan method or True quarter
swan method if any step is not carried out properly leading to wane
or formation of excessive slopes, etc, it makes timber defected for
engineering work.

3. DEFECTS DUE TO SEASONING

Since we know freshly fell down trees have high percentages of
moisture content, it needs to eliminated and thus seasoning is a
mandatory step for timber to be made suitable for engineering
works. During this process it must be kept in mind that there should
not be excessive or uneven of drying, proper handling, no exposure
to high heat or extreme cold or rains, etc.
If the needed precautions are not observed it may lead to various
seasoning defects like checks, splitting and warpages (cupping,
bowing or twisting).

4. DEFECTS DUE TO BACTERIAL AND FUNGAL ACTION

Timber or wood is fundamentally composed of cellulose which
under wet conditions is prone to be affected by action of bacteria
and fungus (fugus affects at a faster rate). Thus, timber need to be
protected against the two in order to be defect free.
Therefore, felled trees should be air dried at the earliest possible to
avoid moisture.

5. DEFECTS DUE TO INSECTS AND RODENTS

Although domestic rodents are not of much harm to timber, yet
it needs to be protected against them since they can easily
penetrate into it.
Unlike rodents, insects of various kinds can harm timber in many
different ways. Some of the common insects that attack timber
are Termites (White Ants), Beetles, Carpenter Ants, etc.
These insects damage the inner parts of timber leaving it’s
appearance unaffected.
Often, a mixture of turpentine and orthodichlorobenzene is
used as a preventive measure against insects as it’s vapours are
deadly to insects but do not harm humans.