Wood Preservation and Wood Products Treatment Training Manual

Practice flashcards for VOCABULARY focusing on wood preservation, wood properties, wood-damaging pests, and regulatory/safety standards for pesticides.

Wood Preservation

The process of protecting wood products with preservatives to ensure a reasonable service life, especially when in contact with the ground or exposed to weather.

Sapwood

The zone of lighter wood surrounding the heartwood, often deeper in fast-growing trees, composed of fibers used for vertical transport of water and nutrients.

Heartwood

The core of darker colored wood at the center of a tree, which may contain phenolic compounds and resins that make it more decay-resistant than sapwood.

Cellulose

A complex sugar (carbohydrate) that is the main constituent of all wood, providing strength and serving as a nutrition source for many forms of life.

Lignin

The second most abundant constituent of wood, acting as a thin cementing layer between wood cells; it is an irregular polymer of substituted propylphenol groups.

Conditions for Decay

Factors including adequate oxygen, moisture (normally greater than $30\%$), temperature ($41\text{ to }104\,^{\circ}\text{F}$), and a food source.

Wood-destroying fungi

Organisms that grow through wood, digesting parts of it as food and eventually destroying its strength; examples include brown, white, and soft rots.

Brown rot fungi

Fungi that break down the cellulose component of wood, leaving a brown residue of lignin, dark color, excessive shrinkage, and cross-grain cracking.

White rot fungi

Fungi that break down both lignin and cellulose, creating a bleaching effect that may make damaged wood whiter than normal; more common in hardwoods.

Soft rot fungi

Fungi that usually attack water-saturated wood, causing a gradual softening from the surface inward; often a problem in wet locations like cooling towers.

Sap-staining fungi

Fungi that penetrate and discolor sapwood, particularly among softwoods, with little or no effect on the wood's strength.

Mold fungi

Fungi appearing as green, yellow, brown, or black fuzzy surface growth; they can increase the capacity of wood to absorb moisture but are generally removable by brushing.

Chemical stains

Discolorations caused by chemical changes during processing, such as iron reacting with tannins to produce a black stain, rather than growth of fungi.

Subterranean termites

Wood-destroying insects that live in soil and build mud tubes over surfaces to reach and attack unprotected wood products.

Dampwood termites

Insects that attack wood with high moisture content; they are larger than subterranean termites and include soldiers with very large heads.

Carpenter ants

The most destructive insect pests of wood in the Pacific Northwest; they chew galleries in wood for shelter but do not use it for food.

Powderpost (Lyctus) beetles

Insects that lay eggs in wood pores; the emerging larvae burrow through wood, creating tunnels packed with fine powder.

Anobiid beetles

Beetles that attack softwoods in damp spaces; their presence is often signaled by small, round exit holes of approximately $\frac{1}{8}\,\text{inch}$ in diameter.

Marine borers

Organisms such as shipworms (Mollusca) and gribbles (Crustacea) that destroy untreated timber in brackish or salt water.

Kiln drying

The most efficient method of seasoning wood using a chamber with controlled airflow and heat; it eliminates most fungi and insects.

Naturally resistant wood

Wood from species like cedar and redwood whose heartwood is resistant (though not immune) to decay fungi and insects.

General-use pesticides

Chemicals like copper naphthenate or borates, whose exposure is considered less hazardous than restricted-use alternatives.

Restricted-use pesticides

A designation for preservatives like creosote, pentachlorophenol, and inorganic arsenicals, which may only be purchased or used by trained and licensed applicators.

Creosote

An oily liquid byproduct of bituminous coal heating, used for railroad ties and pilings; it is recorded as a carcinogen and mutagen.

Pentachlorophenol (Penta)

A water-insoluble preservative dissolved in organic solvents; it is considered a teratogen and is not permitted for use in log home construction.

Inorganic arsenicals

Water-soluble preservatives like CCA (chromated copper arsenate) that become fixed in wood; they are no longer used for residential applications.

Acute toxicity

Toxic effects of chemical exposure that result from a high-level, short-term exposure, with symptoms appearing soon after contact.

Chronic toxicity

Toxic effects resulting from the cumulative effects of low-level, long-term exposure, such as cancer or genetic defects.

Consumer Information Sheet (CIS)

A document containing use precautions and safe working practices for each restricted-use chemical preservative, provided to consumers through the CAP program.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)

Documents required by laws, like the Right to Know Law, providing detailed information on toxicity, first aid, and storage precautions.

Check

A lengthwise separation of wood extending across growth rings, resulting from seasoning stresses.

Incipient decay

The early stage of decomposition by fungi that has not yet softened the wood, typically marked by slight discoloration.

Advanced decay

The stage of fungal decomposition where the wood becomes visibly punky, soft, spongy, pitted, or crumbly.