Forest Products and Wood Science: An Introduction

This fourth edition is a major revision of a classic textbook continues its long tradition of being an introductory text designed to introduce students to wood as an industrial raw material. It is intended to help develop an understanding of the physical and chemical nature of wood, important wood properties and the nature of major wood products.

Wood-based materials discussed include solid wood products, structural and non-structural panel products, paper and fiber products, and how wood properties affect the use and performance of these products. Related issues examined include the use of wood for energy, environmental implications of wood-based materials, and the global wood supply.

Divided into four parts: Part I introduces the growth and structure of hardwoods and softwoods, chemical and structural characteristics of wood and bark and inherent variability. Part 2 deals with the physical properties of wood, relating these properties to the chemical and structural characteristics covered in Part I. Part 3 discusses the principal major wood-based products, the basic manufacturing processes associated with each, and how raw material selection affects product properties. Part 4 focuses on the global raw material picture, use of wood as an energy source, and environmental implications of the use of wood.

Jim L. Bowyer is Director of the Forest Products Management Development Institute (FPMDI), part of the Department of Wood and Paper Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul. Bowyer's research focus is environmental life cycle analysis and global demand/supply trends for key industrial raw materials. He served as head of the Department of Wood & Paper Science from 1984 to 1994. Dr. Bowyer is a fellow of the International Academy of Wood Science, member of the Executive Board of the Tropical Forest Foundation, scientific advisor to the Temperate Forest Foundation, past president of the Forest Products Society, and past president of the Society of Wood Science and Technology. He is an author of more than 170 technical papers dealing with various aspects of forest products and wood science, and is co-author of the CD-ROM The Nature of Wood and Wood Products.

Rubin Shmulsky is a graduate faculty member of the Wood and Paper Science department at the University of Minnesota and was previously a faculty member of the Forest Products department at Mississippi State University. He researches and teaches the engineering, design, application, and performance of wood products; specifically, primary and secondary processing, moisture relations, composites, physical and mechanical properties, structural applications, in-service failures, drying emissions, and general wood technology. Dr. Shmulsky is also a board member of the consulting and research firm Timber Technology, LLC.

John G. Haygreen spent four years working in lumber manufacturing and sales prior to his academic career. He served on the faculties at Auburn University, University of Minnesota, Colorado State University, and Michigan State University and was involved in lumber and panel-product research and in teaching wood science and product technology from 1956 until his retirement in 1990. A former first head of the Department of Forest Products at the University of Minnesota and first associate dean of the School of Forestry at Auburn University, Dr. Haygreen is a past president of the Society of Wood Science and Technology and the Forest Products Society, and a fellow in the International Academy of Wood Science. He is author of three patents and more than sixty research papers dealing with the drying, mechanical behavior, and utilization of lumber and wood products.