Wood industry
The wood industry or timber industry is the industry concerned with forestry, logging, timber trade, and the production of primary forest products and wood products and secondary products like wood pulp for the pulp and paper industry. Some of the largest producers are also among the biggest owners of forest. The wood industry has historically been and continues to be an important sector in many economies.
Distinction
In the narrow sense of the terms, wood, forest, forestry and timber/lumber industry appear to point to different sectors, in the industrialized, internationalized world, there is a tendency toward huge integrated businesses that cover the complete spectrum from silviculture and forestry in private primary or secondary forests or plantations via the logging process up to wood processing and trading and transport.Processing and products differs especially with regard to the distinction between softwood and hardwood. While softwood primarily goes into the production of wood fuel and pulp and paper, hardwood is used mainly for furniture, floors, etc.. Both types can be of use for building and construction purposes.
Production chain
and wood products, including timber for framing, plywood, and woodworking, are created in the wood industry from the trunks and branches of trees through several processes, commencing with the selection of appropriate logging sites and concluding with the milling and treatment processes of the harvested material. In order to determine which logging sites and milling sites are responsibly producing environmental, social and economic benefits, they must be certified under the Forest Stewardship Council Forests For All Forever Certification that ensures these qualities.Harvesting
Mature trees are harvested from both plantations and native forests. Trees harvested at a younger age produce smaller logs, and these can be turned into lower-value products. Factors such as location, climate conditions, species, growth rate, and silviculture can affect the size of a mature tree.Timber mills
The native hardwood saw-milling industry originally consisted of small family-owned mills, but has recently changed to include a small number of larger mills. Mills produce large volumes of material and aim to ensure delivery of a high quality standard of product. Their goal is to do this efficiently and safely, at low cost, with rapid production time and high output.Production and use
Once the timber has been manipulated in the required fashion, it can be shipped out for usage. There are many different purposes for wood including plywood, veneer, pulp, paper, particleboard, pallets, craft items, toys, instrument-making, furniture production, packing cases, wine barrels, cardboard, firewood, garden mulch, fibre adhesives, packaging and pet litter. Western Australia has a unique substance called ‘biochar’, which is made from jarrah and pine and sometimes from crop and forestry residues, along with the former materials. Biochar can be used to manufacture silicone and as a soil additive.Softwoods, such as the Australian eucalyptus, are highly valued, a are used mainly for construction, paper making, and cladding. The term 'round wood' describes all the wood removed from forests in log form and used for purposes other than fuel. Wood manufacturing residues, such as sawdust and chippings, are collectively known as "pulp". The United States industrial production index hit a 13-year high during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Transport
Originally, trees were felled from native forests using axes and hand-held cross-cut saws – a slow process involving significant manual labor. Since sawmills were traditionally located within forests, milled timber had to be transported over long distances via rough terrain or waterways to reach its destination. Logs were later transported via train and tram lines, first by steam-powered log haulers then by steam-powered locomotives, and finally diesel and petrol-powered locomotives. Even in the modern era, timber is dried in kilns. When the first steam railway in Australia opened in Melbourne in 1854, timber transportation changed dramatically. Trains made the transportation of lumber quicker and more affordable, making it possible for the Australian sawmill industry to move inland.Wood is transported by a variety of methods, typically by road vehicle and log driving over shorter distances. For longer journeys, wood is transported by sea on timber carriers, subject to the IMO TDC Code.
Top producers
As of 2019, the top timberland owners in the US were structured as real-estate investment trusts and include:- Weyerhaeuser Co.
- Rayonier
- PotlatchDeltic
- Boise Cascade
- North Pacific Group
- Sierra Pacific Industries
According to sawmilldatabase, the world top producers of sawn wood in 2007 were:
| Company | Production or Capacity in m3/yr |
| West Fraser Timber Co Ltd | 8,460,000 |
| Canfor | 6,900,000 |
| Weyerhaeuser | 6,449,000 |
| Stora Enso | 4,646,000 |
| Georgia Pacific | 4,300,000 |
| Resolute Forest Products | 3,760,000 |
| Interfor | 3,550,000 |
| Sierra Pacific Industries | 3,200,000 |
| Hampton Affiliates | 3,100,000 |
| Arauco | 2,800,000 |
| Tolko Industries Ltd | 2,500,000 |
| Pfeifer Group | 2,200,000 |
Issues
Safety
Noise
Workers within the forestry and logging industry sub-sector fall within the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry sector as characterized by the North American Industry Classification System. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has taken a closer look at the AFFH industry's noise exposures and prevalence of hearing loss. While the overall industry sector had a prevalence of hearing loss lower than the overall prevalence of noise-exposed industries, workers within forestry and logging exceeded 21%. Thirty-six percent of workers within forest nurseries and gathering of forest products, a sub-sector within forestry and logging, experienced hearing loss, the most of any AFFH sub-sector. Workers within forest nurseries and gathering of forest products are tasked with growing trees for reforestation and gathering products such as rhizomes and barks. Comparatively, non-noise-exposed workers have only a 7% prevalence of hearing loss.Worker noise exposures in the forestry and logging industry have been found to be up to 102 dBA. NIOSH recommends that a worker have an 8-hour time-weighted average of noise exposure of 85 dBA. Excessive noise puts workers at an increased risk of developing hearing loss. If a worker were to develop a hearing loss as a result of occupational noise exposures, it would be classified as occupational hearing loss. Noise exposures within the forestry and logging industry can be reduced by enclosing engines and heavy equipment, installing mufflers and silencers, and performing routine maintenance on equipment. Noise exposures can also be reduced through the hierarchy of hazard controls where removal or replacement of noisy equipment serves as the best method of noise reduction.
Injury
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that fatalities of forestry and logging workers have increased from 2013 to 2016, up from 81 to 106 per year. In 2016, there were 3.6 cases of injury and illness per 100 workers within this industry.Illegal logging
Economy
The existence of a wood economy, or more broadly, a forest economy, is a prominent matter in many developing countries as well as in many other nations with a temperate climate and especially in those with low temperatures. These are generally the countries with greater forested areas so conditions allow for development of local forestry to harvest wood for local uses. The uses of wood in furniture, buildings, bridges, and as a source of energy are widely known. Additionally, wood from trees and bushes, can be used in a variety of products, such as wood pulp, cellulose in paper, celluloid in early photographic film, cellophane, and rayon.At the end of their normal usage, wood products can be burnt to obtain thermal energy or can be used as a fertilizer. The potential environmental damage that a wood economy could occasion include a reduction of biodiversity due to monoculture forestry ; and CO2 emissions. However, forests can aid in the reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus limit climate change.
File: Columbia Log Raft.jpg|thumb|A massive log raft headed down the Columbia River in 1902, containing an entire year's worth of logs from one timber camp.
Paper is today the most used wood product.
History of use of wood
The wood economy was the starting point of the civilizations worldwide, since eras preceding the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. It necessarily preceded ages of metals by many millennia, as the melting of metals was possible only through the discovery of techniques to light fire and the building of many simple machines and rudimentary tools, as canes, club handles, bows, arrows, lances. One of the most ancient handmade articles ever found is a polished wooden spear tip 250,000 years old, that was buried under sediments in England, at Clacton-on-Sea.Dimensions and geography
The main source of the lumber used in the world is forests, which can be classified as virgin, semivirgin and plantations. Much timber is removed for firewood by local populations in many countries, especially in the third world, but this amount can only be estimated, with wide margins of uncertainty.In 1998, the worldwide production of "Roundwood", was about, amounting to around 45% of the wood cultivated in the world. Cut logs and branches destined to become elements for building construction accounted for approximately 55% of the world's industrial wood production. 25% became wood pulp mainly destined for the production of paper and paperboard, and approximately 20% became panels in plywood and valuable wood for furniture and objects of common use.
By 2001 the rainforest areas of Brazil were reduced by a fifth, to around 4,000,000 km2; the ground cleared was mainly destined for cattle pasture—Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef with almost 200,000,000 head of cattle. The booming Brazilian ethanol economy based upon sugar cane cultivation, is likewise reducing forests area. Canadian forest was reduced by almost 30% to 3,101,340 km2 over the same period.