St.

JOSEPH HIGH
TECH DEPARTMENT
GRADE 10 EASTER-Term
Building Technology Lesson
Plan
SIR. A WILSON
 Timber Defects
Timber defects are irregularities, imperfections, or anomalies that can occur in wood, compromising
its structural integrity, aesthetic appeal, or suitability for various applications. These defects can
result from various factors, including natural characteristics, environmental influences, and handling
and processing methods. Timber defects can be categorized into two main types: inherent and
acquired defects.

Inherent Defects:
1. Knots: Knots are circular or oval sections in the wood where branches or limbs grew.
They can weaken the wood and affect its appearance. Knots are categorized as live knots
(from living branches) or dead knots (from dead branches).
2. Grain Irregularities: Irregular grain patterns, such as spiral grain, interlocked grain, or
wavy grain, can lead to variations in wood strength and may affect machining and
finishing.
3. Splits and Checks: Splits are lengthwise separations in the wood, while checks are cracks
on the surface. These defects often occur during drying and can compromise the wood's
integrity.
4. Pitch Pockets: Pitch pockets are resin-filled voids or cavities in the wood caused by resin
accumulation around knots. They can affect the wood's appearance and machining.
5. Mineral Streaks: Mineral streaks are dark-colored streaks or bands in the wood caused
by minerals or other substances absorbed from the soil. They can affect the wood's
appearance but don't usually impact its strength.
6. Wane: Wane occurs when the edge of a board contains bark or lacks wood due to
improper sawing or trimming. It can reduce the usable dimensions of a board.
Acquired Defects:
1. Warping: Warping includes various deformations, such as cupping (edges curling upward
or downward), bowing (the board curving along its length), twisting (the board twisting
along its length), and crooking (the board having a curve along its width). These defects
can occur due to changes in moisture content or improper storage.
2. Fungal Decay: Fungal decay, often referred to as wood rot, can cause wood to
deteriorate over time, leading to a loss of structural strength. It is typically caused by
exposure to moisture and fungal spores.
3. Insect Infestation: Wood-boring insects, such as termites, beetles, and ants, can tunnel
into wood, weakening its structural integrity. Signs of insect infestation include exit holes
and sawdust-like frass.
 4. Stains and Discoloration: Wood can develop stains or discoloration due to water stains,
mold, mildew, or chemical reactions. While these may not affect structural integrity,
they can diminish the wood's appearance.
5. Mechanical Damage: Wood can incur mechanical damage during handling,
transportation, or installation. This may include dents, gouges, or scratches.
6. Mineral Deposits: Mineral deposits, such as iron stains or blue stain, can affect wood's
appearance but generally do not impact its strength.
Timber defects can vary in severity, and the impact on wood's suitability for a particular application
depends on factors like the type, size, and location of the defect, as well as the intended use of the
wood. In some cases, defects can be mitigated through proper grading, cutting, and processing
techniques. For high-quality applications, selecting wood with fewer defects is crucial to ensure
structural integrity and aesthetic appeal.

Knots
A knot marks the position of growth of a branch on the tree. On the cut board, it is most
easily marked by its conspicuously darker appearance and harder character. A knot is
essentially a discontinuity in the timber and hence a place of weakness.

Some types of knots are:

1. Rounded 5. Edge Knot

Knots show great variation in their size, shape, and stage of development. A few common
types of knots are pin knots, small knots, medium knots and large knots.
Similarly, on the basis of shape Knots may be described as rounded, oval and spike knots. On
the basis of their mode of occurrence, we may classify them as single knots, knot clusters or
groups.
Knots may also be distinguished into a tight knot and a loose knot, and so on.
Some of the above types are defined as follows:
 • Live Knot: It is that part (root) of the branch that becomes completely enclosed within
the growing trunk of a tree.
• In such a knot, there is complete structural continuity between the fibers of the branch
and the main tree.
• Dead Knot: In such a knot, the continuity of structure is almost lost or is only up to 25
percent.
• An Inter-grown Knot: This is the term used when almost three-fourths of the fibers of
the knot (perimeter) show continuation with the main tree.
• Encased Knot: It is a knot surrounded entirely by bark.
• Edge Knot: It is seen only in saw-on timber, on one edge of the cut portion.
• Face Knot: It is also seen on cut timber on the face of the board.
• Knots of whatever type and shape are always to be considered as defects in timber.
They influence the quality of timber at least in two ways:
– they make the workability of timber quite difficult. They are harder and offer
greater resistance to planning and polishing.
– they reduce the tensile strength of the timber. Compressive and shear strength
are, however, not affected badly.

Shakes
After knots, shakes are more serious and common defects in timber.
In simple language, they are also called cracks. These natural cracks may result from:
1. Shrinkage on aging of the tree;
2. due to movement caused by wind action in the growing tree;
3. freezing of sap in the cells during its ascent.
Depending on their position in the tree trunk as seen in a transverse section, following types of
shakes are commonly recognized:

A. Star Shakes: They are also called radial shakes. They generally arise in the sap wood
and extend towards the inner regions.
Hence, these are wider in the outer regions and become narrower as they pass
inwards. The main cause for their development in a living tree is severe temperature
difference during different seasons, such as excessive heat during summer, and severe
cold, leading to frost formation in winter.
B. Cup Shakes: These are also called ring shakes. These are cracks that develop parallel to
the annual rings.
 As such, when fully developed, they may separate portions of timber longitudinally
along the rings. But this condition is seldom seen. Generally, they develop along a part
of a particular annual ring. Reasons for development of cup or ring shakes are to be
sought in the unequal growth of the timber.
The most important effect of the shakes on the timber is that these reduce its
resistance to shear considerably. As such, it is necessary to avoid the use of timber
containing shakes where severe shear stresses are involved.
C. Heart Shakes: These are cracks or clefts occurring in the heartwood, i.e., towards the
inner region.
They indicate the beginning of decay of the tree. They become thinner as they extend
outward (towards sapwood).

Another effect is that shakes allow an easy access of moisture and air to the interior of the tree
along with insects and fungi. This reduces the durability of the timber.

Cross Grain
As said earlier, fibers of the wood in a normal tree are usually parallel to the axis of growth
(length of timber). This structure is called straight grained.
In some cases, however, these fibers are not straight; they make an angle or slope with the axis
of the tree, the structure is then called cross-grained.
In fact, a minor slope (of grain) may be seen in most trees. It may be quite harmless. The slope
of grain becomes harmful (or a defect) when it exceeds specified limits.
Checks.
These are cracks or clefts developing longitudinally in the logs after their felling. These cracks
or checks are often cutting across the annual rings of the log.
In most cases, their origin is due to a simple cause of unequal drying. Thus, when a log of wood
remains exposed to the atmosphere only on one side, the upper side will lose more moisture
than the underside.
This will result in a shrinkage in the exposed region to such an extent that tensile forces
sufficient to cause a crack or cracks in the wood will be easily developed.
The development of such checks could be avoided by changing the position of the timber log at
regular intervals.

This will ensure uniform shrinkage which will not allow the checks to develop.
The effect of checks on the quality of timber is that they reduce their strength on the one hand
and allow the moisture to seep in on the other hand.

Warps.
Warping is defined as a deformation in the original plane surface of a board cut from the
timber.
This is also attributed to ‘unequal’ shrinkage. It is most commonly developed in those boards
that are cut from green or ‘unseasoned’ timber.

Warping deformations may take various shapes of these, following are more common:
 • Bow: It is a curvature of the board developed in a longitudinal direction. The thin
board takes shape resembling a bow.
• Cupping: It is a distortion developed transversely. Length of the board remains
unaffected, but the width suffers distortion.
• Twisting: It is a complex type of distortion in which one end of the board is so much
distorted that it comes to lie over a part of the other edge.

The above distortions may be developed wholly or partly depending upon the thickness of the
board and also on the extent of drying.