Mechanical wood processing

Over the centuries, the multitude of outlets for wood and the trades it generates have given rise to an economic concept known as the "wood industry" (see [Doc. BM 7 410] ), which extends from forestry to manufactured goods, through successive transformations from industry to craftsmanship, while also becoming involved in crucial areas such as research, training and, nowadays, the requirement for "sustainable development", to which this ever-renewable material perfectly responds, provided that trees are harvested and replanted with intelligence.

When you're in a position of technical responsibility, such as head of the quality assurance department in a wood products company, you need a common language, shared knowledge and important points of reference to help you listen, understand, discuss, decide and control. This language and knowledge are often underdeveloped in general higher education, due to a lack of time for in-depth study, or even to ostracism on the part of certain programs that give pride of place to "cutting-edge techniques", or to synthetic materials wrongly reputed to be more "modern" and "promising".

In light of the latest developments in knowledge, machining techniques and new materials on the market, including "mixed" materials, the previous edition of this booklet, written in 1994, needed to be updated, at least in part. In addition to the invariants presented this time around, with the necessary emphasis on examples to illustrate their importance, it includes a number of additions that should be noted, as they have been in common use or are in the pipeline, or are subject to regulatory constraints, since that time.

This first article, "Wood processing", takes up these basic "material" invariants, whether from a biological, physical or mechanical point of view. Wood-derived materials – - from the great classics to the most recent – - are then presented, along with their reasons for being, how they are obtained, their characteristics and their performance in relation to their uses, as well as sheet or film materials to reinforce their stiffness or coat them. Typical assemblies and surface protection/finishing methods are then described.

The following articles on mechanical woodworking, written by Jacques Juan, present in detail the laws of woodworking, the main machining operations using cutting tools and the machines used, other transformations without cutting tools, and finally the new health and safety rules, as the regulatory framework for the sector has been strengthened over the last fifteen years in terms of workplace safety.

The "Mechanical woodworking" theme includes the following...