Solid wood
Mechanical wood processing

Wood (or xylem) refers to the secondary lignified conductive tissue found in gymnosperms (conifers or softwoods) and angiosperms (deciduous trees). This plant-based origin of wood explains its unique characteristics, as well as its richness and variety. As a material with variable characteristics and more or less pronounced unique qualities, it differs in this respect from artificial or synthetic materials.

Wood is heterogeneous, anisotropic, and hygroscopic.

• It is heterogeneous because the cells that make it up vary in nature and shape, its density is unevenly distributed, and distinct growth patterns characterize each section.

• It is anisotropic because its cellular structure is oriented. This cellular arrangement appears differently depending on the three planes from which the wood is viewed (Figure):

• the transverse plane, perpendicular to...