SAINT
MICHAEL’S COLLEGE OF LAGUNA
BASIC EDUCATION DIVISION
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Technology and Livelihood Education – Carpentry for Grade 10
First Quarter: PREPARE CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS AND TOOLS
LO 1. Identify Carpentry Materials
Learning Packet No. 4 TIMBER AND LUMBER
As a carpenter, you’ll be handling and working with a wide range of materials. To
ensure that you canidentify, obtain, prepare and handle them correctly and safely, you’ll
firstly need to know what thesematerials are.
This section provides an overview of the main types of timber and associated
timber materials you’re most likely to work with in your day-to-day carpentry tasks on a
building project.
You’ll also look at environmental considerations, and how to be more eco-friendly
about the materials you handle. This means you’re thinking about points such as:
• how they’re manufactured
• what goes into them, eg whether they contain chemicals
• how they can be recycled or reused
• whether they’re manufactured sustainably, eg plantation timbers
• whether they’re made from recycled materials
• how they can be disposed of in a way that won’t harm the environment.
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A. Wood and timber
As a carpenter, you’ll work mostly with wood and timber. But is there a difference
between wood and timber? Well, technically speaking, there is.
Wood is an organic substance that supports a tree. It contains cells that store the
tree’s food, and transport water up to its branches and leaves, keeping the tree alive.
A mature oak tree
Timber is what a carpenter uses. It’s the term used to describe wood once it’s no
longer part of a living tree and has been processed for use as a building material.
Processed timber
Three Main Types of Wood
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It is important to understand the three basic types of wood you might encounter.
These three types are: softwoods, hardwoods, and engineered wood. Each of these
different wood types can be used in a number of different ways.
1. Softwoods
Softwoods are the wood and lumber which are milled from conifer trees.
Scientifically known as Gymnosperms, c trees are any trees which have needles
and produce cones.
Examples of popular softwood trees used in woodworking, construction,
and furniture are Pine, Cedar, Fir, Spruce, and Redwood.Most softwoods are
strong and commonly used in many different building applications.
Many of these woods, particularly softwoods from the cypress family are
renowned for their ability to resist rot and insects. This makes trees such as
cedar and redwood ideal for exterior projects, such as decking and outdoor
furniture.
2. Hardwoods
Hardwoods come from any trees which do not produce needles or cones.
These trees are most commonly are known as deciduous trees, more
scientifically known as angiosperms. Hardwoods are trees which produces
leaves and seeds.
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Common hardwood species include oak, maple, cherry, mahogany, and
walnut. Hardwood species are not always necessarily stronger than softwoods,
but many species are well known for their beautiful and distinct wood grain
patterns.
There are also some woods which are considered to be hardwoods that
are not deciduous trees, such as Bamboo and Palm. These plants are
scientifically known as monocotyledons, but have many of the same
characteristics of hardwoods and so are often classified as such. Bamboo and
Palm can sometimes fall under the next classification of engineered wood.
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Furniture designer Benji Reyes's "Iklok" sculpture of wooden eggs is actually
a learning tool for identifying local wood types.
(Left to right): Kamagong, dungon, ipil, dao, tindalo, molave, guijo, narra, langka,
saplungan, and yakal
KAMAGONG
Also known as Philippine Ebony, kamagong is a wood unique to the country.
With a black heartwood (inner region) and gray sapwood, this produces really
dramatic, dark timber hence the name. The grain is often grayish and has strong,
dark brown streaks.
Ideal for: Small, decorative pieces and combat tools like arnis sticks and eskrima
MOLAVE
One of the hardest local woods, molave has a fine texture that makes it
smooth to the touch. It's available in pale yellow to pinkish-brownish tone with a
lighter sapwood (outer region), and mostly straight grain. It has no distinct odor.
https://www.realliving.com.ph/home-improvement/building-renovating/building-101-
types-of-philippine-hardwood
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NARRA
This very popular tropical wood has tones that range from yellow to red. The
grain (texture and alignment of wood fiber) is often interlocked and wavy, which
creates interesting flame and ribbon figures when quartersawn or flat sawn, which
makes it a beautiful finishing material. Texture can be anywhere from average-fine to
average-coarse. The wood itself is lustrous and has an attractive odor. Narra is
classified as endangered and vulnerable here, and in Malaysia.
Ideal for: furnishings, floor planks, wall panels
TANGUILE
A moderately hard reddish wood, tanguile is one of the seven local woods
often referred to as Philippine Mahogany. This abundant wood type boasts of fine
ribbon or straight grain. It's relatively soft and easy to work on, but resilient enough
for outdoor construction.
Ideal for: interior finishes, cabinets, boat building
YAKAL
This resinous wood with yellow to golden-red tones is another local
mahogany type. A high-grade timber, yakal can tolerate harsh hot and cold
weathers.
Ideal for: furniture, surface finishes, small weapons, and outdoor constructions
3. Engineered Wood: Manufactured Wood Products
Engineered wood does not occur naturally in the environment but instead
are manufactured.These boards are generally made with wood which is
manipulated to have certain qualities or features. Also known as composite
wood, these products are often made from the waste wood of sawmills.
Engineered wood is often treated through chemical or a heat process to
produce a wood product which can meet certain sizes that would be difficult to
achieve from nature.
Popular examples of engineered woods include Plywood, Oriented Strand
Board, Medium Density Fiber Board, and Composite Board. Wood veneers can
also sometimes be classified as engineered wood, since it often needs to be
manipulated either through specialized cutting techniques or joining pieces
together to achieve a specific size or wood grain patterning.
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Commonly Used Timbers
You’ll find that most builders prefer to use local timbers; that is, timbers from
trees grown in their own region as it avoids the cost of having timber brought in from
other parts of the country (or world).
Using local timbers is also more environmentally friendly, as it cuts down on the
emissions and fuel usage that result from the large vehicles needed to transport timber.
In the Philippines, the wood industry is quite vibrant in Mindanao, especially the
CARAGA Region, which is dubbed the “Timber Corridor” of the country.
CARAGA is considered the leading producer of timber in the country. It covers
684,503 hectares (ha) of forest lands in Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del
Sur, and Surigao del Norte. During the last 15 years, the extraction of wood from the
natural forests has been gradually regulated until it was eventually banned in 2010 due
to the indiscriminate illegal logging activities in the uplands. Thus, the local sources of
the country’s woodbased industries are now totally dependent on plantation timber.
However, the government still allows the importation of logs and lumber from other
countries to address domestic wood requirements.
https://www.agriculture.com.ph/2019/02/04/the-philippines-wood-industry/
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The PCAARRD established a research program on ITP covering four major fast-
growing tree species: falcate (Paraserianthesfalcataria), mangium (Acacia mangium
Willd.), bagras (Eucalyptus deglupta Blume), and yemane (Gmelina arborea Roxb.).
Useful Terminology
The various parts of a piece of timber have names you’ll need to be familiar with.
Grain
Wood is made up of fibres and cells. These are what make up its grain. A
timber’s strength comes from how closely bonded together its fibres are – some woods
have a very well-bonded grain and are therefore very strong, whereas others have
fibres that are only loosely bonded and the wood is fairly easy to split along the grain.
Grain is important in carpentry when it comes to cutting, shaping, joining and sanding.
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Growth Rings
Growth rings are the lines you see on a cross-section cut, as shown here.
They’re formed when the tree adds another layer of wood to itself as it grows.
Generally speaking, each ring is a year’s growth; however, some trees will
develop growth rings at different rates. The grain on timber looks like a cross-section of
these growth rings
Sawing and Dressing
Timber can be purchased in one of two ways – sawn or dressed. Sawn timber,
sometimes called ‘rough-sawn’, will have marks from when it was milled and processed.
This timber is typically used for structural work such as framing, where it won’t be seen.
After timber is sawn, it is planed to give it a smooth finish and enhance the grain – this
is a process known as dressing. Dressed timber is suitable for any use.
Seasoning
The cells in wood contain moisture and after a tree has been felled, this moisture
can cause warps and splits if it’s left in the timber. Seasoning is the process of drying
timber so that the moisture is removed down to an acceptable level. Any timber with
moisture content greater than 25% is said to be unseasoned or ‘green’. Seasoned
timber is stronger, harder, lighter and more stable, and will generally ‘live’ longer than
unseasoned timber; that is, it’s more durable. Well-seasoned timber is usually less
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prone to warping or splitting. For these reasons, seasoned timber is generally more
favoured by carpenters and builders
Defects in Timber
Anything about a piece of timber that makes it less than ‘perfect’ is called a
defect. Some people see a defect as a feature – part of its natural beauty – and will
choose a piece of timber specifically for its defects. From a carpentry perspective, you
need to make sure that a timber’s defect won’t affect its usefulness or suitability for the
job. Timber with major defects is generally unsuitable for use in building. However, how
seriously a defect affects the usefulness of a piece of timber depends on: • how bad the
defect is • what the timber is to be used for. Pictured here are some of the most
common types of defects that you’ll come across.
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Chemical Treatments on Timber
There are a number of reasons why timber
will degrade. The main ones are its age and its
exposure to the environment. There now exists a
range of chemical treatments that help to improve
the durability and overall performance of timber.
These treatments work by penetrating the cells of
the timber, making them resistant to problems
such as decay, fungi, insects, weather and fire.
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Disposal of Chemically Treated Timber
Most building sites have procedures in place to deal with the disposal of
chemically treated timber. You should make sure you’re familiar with these. Here are a
few tips to remember.
• Under no circumstances should you burn chemically treated timber, as it may
give off toxic gases that are dangerous and will harm the environment.
• Never throw chemically treated timber into waterways, or bury it underground, as
the chemicals can leach out and harm the environment.
• Keep chemically treated timber offcuts in a separate pile to other timbers, so that
they can be gathered up and disposed of correctly when the job’s done.
Although most chemicals used are deemed to be safe, you should always read
any labels or information on the safety data sheet (SDS) carefully before you handle the
timber. You’ll look at how to dispose of chemically treated timber in more detail later in
this unit.
B. SHEET MATERIALS
Sheet materials are used for a range
of carpentry jobs, where a solid piece of
timber is not required or not suitable. The
most common types of sheet materials you’ll
be working with are:
• plywood
• particle board (chipboard)
• medium-density fibreboard (MDF)
• plasterboard
• laminated veneer lumber (LVL)
• hardboard (Masonite)
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