Efficient use of our nation’s timber resource is a vital concern. Because a major use of wood in the United States is in construction, particularly housing construction, good practice in this endeavor can have a profound impact on the resource. This handbook is intended as an aid to more efficient use of wood as a construction material. It provides engineers, architects, and others with a source of information on the physical and mechanical properties of wood and how these properties are affected by variations in the wood itself. Continuing research and evaluation techniques hold promise for wider and more efficient utilization of wood and for more advanced industrial, structural, and decorative uses. This handbook was prepared by the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), a unit of the research organization of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Laboratory, established in 1910, is maintained at Madison, Wisconsin, in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. It was the first institution in the world to conduct general research on wood and its utilization. The accumulation of information that has resulted from its engineering and allied investigations of wood and wood products over nine decades—along with knowledge of everyday construction practices and problems—is the chief basis for this handbook.

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