Lumbering in Canada

Lumber (American English)[1] or timber (British English)[2] is a collective term for harvested wood that has been manufactured into boards and planks. This process is part of something called wood production. Lumber is predominantly used for structural purposes but has many other uses as well. Lumber is classified as hardwood or softwood. Lumber is supplied either rough or finished. Besides pulpwood, rough lumber is the raw material forfurniture-making and other items requiring additional cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, usually hardwoods, but it is also readily available in softwoods such as white pine and red pine because of their low cost.[citation needed] Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction industry, primarily softwood from coniferous species including pine, fir and spruce(collectively known as Spruce-pine-fir), cedar, and hemlock, but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring. Contents [show] Terminology[edit] In the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth Countries such as Australia and New Zealand,timber is a term used for sawn wood products, such as floor boards, whereas generally in the United States and Canada, it refers to standing or felled trees, before they are milled into boards referred to as lumber. "Timber" is also used there to describe sawn lumber not less than 5 inches (127 mm) in its smallest dimension.[3] An example of the latter is often partially finished lumber used in timberframeconstruction. In the United Kingdom the word lumber has several other meanings, including unused or unwanted items. Remanufactured lumber[edit] See also: Timber recycling Remanufactured Lumber refers to secondary or tertiary processing/cutting of previously milled lumber. The term specifically refers to lumber cut for industrial or wood packaging use. Lumber is cut by ripsaw or resaw to create dimensions that are not usually processed by a primary sawmill. Resawing is the process of splitting 1 inch through 12 inch hardwood or softwood lumber into two or more thinner pieces of full length boards. For example, splitting a ten foot 2x4 into two ten foot 1x4s is considered resawing. Plastic lumber[edit] Further information: Plastic lumber, Fiber-reinforced composite, and Wood-plastic composite Structural lumber may also be produced from recycled plastic and new plastic stock, but its introduction has been strongly opposed by the forestryindustry.[4] Blending fiberglass in plastic lumber enhances its strength, durability, and fire resistance. [5] Plastic fiberglass structural lumber can have a "class 1 flame spread rating of 25 or less, when tested in accordance with ASTM standard E 84," which means it burns slower than almost all treated wood lumber. [6] Dimensional lumber[edit] Dimensional lumber is a term used for lumber that is finished/planed and cut to standardized width and depth specified in inches. Examples of common sizes are 2×4 (pictured) (also two-by-four and other variants, such as four-by-two in the UK, Australia, New Zealand), 2×6, and 4×4. The length of a board is usually specified separately from the width and depth. It is thus possible to find 2×4s that are four, eight, or twelve feet in length. In the United States and Canada the standard lengths of lumber are 6 feet (1.83 meters), 8 (2.44), 10 (3.05), 12 (3.66), 14 (4.27), 16 (4.88), 18 (5.49), 20 (6.10), 22 (6.71), and 24 feet (7.32 meters). For wall framing, "stud," or "precut" sizes are available, and commonly used. For an eight, nine, or ten foot ceiling height, studs are available in 92 5⁄8 inches

(235 cm), 104 5⁄8 inches (266 cm), and 116 5⁄8inches (296 cm). The term "stud" is used inconsistently to specify length, though, so where the exact length matters, one must specify the length explicitly. Lumbering is very widespread occupation in the country of Canada. This is because about 40 percent of Canada is covered in coniferous forests. About one third of all of the lumber and timber in the world, comes out of Canada and they are the number one exporter of wood products. Lumbering in Canada is done in the winter months. This is because the ground is frozen and covered in snow, which makes the logs much easier to heave across the land. Most farmers in Canada also are lumberjacks during the winter season since crop production comes to a standstill. Canada lies in the north part of the continent. Its capital is Ottawa. Much of Canada is c9vered with thick forests. Theses are found in the north around Hudson Bay and in the Rocky Mountains. Here the summers are short and warm, but the winters are long and cold. Now covers the ground or six or seven months in the year. The most important trees of these forests are the Pine and Fir. They have tall, straight trunks. Their side branches are sloping. This helps the heavy snow to slide off. The leaves are like sharp, green needles. Even in winter the trees o not lose their leaves. The wood of these trees is soft. It is easy to cut. Some is used to make houses, furniture and matches. But most of the wood is used for making paper for newspapers and magazines. The cutting own of trees is one mainly in winter. This work is called Lumbering. The men who cut down the trees are called Lumberjacks. They live in camps in the forests. In the camp there are many log-cabins or huts. The men sleep in some of these cabins. Then there is a kitchen and dining-room. In other cabin the men can watch television, listen to music or read when they have finished their work. But their lives are difficult and lonely. The Lumberjacks use large saws worked by electricity. After trees are felled, side branches are cut off. Then the trunk is cut into several pieces called logs. The logs are dragged across the snow by tractors. They are left on the ice of the frozen rivers. When spring comes it becomes warmer, the ice in the rivers melt and the logs float down the river. The lumberjacks work is not yet over. They must see that the logs get safely to the saw mills. Sometimes the rivers are so crowded with logs that pile up, one on top of the other. This is called a Log-Jam. The lumberjacks have to climb over the logs to free them. The logs then move down the stream again. This is a very dangerous job. If the lumberjack falls into the water, he can be crushed by the moving logs. The saw mills re built on the banks of the rivers. At the mills the bigger logs are cut into planks. The smaller ones are crushed to make wood pulp. This pulp is used for making paper. When winter comes to an end and he logs reach the mills the lumberjacks work is over. They return to their families and homes. During the short summer they become farmers and fishermen. When inter comes again, they go back o their lumber camps in the forests and start to cut down the trees.