Variability in Structure

Abstract

In the utilisation of timber, perhaps the single most important factor detracting from its outstanding performance as a material is its variability. In all applications of timber, whether it is in furniture manufacture or housing construction, large quantities are rejected on the grounds that they are different in appearance or behave differently in machining. It is most unlikely that two pieces of timber are identical in both appearance and performance: within a batch of timber pieces, there will be a wide spectrum in what we could loosely call quality. At some arbitrary point, a line is drawn above which the pieces though variable are acceptable, and below which the pieces are unacceptable for a particular use.