ABSTRACT
After felling, the tree has to be processed in order to render the timber suitable for use. Such processing may be basically mechanical or chemical in nature or even a combination of both. On the one hand timber may be sawn or chipped, whereas on the other hand it can be treated with chemicals which markedly affect its structure and its properties. In some of these processing operations the timber has to be dried and this technique has already been discussed in Chapter 4 on water relationships and will not be referred to again in this chapter.
