ABSTRACT
There is a considerable amount of literature dealing with the phenomenon of wood weathering and methods that have been used to gain a better understanding of weathering processes. The fact that wood weathers and therefore requires some form of surface protection such as a paint or stain finish in many applications, and that the finish itself requires care and maintenance, is an influencing factor in some wood products markets and has probably contributed to loss of market share to other materials in some areas. This chapter addresses ways in which wood may be treated to improve weather-related properties. It deals with simple chemical pretreatments that have been studied in the past, and discusses the weathering properties of chemically modified wood in which chemical moieties have been covalently bound to the wood cell wall to provide a new material with improved properties.
