Wood measuring means that the stand marked for cutting or ready timber is measured to define its quantity or quality. There are regulations in the measuring law for when and how the measurement is to be done.
Wood grades and measuring
The so-called wood grade method, in which the trees are already delimbed and cut into the desired sizes in the felling location, is used in Finland. Elsewhere other methods are used also; for example the so-called whole tree method, where the trunk is transported whole from the forest.
Main wood grades are log and pulpwood:
- That part of a tree, which is large enough to fulfill the measures of a log, is cut into a log. Sturdy trunks are cut into logs that are used for sawn timber, building logs and raw material for furniture. Maximizing the amount of logs in the felling is important, because logs are notably more valuable than pulpwood.
- The measuring requirements for logs are different cut lengths, and the minimum and the maximum thicknesses. Quality factors include the amount of knots, crookedness, warping, surface defects, cracks and blue discoloration.
Measuring wood
Wood can be measured in several stages during trading.
- The first ocular evaluation of the amount of wood is done before the deal is closed.
- Next the timber is measured in the forest on the felling site or in the forest depot. In practice the measurement is carried out with a measuring device attached to the guillotine cutter. The device measures while the cutter delimbs and cuts the trunks. Another option is that, when a tree is felled manually, the lumberjack uses a specific device to measure the tree’s volume as the felling progresses.
- Measuring of piled wood is generally used in a sale at delivered price.
- Inspection and measurement on delivery, in which the quantity and the quality of the wood are defined, is an agreement between the seller and the buyer. There is not necessarily even a need to do regular measurement.
- The wood can still be measured on the processing site. This industrial measurement mainly serves the production planning and stock accounting, but it can also be used as the inspection and measurement on delivery.