Peter B. Laming’s scientific contributions

The moisture content of wood, as meant here and in general, is the weight of the water contained by a piece of wood, calculated in relation to the oven-dry weight of that same piece of wood and expressed as a %.

Within the framework of the EC Research and Development programme “Wood as a Renewable Raw Material”(1983–1986), a number of European timber research centres, including the former TNO Timber Research Institute, participated in an integrated research project aimed at optimizing the use of European timber. This research concerned the manufacturing and applicability of 8 mm laminae for glued supporting constructions. Experiments were carried out for the manufacturing of parquet floors, table tops, cupboard shelves, beams, purlins, windows and doors. These semimanufactures, which were glued with resorcinol formaldehyde or urea formaldehyde, were given the product name LAMIC. In the graphs corresponding to these products the designation LAMIC is followed by the name of the wood species of which these products were composed.

The left side graph on the graph page per species shows the hysteresis curves, while the right side graph displays the curves representing radial and tangential shrinkage and swelling. The shrinkage which can be expected to be displayed by green wood dried to a certain moisture content can be read directly from the graph.

For all the species covered here, values for physical properties not given directly in the data sheets or graphs can be calculated from the data presented by means of simple formulae, most of which are also given in this publication. Examples of such calculations would include: the density at a moisture content other than that given; calculation of the density from the nominal specific gravity or vice versa; the maximum moisture content; void volume.

When providing physical data on a large number of wood species, as is the case here, it is imperative to specify by what method these data has been obtained. In addition, it is also necessary to provide some information on the material itself, its origin and method of handling. In the present study, the initial method used was that decribed by Pfeiffer (1927) although this was modified as the work progressed.