SAWMILLS & PALLET MANUFACTURING
air dried – dried naturally by exposure to air, without artificial heat
appearance grades – high-line regular board and dimension grades with tighter restrictions on certain visual characteristics that are suitable for exteriors or other exposed areas
board foot (BF) – a unit for measuring wood volume in which one board foot is equal to 1"x12"x12" or 144 cubic inches
cant – a slab of wood partially sawn from a log, typically on at least three sides and often four, which still needs to undergo further sawing. Many pallet shops prefer cants to sawn lumber because they have more options when cutting them down to other sizes.
cant sawing – a method of sawing a log until the center of the log is squared into a cant
checks – longitudinal separation of the fibers in wood that don’t go through the whole cross section, typically occurring during the drying process
cull – a tree or log which has no market value, but is of marketable size; or a tree or log that can’t be used for its intended product because of a defect like rot, crookedness or knots
dimensional lumber – lumber that is cut and finished to standard sizes in both width and depth such as a 2"x4"
hardwood – a broad category of trees with broad, flat or scalloped leaves and wood that is harder than the wood from most softwood trees; most hardwoods are deciduous, which means they drop their leaves each year, but some are evergreens like holly and magnolia; the actual hardness of the wood varies from species to species
heartwood – inner layers of wood in growing trees that no longer contain living cells
grain – the direction, size, arrangement, appearance or quality of the fibers in sawn wood
kerf – the width of a cut made by a saw in a piece of wood
kiln dried – dried using a kiln
log rule – a table of estimated volume or product yield from logs or trees that is based on a mathematical formula; also called log scale
MBF – 1,000 board feet
moisture content (MC) – the amount of water in wood or lumber expressed as a percentage of dry weight
pallet stock – lumber used to make pallets for material handling
PDS – Pallet Design System™ software design program that calculates the most effective specifications for pallets based on how they will be used; it is licensed by the National Wooden Pallet & Container Association
plain-sawn – the most common type of lumber cut where boards are produced by cutting tangentially to a tree’s growth rings; the resulting wood displays a cathedral pattern on the face of the board
pulpwood – trees or logs used to make paper, absorbent pulp, cardboard, fiberboard, or other wood fiber-based products
quarter-sawn — a lumber cut where the log is cut at a 90-degree angle to the growth rings producing uniform vertical pattern grain
rift-sawn – a lumber cut at a 30-degree or greater angle to the growth rings producing narrow boards with accentuated vertical or straight-grain patterns
shook – cut-to-size pallet parts for assembly into pallets
shrinkage – the contraction of wood fibers caused by drying below the saturation point which is usually expressed as a percentage of the dimension of the wood when it’s green
slash – unusable leftover materials from logging which includes residual tree tops, limbs, branches and other woody debris
softwood – a broad category of trees with needles or scale-like leaflets and softer wood than most hardwood trees; many trees in this category are evergreens, but it includes some deciduous trees like cypress; the actual hardness of the wood varies from species to species
split – fiber separation in wood occurring from face to face; also called end-split
stumpage – slang term for the dollar value of standing timber
warp – a distortion to the plane in a piece of lumber usually occurring during the drying process; types of warp include cup, bow, crook and twist
COMMON PALLET TYPES
bin – a box with four sides mounted on a pallet base and may include a cover; also called a container bin pallet
block pallet – pallets that have blocks between the pallet decks or under the top deck
crates – large shipping containers, often made of wood, generally used to move or store large, heavy or irregularly shaped items
custom pallets – non-standard pallets built to customer or product specifications
double-face pallets – pallets with top and bottom decks
double-wing pallets – pallets with top and bottom deckboards that extend beyond the edges of the stringers
exchange pallets – pallets circulated among a designated group of shippers and receivers; ownership of the pallets transfers along with the goods they carry
expendable pallets – disposable pallets intended for a single use from a shipper to a receiver, during which it may be handled several times; also called shipping pallets
export pallets – lightweight pallets, often nestable, that are used for one-way freight shipping of exports
GMA pallets – pallets made to the 48"x40" specifications of the Grocery Manufacturers Association
heat-treated pallets – pallets that are treated with heat to remove insects and insect larva; heat treatment is typically performed to international standards and is required for wooden pallets used in international shipments
recycled pallets – pallets that have been used at least once and can be repaired to extend their service life
remanufactured pallets – pallets made from wood taken from other pallets
rental pallets – pallets that are owned by a third party, not the pallet users
reversible pallets – pallets where the top and bottom decks are identical
shipping pallets – disposable pallets intended for a single use from a shipper to a receiver, during which it may be handled several times; also called expendable pallets
skid – a pallet that doesn’t have a bottom deck
single-wing pallets – pallets where the top deckboards extend beyond the edges of the stringers
slave pallets – thick platforms, panels or slabs of plywood used in modern automated storage and retrieval systems
solid deck pallets – pallets that have no spacing between the deckboards
standard pallets – pallets built to a uniform size, which varies in different parts of the world; in the U.S., the standard wooden pallet is 48"x40"
stringer pallets – the standard wooden pallets in the United States that consist of three or more parallel boards called stringers with deck boards on both the top and the bottom; if notched, can be lifted by a forklift from all four sides, although lifting by the stringers is considered more stable
COMMON PALLET PARTS
block – rectangular spacer used between the decks of a block pallet
bottom deck – the lower, load-bearing surface of the pallet made from an assembly of boards
deckboards – the boards that make up the pallet decks; on a stringer pallet, the deckboards run perpendicular to the stringers or stringer boards
deck board spacing – the distance between adjacent deckboards
lead boards – the deckboards that run lengthwise on two sides of a pallet’s top deck and bottom deck; also called lead edge boards
opening height – the distance between pallet decks measured vertically, usually from the floor to the underside of the top deck
pallet collar – a wooden packaging
system that works with traditional wooden pallets so that bulky or fragile freight can be transported on the pallets; collars are typically wooden and made of six to eight boards held together by metal hinges; however, they can
be made from other materials such as plastic
stringers – boards that run parallel to support the deck boards on a stringer pallet
top deck – the upper surface of the pallet comprised of deckboards that carry the load
THE MAIN NORTH AMERICAN PALLET ORGANIZATIONS
CWPCA – Canadian Wood Pallet & Container Association
NWPCA – National Wooden Pallet and Container Association
WPA – Western Pallet Association
The Six International Organization for Standards (ISO) Pallet Sizes
(All sizes given in Width x Length)
48" x 40" – North America
1000 mm x 1200 mm – Europe & Asia
1165 mm x 1165 mm – Australia
1067 mm x 1067 mm – North America, Europe & Asia
1100 mm x 1100 mm – Asia
800 mm x 1200 mm – Europe
Sources:
• American Hardwood Information Center:
http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/pages/search?s=glossary
• J. F. Rohrbaugh Co. Inc.:
• John Rock Inc. Glossary of Terms: http://ww.johnrock.com/Pallet-Industry-Glossary-of-Terms.php
• North Carolina Forestry Library: Glossary of Forest Management Terms
• Random Lengths Terms of the Trade: A Dictionary for the Forest Products Industry, Fifth Edition.
• Wikipedia
• Woodmizer Sawmilling & Forestry Glossary: http://woodmizer.com/us/Resources/Sawmilling-and-Forestry-Glossary
• Wood Products Online Expo: http://woodproducts.onlineexpos.com/cgi-bin/index
