Wood demand and practices in the marking of trees for cutting have affected the silvicultural state of the forests of Finland in the early 1900s. The aim of the study was to study the development of timber sales and the marking of trees for logging, with a special emphasis on variation in the volume of the sales and assortment range. The study is based on statistics of the District Forestry Boards and Forest Management Associations about timber marked for cutting in 1931-1953.
The professionals in the District Forestry Boards and Forest Management Associations have marked annually in average 9 million stems of heavy timber and about 7 million m3 of stacked wood for sales. The volume follows business cycles, the changes in the volume of stacked wood being larger than of heavy timber. When demand was high, the number of professional workers limited the supply of wood. There were large differences in the volumes marked within the country. The share of small diameter stacked wood has increased since 1930s compared to heavy timber.
The article includes a summary in German.
When the volume of the pulpwood was determined from the dimensions of the stack, the practice was to add an agreed percentage to the height of the stack which took account of the sinking of the stack as the wood dried. The stack was piled to the agreed added height, or the percentage was compensated when the stack was delivered to the buyer. The aim of the study was to determine a more accurate percentage to be used in the pulpwood sales.
The dimensions of a stack of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) H. Karst) pulpwood and the diameter of each log was measured during the drying. The 223 cm high pile sank by 0.8% to 221 cm, and the stacked cubic meter decreased from 4.46 m3 to 4.42 m3. However, the shrinkage of a solid cubic meter of the wood was 2.8%, markedly more than the sinking of the stack.
The PDF includes a summary in German.