Abstract:
Off-cut wood pieces are often dumped or used as fuel wood. A certain portion of timber has to be removed also
due to inadequate length of sawn timber material. Finger joint, a method which connects two small pieces of
timber is identified as a sound technique to minimize timber wastage. At the finger joint production process,
different timber species are bonded together for making finger-jointed mixed panels. In this connection, the
selection of the best possible combination of timber species is vital as the success largely depends on the
mechanical and physical properties of the pieces. Workability, on the other hand, is another key factor which
minimizes manufacturing defects. However, expansion of the finger joint industry is restricted due to the
unavailability of a reliable timber classification system based on wood properties. Therefore, the present study
focused on developing a classification system for selected 32 clear timber species based on physical, mechanical
and anatomical properties of wood. Factor analysis was used in preparing the Total Wood Index (TWI) and
timbers were grouped into four categories as low, medium, high and very high based on TWI. It is recommended
for selecting suitable timber species from the TWI-based groups to ensure the best matching thereby the
attractive aesthetic appearance in finger-joint manufacturing can be achieved.
