Aspen wood is quite soft and dense. It can be easily processed with a sharp tool, it can be sawed, milled, peeled and cut. Bonding is also easy, the connection with nails is satisfactory. The surface of the aspen is easy to process, but at the same time, it is difficult to polish.

Aspen materials enter the market in the form of round timber, shavings and sawn timber. Regardless of the relatively low price, edged board from aspen has undeniable advantages... If the wood of the edged aspen board is dried and processed according to all the rules, then the products from it will be very durable. This board is moisture resistant and has a light shade. This material is not subject to warpage, splitting and cracking. In view of these properties, aspen edged board is used in the manufacture of furniture, floors, in the decoration of baths, steam rooms and saunas. In addition, aspen floors do not burn feet in a hot steam room. Aspen boards are not subject to decay and mold.

During the construction of log cabins, the best qualities of aspen as a wood material are revealed. Having built, for example, a bathhouse, the owners will be satisfied, because the bathhouse will become practical and aesthetic. Aspen material is characterized by increased resistance to steam and wetting. Even in conditions of regular temperature changes, aspen does not crack like other softwood lumber. If you use special antiseptics, then the service life of the log house will increase many times, even without additional repair and maintenance. Proper wood treatment protects against insects and mold for a long time.

Scope of aspen wood

Since ancient times, light and durable dishes have been made from aspen. To make a carved ladle or spoon, craftsmen steam the workpieces in boiling water. After that, it is cut with sharp tools as easily as a turnip. It is said that salting does not sour or sour in aspen dishes. Apparently, there are some substances in the wood that kill putrefactive bacteria. And it was not for nothing that in some places the hostesses put in sauerkraut aspen log.

Wood is also good because it stays in water for a long time, and does not crack or warp when dry. Therefore, from ancient times, well logs were knitted from aspen logs. You can't find a bath to build the best wood: strong and durable, retains heat well, and does not burn the body when touched - therefore, there will be no need to lay a rug on the shelves. Even in the regions rich in timber, they preferred to build baths from aspen, however, this preference was given to it only where there were aspen forests with straight trunks and healthy wood.

At the root, aspen is short-lived, as it is quite easily affected by heart rot. Therefore, it is necessary to cut a tree at the age of 40-45 years.

Earlier, the domes and roofs of temples and other buildings were covered with aspen ploughshare (all the domes of churches in Kizhi are covered with aspen chips), which eventually turned silvery from the sun and rain. Such a roof is not only beautiful, but also strong, it does not rot for a long time.

A curious case speaks of what kind of fortress this tree can be. Not so long ago, in the Leningrad region, they found a house cut down from aspen more than a hundred years ago. It has survived perfectly. An ax bounced off dry, like stone logs with a clang.

Useful tables

Coefficients of moisture conductivity of aspen in comparison with other species

Indicators of density and conditional density of aspen

Density coefficient at various moisture levels

Data on the volumetric weight of aspen with a change in its moisture

Characteristics of aspen wood as a source of thermal energy

Aspen belongs to the vast genus of poplars, the willow family. According to the structure of the trunk, it is a non-nucleated, scattered woody species. On the territory of Russia, this tree is ubiquitous in the European and Asian parts of the country, from broad-leaved forests of middle latitudes to tundra zones.

This tree grows up to 150 years old, but the cause of its death is often not age, but rot, which affects the core of the trunk, therefore, trees aged from 30 to 50 years are usually chosen for industrial felling. During this time, the tree reaches a height of 35-40 meters.

Aspen wood is dense, with poorly visible annual rings, homogeneous in structure. The moisture content of the wood in the central part is lower than in the peripheral parts of the trunk. The color of the wood is white, grayish-white, sometimes greenish. On the cut, it is impossible to notice the rays emanating from the center. For some decorative works such wood is valuable precisely because of its homogeneity. After staining or staining, the structure of the wood remains uniform and does not reveal any structural elements.

The moisture content of freshly felled wood is about 82%, while the maximum moisture content of this wood (when soaked) reaches 185%. With increased atmospheric humidity, aspen quickly absorbs water, but also quickly loses it when it dries, which is a positive quality.

Wood, in terms of resistance to biological factors, belongs to the lowest, fifth class (according to ISO EN 350-3: 1994).

There are five classes in the above standard. The first class of hardiness includes, for example, Indian teak and eucalyptus from Australia. Larch and oak are classified as class 2 in terms of wood resistance. In Russia, the resistance of a tree to the effects of fungi and mold is determined in dimensionless conventional units. According to the Russian classification, resistance to the effects of fungi is 1.2 units for mature wood, and 1 for aspen sapwood.

Aspen industrial felling

The international standard for industrial wood is called DIN 4076. Aspen wood belongs to the AS group.

In Russia, industrial felling of trees is carried out on the plots of wild-growing forest, which is then restored in a natural way. In Western Europe, trees have been increasingly grown in nurseries for industrial felling in recent decades. These are the so-called short-cycle forest nurseries. They grow, first of all, fast-growing tree species (poplar, aspen). This approach to nature management allows preserving natural forests and growing wood of the required parameters.

Features of wood processing

If you look at the aspen trunk in a cross-cut, you can see that the wood has a nuclear-free structure. In general, the wood is soft compared to other deciduous tree species, its density is 400-500 kilograms per cubic meter (with a moisture content not exceeding 15%).

Aspen beams, like other lumber, are capable of absorbing a large number of water, both in atmospheric air and under water, which is a negative characteristic of this wood. Aspen wood dries slowly, over several months; when dried, it practically does not crack and does not change its original shape (does not warp). Dried wood splits easily in the longitudinal direction. In the outer part of the trunk, the wood has a high density, so the wear rates during the operation of aspen products are high.

Humidity in the central part of the tree trunk is much lower than in the peripheral areas. Manufacturers of sawn timber take this feature into account when organizing the drying of timber and round timber.

This wood lends itself well to mechanical and sharp processing hand tool, it is easy to saw and cut, it is easy to peel, chop and mill. It is easier to handle damp, not completely dry wood. When polishing wood, it is not easy to achieve a good smooth surface, although it is uniform, there are no pronounced annual rings and knots in the wood. Aspen takes impregnation and staining well. Dried wood is not difficult to glue, you can make furniture from it, the parts of which are connected with screws or nails.

Industrial use of aspen

The main consumers of aspen are the construction industry. It produces various lumber: round timber, timber, boards, chipboard, fiberboard, rotary cut veneer. Bath equipment is made of timber, for example, benches, ladders, shelves, grates and pallets. Aspen laths are used to produce packing boxes and containers for storing and transporting goods. Until recently, before the advent of computer technology, drawing boards were made of dense white aspen.

Wood shavings are a by-product of production and are used as fuel for thermal power plants, as well as insulation in rural and summer cottage construction... The shavings used for incineration in thermal power plants are considered environmentally friendly. pure material, besides, the tree is renewable natural resource... For heating private houses, they use chopped wood, cuttings from production, and fuel pellets.

Aspen wood is a raw material for the production of cardboard and paper. In the shoe industry, crushed aspen shavings are used as a material that absorbs moisture well. Aspen rotary cut veneer is used for making plywood and plywood, matches, toothpicks. Caskets, baskets, gift boxes and packaging are made from it. Sliced ​​veneer is used for the manufacture of various household items. Curved, shaped pieces of furniture and decorative boxes are made from thin aspen plywood.

When burned without air access, charcoal is obtained from aspen good quality... It is used in the chemical industry and for artwork.

Traditional Uses of Aspen Wood

The traditional crafts of the peoples of Russia have been using wood for the manufacture of household items for centuries. Spoons, stirrers, ladles and dishes, bowls and containers for storing bulk products are still made from aspen. At the beginning of the last century, buckets were made from it for storing borscht, cabbage soup and soups. The hostesses noticed that in such dishes the food does not sour for a long time and retains its taste. Pickles are well stored in such containers, they do not become moldy for a long time. Apparently, aspen wood contains substances that kill bacteria and mold. You can still find recipes for salting products in which it is recommended to put an aspen block on the bottom of the cabbage barrel.

To make the aspen easy to cut by hand, it is pre-poured with boiling water and kept for some time. After this procedure, the wood becomes pliable to the cutter and its hardness can be compared to the hardness of frozen oil.

In Russia, bath houses were built from aspen, sometimes all bath "furniture" was made from it - shelves, ladders, benches and so on. The reason for the love for this tree during the construction of baths is simple - aspen perfectly keeps heat and at the same time does not heat up from the heat. When dry, the wood does not warp, does not lose its shape, and, due to its internal homogeneous structure, does not crack.

The roofs of houses, made of aspen boards and elements, have proven themselves excellently for centuries. Not only dwelling houses, but also the domes of churches were covered with carved elements of aspen wood. An aspen roof dries quickly and well after rain, the tree does not rot, such a roof can serve for a hundred or more years. In addition, over time, aspen acquires a peculiar, grayish-silver color and looks beautiful.

Osinnik

The value and possibility of using wood of a specific species in construction and production wooden products due to many factors. And it happens that the totality of qualities, assessed as negative, not basic, determines the fate of the material. A striking example is aspen. The wood properties of this tree are characteristic of light hardwoods. It is lightweight, uniform in color and texture, and has good isotropy of strength indicators. Nevertheless, aspen sawn timber, and even more so aspen timber for construction, are not the most popular positions on the market. If they build from it, then small structures - a well, a log house, a log house of an aspen bath. Lumber from linden and aspen is used for finishing baths, sometimes for decking. Why seemingly good material, unpopular? This is due to a combination of secondary reasons: the complexity of the procurement, a large proportion of rejection of raw materials, requiring drying, high initial moisture content, folk beliefs, finally.

Aspen is a tree species of the Poplar genus. Like closely related species, it has light (up to 500 kg per cubic meter with air-dry humidity), loose, homogeneous wood. However, if many representatives of the genus belong to sound breeds, then aspen does not have a visually distinguishable core (aspen is a sapwood). The entire cut of a healthy trunk is monochromatic, light, with a shade of yellow or green. In this case, the central part is still different from the periphery. Its moisture content is lower, therefore, aspen belongs to ripe woody species. On the one hand, this feature makes it possible to produce aspen sawn timber that is homogeneous in properties, without worrying especially about the cutting order. But on the other hand, sapwood, which do not transform during maturation into a core protected by phenolic and other preservatives, are susceptible to various diseases. And if they still predominantly grow in damp swampy conditions, then by the time they reach maturity they are affected by rot.

Aspen bathhouse

Aspen ripens relatively quickly. It is better to harvest it before the tree reaches 40-50 years. She can live up to 100 years. But most likely its core will be rotten. And almost any old tree will have a false kernel. Which, unlike normal, does not become valuable, but violates the uniformity of the material in color and is rather a stage of wood decomposition. Aspens reach 35 meters in height and a significant diameter (up to 1 meter) at the root. But only a few (4-5) upper meters, not yet affected by rot and not very knotty in the trunk, are more or less suitable for harvesting in a mature young. So get long construction timber for large buildings it is possible only at the cost of significant rejection.

Even healthy wood is not easy to obtain good building materials. Freshly cut wood usually requires strong and gentle drying. Aerated raw wood can lose a third or more of its original weight, and in this case it will deform. Therefore, it is necessary to dry aspen in a loaded state, providing the necessary conditions for even slow drying.

Aspen is inconvenient in blanks. But this is offset by its specific useful qualities. Dried wood does not deteriorate when moistened again, dries up again, does not warp or crack. Therefore, rare and expensive aspen logs were put on the first crowns of log cabins. Since the price of aspen timber significantly depends on their length (long, high-quality raw materials are simply difficult to find), they are used for log cabins with small dimensions, for example, baths and even smaller ones - wells and cellars. After all, periodic moistening aspen is not terrible. In addition, light wood is a good heat insulator, which means it will save heat and provide the comfort required for hot rooms. Aspen, linden and abash are the usual set of "non-burning" materials for interior decoration saunas and steam rooms of baths. Here, it benefits not only the low density and the resulting low thermal conductivity, but also the absence of resins and odorous preservatives of the core (this is how the disadvantages of aspen become its advantages).

Aspen share for roofing

In general, not the most durable, soft aspen material in load-bearing structures it is applied (after drying) only because of its own lightness and rather high bending stiffness. The diffuse-vascular structure of wood provides it with isotropy and good connectivity, which means less chance of chips and splinters. Raw wood, and even more especially specially steamed wood, is well cut, peeled into veneer and dissolved into thin ornamental shavings, but it is poorly polished. After drying, the surface layer is compacted and acquires significant local strength over time. As a result, after several years of operation in dry conditions, the ax "bounces off" from the soft, raw wood, and the saw or milling cutter hardly cuts the viscous wood, getting hot and clogged with small chips. Aspen decks are durable and resistant to wear and tear. Fresh aspen wood is light; indoor moldings made of it can be used for decoration (skirting boards, platbands, etc.). In the open air it gets dark, but over time acquires a shine and looks beautiful in its own way (for example, silver ploughshare and shingles / shingles of domes of churches and village buildings).

A significant proportion of the harvested aspen is lost during processing and drying. This leads to a low profitability of aspen harvesting. But what did not go to construction lumber (both with a large section - for walls, and a small section for beams and rafters of lathing, other moldings) can be recycled. Aspen is used for wood-polymer composites, laminated glued materials, firewood, fuel pellets. Since the aspen tree is unpretentious and matures relatively quickly, artificial cultivation is possible under controlled conditions to obtain quality raw materials at a reasonable price.

VALUABLE TREE - ASPEN!

"It just so happened that in folklore, the aspen was not lucky. In songs, sayings, proverbs and even in riddles you rarely find kind words related to aspen." For unknown reasons, the autumn foliage of aspen for a fire.What, they say, take from aspen, aspen is aspen - a worthless tree.

If they asked a riddle: "One damned tree makes noise without the wind," then anyone, without hesitation, could answer: "Aspen."

Another riddle, less evil, thinks: "Nobody scares, but trembles." Indeed, aspen leaves tremble even in calm, clear weather. Dense, leathery, hanging on long stalks, they are like thousands of delicate miniature weather vane.

Foresters call aspen Russian poplar, and it is no coincidence that poplar is a direct relative of aspen. In botany, aspen is known under the name "trembling poplar".

Aspen wood burns poorly and gives little heat. Aspen is harvested for firewood only in extreme cases. But how ornamental and construction material aspen wood is very valuable.
Aspen is a sapwood. She has white wood with a greenish or slightly bluish tint. Wood is whiter than that of aspen, not found in other trees of the middle lane. On the polished surfaces of all three cuts, the annual layers are well distinguished due to the narrow light yellow strip passing between them. Annual layers are distinguished more clearly after wetting the surface of the drenesin with water.

Aspen wood has many narrow pith rays, but it is impossible to distinguish them on tangential and cross sections. On a radial split, the rays are visible in the form of many small shiny stripes.
In some places, there are yellow and white spots on the wood - core repetitions.
Aspen has light and soft wood, straight grained, with a homogeneous structure. It dries out moderately, cracks little and cracks well.
What is made of aspen? Matches. Here she is still out of competition.

This preference for aspen in the manufacture of matchsticks is not accidental. Straight grained wood is easy to prick. Straight layering and uniformity of aspen make it possible to obtain the finest shavings on special machines, from which, like straw, all kinds of summer hats are woven. Artificial flowers are made of paper-thin shavings dyed with bright aniline dyes.

They also use the main shavings as packaging material. The shells for sieves, sieves and racks are made of thick shingles.
Since ancient times, light and durable dishes have been made from aspen. It handles beautifully on lathe and easy to cut. To make a carved ladle or spoon, craftsmen steam the workpieces in a boiling hearth. After that, it is cut with sharp tools as easily as a turnip. Some masters argued that in dishes made of aspen wood, cabbage soup does not even sour for a long time and pickles do not sour. Apparently, there are some substances in the wood that kill putrefactive microbes. And it was not for nothing that in some places the hostesses put an aspen forest in sauerkraut.

In this respect, aspen wood dishes are preferable to linden ones.
Just like linden, aspen is good for decorative carving. The uniformity of the wood allows cutting in almost any direction without chipping or removing. Aspen wood is also good because it stays in water for a long time. Therefore, from ancient times in Russia, well logs were knitted from aspen logs.

Even in the regions rich in timber, they preferred to build baths from aspen, believing that a bunk bunk and a light bunk lasted longer in them, besides, aspen was not afraid of dampness, and there was always an abundance of it in the bathhouse.

Of course, such a preference for aspen could only be in those parts and areas where aspen forests with straight trunks and healthy wood were more common.

Lingering autumn rains and stormy summer showers do not care for aspen wood. That is why the domes and roofs of the famous northern village churches were covered only with aspen plowshares and planks. Stone structures were also covered with ploughshare, small figured aspen planks.

Where wood products need to withstand moisture, they are most often made from aspen. In many places, fishermen make light single-tree boats, or aspen, from thick aspen trunks.

First, the middle is hollowed out to the log, filled with water and steamed, throwing hot stones into the water. Then the sides that have become flexible are bred with the help of struts.

Aspen wood swells easily. This property is considered negative, but not always. Cooper's products could not have existed without it: tubs, barrels, vats, tubs and many others. When the wood swells, the rivets that make up any cooper product, a high bond density is achieved.
Freshly cut aspen wood has a pleasant tart smell. The smell can be used to judge the condition of the wood. If the wood starts to smell like vanilla, then it is rotting. At the enterprises of the chemical industry, artificial vanillin is produced from rotten aspen wood, which is not inferior to natural vanillin extracted from tropical vanilla pods.

At the root, aspen is short-lived, as it is quite easily affected by heart rot. Over time, the trunk of the tree inside becomes rotten. And if it is not cut down on time, the timber will lose its industrial value, and the tree will die after some time. Therefore for household needs aspen is cut at the age of 40–45, while pine and spruce are cut at 100–120 years of age.
Wood affected by a putrefactive fungus does not lose its mechanical and physical properties... It can be planed, sawed, sanded, polished, tinted and dyed just like normal healthy wood.

The texture pattern formed in the wood during the life of the fungus is so unusual that it is difficult to believe that it is aspen wood. Sometimes it resembles bizarre drawings on thin sections. ornamental stones... Many people do not realize that this beauty is simply lying under our feet, turning into dust over time. Try chopping up the aspen trunk with your feet on the lying iodine. You can make original caskets and caskets from patterned wood, as well as all kinds of decorations. Rectangular plates with plot drawings are inserted into frames, receiving full originality and surprises created by the very nature of the picture.
If you saw off a small ridge from the trunk of a fallen aspen, the wood of which in the middle of the trunk turned into dust, remove the bark from it and clean out the rotten wood with a stick, hewn at the end in the form of a spatula, you can get a hollow wooden cylinder.

Is it possible to somehow use this hollow volume prepared by nature, but doomed to perish in the forest? In the old days, peasants made various dishes from hollow aspen trunks, hives, nest boxes, birdhouses and kubels (original suitcases for storing and carrying clothes and linen).

The cooking technology was quite simple. The so-called chime grooves were cut from one edge of the wooden cylinder and the bottom was cut out of the board of the corresponding size. After steaming the edge of the cylinder, a prepared bottom was inserted into the chimes. Sometimes, for strength, wooden or iron hoops were stuffed onto such dishes.
The forest dwellers themselves - birds and wild bees - suggested to man how to use a hollow tree. After all, while the tree stood on the root, it served them as a reliable refuge. Trying to attract useful birds to his home, the man began to hang nest boxes next to him.

Reliable and convenient nest boxes for a wide variety of birds can be made fairly quickly in the spring before their arrival. To do this, you need to saw off a suitable ridge, knock the dust out of it with a stick or chisel, fit a slab on top instead of a roof, and insert the bottom from below. Then cut through the notch, and the nest is ready. And you need to pick up a ridge with a ready-made hole in the place of the former knot. It is convenient to make such nest boxes right in the forest and hang them right there, nearby. A saw, a chisel and an ax are all the tools you need in a forestry workshop.

The fertile material that is lying around idle underfoot can be useful for the manufacture of many original things. If you cut an aspen log into low blocks and attach it to the bottom of the bottom, you can get very comfortable and reliable flower pots They will become more expressive if they are decorated with a simple trihedral-notched carving, since the aspen is perfectly cut. It's even easier to make cactus crates. Split a ridge about a meter long into two halves with an ax so that the split plane is slightly offset from the center. The big half goes into business, which is cleaned inside. Then, from the side of the ends, two identical boards are nailed. They will simultaneously act as side walls and racks. To prevent the wood from rotting from contact with damp earth, the walls of the box must be burned inside blowtorch or a gas burner.
For floor vase you need to try to find a hollow aspen trunk that has a beautiful bend with influxes and hollows. If you dream a little, you can come up with many simple, original and useful things.

The roots of the aspen are of considerable interest to the wood-breeder artist. Even in the last century, some Russian craftsmen used their twisted wood with an iridescent pearlescent shine for various kinds of decorative work.

The same twisted wood is found on the trunk around large knots. It can be successfully used to create miniature decorative works. "

Bird of happiness red

Aspen wood is white with a greenish tint, soft, light, medium-drying, uniform in structure, well pricked and cut, dry, strong, hard and durable.

Dries very quickly outdoors. For chamber drying in closed drying plants, a uniform temperature must be observed to avoid discoloration and cracks in the knot areas. Dry wood lends itself better to processing, and very sharp tools are required due to the fibrillation. Wood has a high ability to hold metal mounts, it lends itself well to gluing, it is easy to stain, but it does not lend itself well to polishing, wear resistance is very high, since the surface layers are easily pushed when abraded. Wood is well impregnated with various substances, as a result of which the permeability of various liquids is negligible.

If earlier aspen in Latvia was considered a weed, then since the 80s of the last century, especially in connection with the creation match industry, it is becoming increasingly important. Currently, the possibilities of using aspen continue to expand. Aspen wood is irreplaceable in the match industry and, apparently, for a long time. The advantage of aspen wood as a raw material for the match industry is that it has uniform porosity, is easy to cut, gives elastic, unbreakable straw, is easily impregnated and burns without soot with a long, even flame, is easily cut into thin plywood, from which it is made matchboxes... More than 1 million matchsticks can be made from 1 m 3 of aspen wood. The country's match factories produce more than 10 billion boxes of matches per year.

Aspen wood serves raw materials and for the pulp and paper industry, since it contains a lot of cellulose - according to various literary sources, on average 42-58%. According to the latest data, in Latvia the cellulose content in aspen wood is on average 50.6%. Wood is quite suitable for the production of cellulose by all methods known in the art (sulfate, sulfite, etc.).

In our country, aspen wood in the pulp and paper industry is used relatively little, while abroad, for example, in the state of Wisconsin, where almost a third of the entire US paper industry is concentrated, already in 1951, 54% of the total harvested balance was aspen. Foreign practice has proved that the objections of paper manufacturers against aspen wood due to its shorter fiber compared to spruce fiber are not substantiated. Aspen wood versus spruce whole line advantages: softness, absence of dyes and resins, permeability to acids and alkalis. Today, there should be no technological or economic obstacles to wide application aspen wood in the pulp and paper industry, since due to the increasing demand for raw materials, spruce wood alone is not enough. As follows from the reports of the Soviet-Italian symposium held in Kiev in 1974, deciduous aspen is the most valuable breed for the production of high quality cellulose.

In the past, hardwoods had to undergo alkaline or acid sulphate pulping to produce high-brightness pulp, resulting in a loss of product strength. Therefore, hardwood cellulose was used only as a filler cellulose. New advances in kraft cooking and chlorine dioxide bleaching are making it possible to produce high quality hardwood pulp without compromising strength. There are no technological barriers to processing hardwood.

Research carried out in Belarus provides an economic justification for the cultivation of a particular breed for the needs of the pulp and paper industry: the cost of growing 1 m 3 of spruce wood is 5.2 times, oak - 10.2, and poplar - 2.2-4.1 times more than this indicator for aspen. Experiments in Canada, where the share of Populus wood in pulp production reaches 7%, indicate that good quality kraft pulp can be obtained from aspen pulpwood and chips even at low felling speeds.

Aspen wood is successfully used for the production of artificial silk, explosives, celluloid, furfural fodder protein, ether, glycerin and alcohol; it is used to make roofing shingles and shingles, furniture boards, barrels, tubs, boxes, wooden shovels for clearing snow, dentures, children's toys, window frames, wooden dishes, various household items and furniture (tables, stools, boxes, etc.). Small aspen shavings are an excellent material for packing difficult-to-transport products (eggs, fruits, etc.). Aspen shavings have long been used to make artificial flowers and various wicker products (baskets, bodies, boxes, hats). In the town of Danilov, Yaroslavl Region, there is the only enterprise in the country where summer hats are made from aspen shavings - about 600 thousand pieces. in year.

Aspen wood is also used for the manufacture of horse carriages, wheel parts, pressed wood, end pavement and partly plywood products. In the process of dry distillation, coal, resin (tar), acetic acid, alcohol, etc. are obtained from wood, coal, acids and tar are obtained from the bark. The bark is used for tanning leather; it is also used to obtain medicinal raw materials such as salicil, populin, etc., as well as yellow dye and ash for bleaching the canvas. Deer, wild goats, moose and hares feed on bark, buds and leaves. Pets also willingly eat food from aspen branches and leaves.

Aspen firewood is highly valued in brick, tile and pot production, as it gives a long and, most importantly, non-smoking flame. They can also be used for cleaning chimneys from soot and soot. It is enough to heat the stove several times with dry aspen wood, so that even chimneys and pipes that are heavily soiled with soot are cleaned.

Science and practice have proven the suitability of aspen in construction. Convincing examples of the strength and durability of residential and utility buildings made of aspen are given in the works of B.A. Langhammer and many others. So, for example, Yu. Kochak notes that in the villages of the Krasnodar Territory there are century-old buildings made of aspen, which are quite suitable for use. It is no accident that folk architects built buildings of magical beauty in Kizhi from this breed. In the Gulf of Riga of the Baltic Sea in 1952, a ship that sank during the First World War was found with a cargo of aspen building materials; the wood is perfectly preserved.

In the West, the cultivation of poplars (including aspen) is expanding, since the wood of the Populus genus is widely used, from the production of cellulose to the manufacture of musical instruments and aircraft construction. Already in the 60s in France, 45% of poplar wood was used in furniture production, and in Italy - 20% as sawlogs. In recent decades, aspen has also been widely used in the production of fibrous and particle boards, and the possibilities of using it in production have been identified. plasticized wood, from which even parts of different machines are made. Canada has developed a method for chemically converting aspen wood into a heavy black liquid that can be used as a substitute for fuel oil; the resulting liquid is approximately 40% of the original wood mass and has a calorific value of 8000 kcal / kg.

Aspen is included in the following current standards (GOST), and the following requirements are imposed on it.

Round hardwood timber(GOST 9462-71). This standard establishes the following groups of timber in thickness: small - 8-13 cm, medium - 14-24, large - 26 cm and more. Depending on the quality of the wood and processing defects, materials are harvested of 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-th grades, and small timber is harvested only of the 2-nd and 3-rd grades.

According to this standard, aspen is allowed to be used for:

Production of lumber for mechanical engineering, construction, furniture and other purposes of grades 1, II, III and IV, with a thickness of 14 cm or more and a length of at least 3 m;

Filled barrel containers of grades II and III, with a thickness of 14 cm and more and a length of at least 0.60 m;

Dry barrels and egg containers of grades III and IV, at least 0.60 m long and 12 cm thick or more;

Parts of the wheels of horse-drawn carts of grades I and II, with a thickness of 20 cm or more and a length of at least 0.60 m;

Production of rotary cut veneer general purpose grades I, II and III, length 1.30 m, 1.60 and multiples and thickness 16 cm or more;

Production of matches of grades I, II and III, with a thickness of 16 cm and more and a length of at least 2 m;

Pulp for chemical processing grade I, thickness 14-18 cm and length 1.20; 1.50 and multiples and grade II with a thickness of 12-24 cm and a length of 1.20; 1.50 and multiples;

Sulphate, sulphite cellulose, bisulphite, neutral-sulphite semi-cellulose and chemical pulp of grades II and III, 8-24 cm thick, 0.75 long; 1.00; 1.10; 1.20; 1.25 and multiples and grade IV, thickness 14-24 cm, length 0.75, 1.00; 1.10; 1.20; 1.25 and multiples;

Wood pulp grade I, 14-18 cm thick, 1.20 long; 1.50 and multiples and grade II, 8-24 cm thick, 1.20 long; 1.50 and multiples.

Use in a round form for a product range of grades II and III, with a thickness of 8-11 cm and a length of at least 3 m; as construction logs of grades II and III, 12-24 cm thick and 4.0-6.5 m long.

In balances processed by the sulfate method, for mechanical processing and wood pulp, heart and sap rot are not allowed. Pulp and paper of all grades is allowed to be delivered chipped and peeled, they must have a thickness of at least 3 cm and around the outer circumference of 5 cm. Timber intended for sawing, planing and peeling is supplied unpecked; peeling of bark is allowed.

Heart rot in small timber is not allowed, in medium timber it is allowed, but not more than 1/10 (in grades I and II), 1/4 (grade III) or 1/3 (grade IV) of the diameter of the corresponding end; in timber with a thickness of 26-38 cm, it is allowed, at no more than 1/4 (I and II grades) or 1/3 (III and IV grades) of the diameter of the corresponding end. In timber with a thickness of more than 38 cm, it is allowed, but not more than 1/3 (I and II grades) or 1/2 (III and IV grades) of the diameter of the corresponding end.

Hardwood lumber(GOST 2695-83) are made from wood of various hard and soft deciduous species, including aspen, for use in industry, construction and for the manufacture of containers. Aspen lumber should be made 0.5-6.5 m long, 0.5-20.0 cm wide, 1.9-10.0 cm thick.

Depending on the quality of wood, three types of sawn timber are established. Sound and sapwood rot in I grade and in edged sawn timber also in II grade are not allowed; allowed only in unedged sawn timber in the form of individual spots and stripes no more than 5% (II grade) or 10% (P1 grade) and in edged sawn timber 5% (III grade) of the sawn timber area.

Hardwood blanks(GOST 7897-83). Billets are lumber that has been worked out with appropriate allowances for shrinkage and processing. According to this standard, materials are also procured from aspen for the production of parts used in construction, car building, agricultural engineering, auto, transport and furniture production. According to the quality of wood, the workpieces are divided into 3 grades.

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