Bending properties of hardwood timbers from secondary forest in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

The wood processing industry is one of the key economic sectors of Papua New Guinea (PNG), generating significant income from export earnings. It has the potential to meet PNG's socioeconomic needs in the long term if managed in a sustainable way. Currently, most timber harvesting is heavily concentrated within the secondary (regrowth) forest. The transition from primary forest timber to secondary growth timber poses various challenges. Secondary growth timber differs in properties and processing characteristics from the same species from virgin, primary forest. Thus, wood processing companies require technical information of the differences to facilitate the transition and to optimise the p..