| Term |
Definition |
| Termite gallery | Passage or burrow made by termites. ‘Open termite galleries’ are fully visible on the surface of the timber. ‘Enclosed termite galleries’ extend below the surface and are not fully visible from the outside. |
| Tension | Stress in a piece resulting from opposing forces that try to pull the wood fibres away from each other. |
| Tension wood | Type of ‘reaction wood’ (abnormal growth that forms to withstand forces such as a leaning trunk or continual strong winds) that occurs in hardwood trees. See also ‘compression wood’. |
| Texture | Characteristic of wood determined by the size and density of the fibres. Depending on the species, it can be fine, moderately coarse or coarse. |
| Thickness | The narrow surface of a piece (as opposed to the face). Sometimes referred to as the ‘edge’. |
| Twist | Spiral deviation along the length of a piece, like a propellor blade. Sometimes called ‘wind’. |
| Unseasoned timber | Timber that has not been seasoned. Also called ‘green timber’. |
| Wane | Presence of the original underbark surface, with or without bark, on the face or edge of a piece. |
| Want | Absence of wood, other than wane, from the face or edge of a piece. |
| Warp | Variation from a true surface, including bow, spring, cup and twist, generally caused by irregular seasoning. |
| White rot | Decay caused by fungi that eat both cellulose and lignin, leaving a whitish deposit behind. |
| Width | The wide surface of a piece (as opposed to the edge, or thickness). Also called the ‘face’. |
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