PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF BEECH WOOD HARVESTED IN THE GREEK PUBLIC FORESTS

This work reports on the properties of beech wood, one of the most important hardwood species, harvested in the Greek public forests. The physical and mechanical properties of two beech species, namely Fagus sylvatica L. and Fagus orientalis Lipsky, were investigated on samples originating from four different natural forests located in the central, northwest and northeast Greece (Larisa, Metsovo, Kastoria, Xanthi). The properties studied were dry density, shrinkage (axial, radial, tangential), Janka hardness, static bending, longitudinal and cross-sectional compression, shear, cleavage and impact strength. Metsovo's originating Fagus sylvatica wood showed the highest dry density (0.66 g.cm(-3)), while beech wood from Xanthi (Fagus orientalis) exhibited the lowest one (0.60 g.cm(-3)). The mean width of annual rings varied from 2.03 to 2.28 mm, noticeably not in accord with the respective densities. Radial shrinkage was found to be 5.46 % on the average; mean tangential and volumetric shrinkage was 9.93 % and 15.08 %, respectively. In regard to the mechanical properties, mean values for static bending, Janka hardness, compression parallel to the grain, compression perpendicular to the grain, shear, impact bending and cleavage of beech wood were found to be 105.49, 48.54, 55.43, 11.96, 14.85, 784.35 and 26.45 N.mm(-2), respectively.