| Fabric Energy Storage | Fabric Energy Storage (See Thermal Mass) |
| Factory and Shop Lumber | Lumber intended to be cut up for use in further manufacture. It is graded on the percentage of the area that will produce a limited number of cuttings of a specified minimum size and quality. |
| Feed Rate | The distance that the stock being processed moves during a given interval of time or operational cycle. |
| Fiber Saturation Point | The stage in the drying or wetting of wood at which the cell walls are saturated and the cell cavities free from water. It applies to an individual cell or group of cells, not to whole boards. It is usually taken as approximately 30% moisture content, based on ovendry weight. |
| Fiber, Wood | A wood cell comparatively long (£40 to 300 mm, £1.5 to 12 in.), narrow, tapering, and closed at both ends. |
| Fiberboard | A broad generic term inclusive of sheet materials of widely varying densities manufactured of refined or partially refined wood (or other vegetable) fibers. Bonding agents and other materials may be added to increase strength, resistance to moisture, fire, or decay, or to improve some other property. (See Medium-Density Fiberboard) |
| Fibril | A threadlike component of cell walls, invisible under a light microscope. |
| Fiddleback-Grained Wood Grain | Figure produced by a type of fine wavy grain found, for example, in species of maple; such wood being traditionally used for the backs of violins. |
| Figure | The pattern produced in a wood surface by annual growth rings, rays, knots, deviations from regular grain such as interlocked and wavy grain, and irregular coloration. |
| Filler | In woodworking, any substance used to fill the holes and irregularities in planed or sanded surfaces to decrease the porosity of the surface before applying finish coatings. As applied to adhesives, a relatively non adhesive substance added to an adhesive to improve its working properties, strength, or other qualities. |
| Filtration Basins | Ponds designed to remove sediment and pollutants from run off. Usual filter media is sand or gravel. Generally includes a sediment trap before filtering to avoid clogging. |
| Finger joint | An end joint made up of several meshing wedges or fingers of wood bonded together with an adhesive. Fingers are sloped and may be cut parallel to either the wide or narrow face of the piece. |
| Finish (Finishing) | (1) Wood products such as doors, stairs, and other fine work required to complete a building, especially the interior. (2) Coatings of paint, varnish, lacquer, wax, or other similar materials applied to wood surfaces to protect and enhance their durability or appearance. |
| Fire Endurance | A measure of the time during which a material or assembly continues to exhibit fire resistance under specified conditions of test and performance. |
| Fire Resistance | The property of a material or assembly to withstand fire or give protection from it. As applied to elements of buildings, it is characterized by the ability to confine a fire or to continue to perform a given structural function, or both. |
| Fire-Retardant-Treated Wood | As specified in building codes, a wood product that has been treated with chemicals by a pressure process or treated during the manufacturing process for the purpose of reducing its flame spread performance in an ASTM E84 test conducted for 30 min to performance levels specified in the codes. |
| Firewall | A type of fire separation of non-combustible construction that subdivides a building or separates adjoining buildings to resist the spread of fire. |
| Flake | A small flat wood particle of predetermined dimensions, uniform thickness, with fiber direction essentially in the plane of the flake; in overall character resembling a small piece of veneer. Produced by special equipment for use in the manufacture of flakeboard. |
| Flakeboard | A particle panel product composed of flakes. |
| Flame Retardant | A treatment, coating, or chemicals that when applied to wood products delays ignition and reduces the flame spread of the product. |
| Flame Spread | The propagation of a flame away from the source of ignition across the surface of a liquid or a solid, or through the volume of a gaseous mixture. |
| Flat or Plain Slicing | Flat or Plain Slicing: Produces a distinct cathedral grain veneer. |
| Flat-Grained (Flat-Sawn) Lumber Grain | Lumber that has been sawn parallel to the pith and approximately tangent to the growth rings. Lumber is considered flat grained when the annual growth rings make an angle of less than 45¡ with the surface of the piece. |
| FlexHousing | CMHC promotes housing that is designed to easily adapt to the changing lifestyle requirements of its occupants. The intention is to enable homeowners to remain in their dwellings over longer periods. Also referred to as Universal Housing, Accommodating Homes or Life Long Housing. |
| Flitch | A portion of a log sawn on two or more faces-commonly on opposite faces leaving two waney edges. When intended for resawing into lumber, it is resawn parallel to its original wide faces. Or, it may be sliced or sawn into veneer, in which case the resulting sheets of veneer laid together in the sequence of cutting are called a flitch. The term is loosely used. (See Cant) |
| Fly Ash | A type of pozzolan suspended in flue gases during coal combustion, from which it is collected. Most commonly used to replace Portland cement. Fly ash is also used for fill material, soil stabilization and waste remediation. See SCM and EcoSmart(tm). |
| Formaldehyde | A naturally occurring VOC, is found in small amounts in animals and plants. Urea formaldehyde is a combination of urea and formaldehyde that is used in some glues and readily decomposes at room temperature. Phenol formaldehyde, which off-gasses only at high temperature, is used for exterior products, although many of those products are suitable for interior applications. |
| Fossil Fuels | Non-renewable resources such as coal and oil used for power generation, which can cause pollution. |
| Framing | Lumber used for the structural member of a building, such as studs and joists. |
| FSC | Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world's forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way. Landowners and companies that sell timber or forest products seek certification as a way to verify to consumers that they have practiced forestry consistent with FSC standards. (see Chain of Custody Certification). (www.fsc.org) |
| FSC Mixed Credit Certified | As of March 2008, FSC allows panel products manufactured as FSC Mixed Credit Certified. For more information on FSC certification standards, visit www.fsc.org. |
| FSC mixed sources label | The wood used to produce FSC certified products with a ‘Mixed Sources’ label comes from FSC certified well-managed forests, controlled sources and/or recycled material. The proportion of FSC-certified and recycled material used in the production must be at least 70% to qualify for the FSC ‘Mixed Sources’ label. This means that if a manufacturer produces 100 chairs and has FSC-certified and recycled material for 70 chairs, then all the chairs can carry the FSC ‘Mixed Sources’ label. If a manufacturer uses less than 70% FSC-certified and recycled material, but a minimum of 10% FSC-certified and recycled material it is only allowed, to label a proportion of the production which is equivalent to the proportion of FSC certified and recycled input used in the production. For example, if a manufacturer produces 100 chairs, but only has FSC-certified and recycled material for 30 chairs, then only 30 chairs can carry the FSC ‘Mixed Sources’ label. |
| Fuel Cell | A fuel cell is a device that converts the energy of fuel into direct current (DC) electrical energy without the need for combustion. A conventional power plant produces electricity by burning a fossil fuel that turns a generator. Fuel cells bypass the combustion and generating processes by simply converting hydrogen to electricity, in a similar way as a battery. Fuel cells not only offer an efficient means of generating electricity from fossil fuels, but also have very low emissions. Up to 80 percent of the energy obtained from fuel can be converted to usable electric power and heat compared with about 35 percent from a central power plant. |
| Full-Cell Process | Any process for impregnating wood with preservatives or chemicals in which a vacuum is drawn to remove air from the wood before admitting the preservative. This favors heavy adsorption and retention of preservative in the treated portions. |
| Furnish | Wood material that has been reduced for incorporation into wood-based fiber or particle panel products. |