Lumber

Lumber

Lumber (American English) or timber (British English, Hiberno-English, New Zealand English, and Australian English) is wood that has been processed into beams and planks, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber may be supplied either rough-sawn, or surfaced on one or more of its faces. Besides pulpwood, rough lumber is the raw material for furniture-making and other items requiring additional cutting and shaping. It is available in many species, usually hardwoods, but it is also readily available in softwoods such as white pine and red pine because of their low cost. Finished lumber is supplied in standard sizes, mostly for the construction industry, primarily softwood from coniferous species including pine, fir and spruce (collectively known as Spruce-pine-fir), cedar, and hemlock, but also some hardwood, for high-grade flooring. Lumber is mainly used for structural purposes but has many other uses as well. Lumber is classified as hardwood or softwood.

Vocabulary