The purpose of this report is to illustrate potentials and problems with withdrawal of quality timber of birch. The purpose is also to describe possible ways to increase available quantities of quality timber. Former research is reviewed as introduction. The study begins with a prognosis of future volumes of birch timber based on consequence analyze by Swedish Forestry Agency. To illustrate the importance of active maintenance, two stands are estimated and simulated in the Heureka module StandWise.

Birch is the dominant deciduous tree species in Sweden but only 16 % is found in pure birch stands. The majority of the birch (51 %) is to be found in conifer dominated stands. Swedish forest land comprises approximately of 23 % mixed stands and one problem is that for mixed stands there are few management recommendations. The underlying aim of this thesis was to study the management of mixed forest stands of spruce and birch to achieve good Timber quality of birch. The study was based on a literature study and measurement in a field experiment launched in 1998 by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

The paper, with a brief summary of timber floating in Sweden and also of some previous re-search in this field, contains a study on costs for timber-floating in the river Dalälven located in central Sweden. The public used timber-floating system in Dalälven and the historical background about this activity is described. The study is focused on the total costs for timber-floating in the public open floating system in Dalälven from 1900 to 1970, the year before the timber-floating was definitively closed down. Also the costs for separating the logs of a specific owner when they reached the point where they could be separated from the timber of other owners are analyzed..

There are many factors in a building project that has to collaborate with one another in order to reach the desired end result, how you work with moisture issues in timber is a very important one. While constructing Varbergs Hospital, the building company Skanska came in contact with the issue of extra high demands on the moisture content in timber. What they requested from us was a moisture program in which you clearly could follow the routines regarding work with moisture in timber. The aim is to use this program as a help during the work, in order to achieve a good result.We have developed this study in addition to the moisture program. The aim is that this study will give you a deeper understanding of the important factors to consider.

Swedish sawmills of today suffer from unsatisfying economy with high costs and low benefits. The economical result depends on how well the sawmill can use their raw material. Iggesund Timber AB, a sawmill in the Holmen group, produces a large amount is enduse orientated products for the woodworking industry. Therefore the aim of this student thesis was to investigate the possibility of automatic enduse orientated quality grading of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) saw logs by using a gamma-ray log scanner. Iggesund Timber AB has the possibility to grade logs automatically with TINA, a two way gamma-ray log scanner. Grading and classification of Scots Pine logs in Sweden today are mainly manual but can in some rare cases be automatic.

Restrictions in nature conservations are increasing the influence of forest management. Nobel broadleaved forests are more influenced than other forests, because they are considered to be more valuable than other forest types in Skåne. There has been a lack of knowledge about the amount that is set-aside for nature conservation and what types of forest that is concerned. These are the main questions to be answered in this thesis. Moreover has the Timber quality been compared between set-aside and non-set-aside areas since it affect the financial conditions for the forestry in nobel broadleved forests. The last asked question deals with the financial consequences of set-aside.

Mechanical harvesting may result in timber damages leading to reduced saw log quality. The initiator of this study was VIDA ? a privately owned concern operating in the value-adding process industry of forest raw materials. The aim of this study was to examine the type and amount of damages on Alvestakubb caused by the harvester head during the cutting process. The aim was also to compare the damages caused by different types of feed rollers and to evaluate the effects of temperature on damage occurrence.

This report is a joint venture with SCA Skog AB in the Jämtland forest management area. The company is a major player in the timber market in northern Sweden, and also a large business globally with offices in over 100 countries. The purpose of the study was to find out how timber suppliers want feedback/follow-up after completion of timber business. To determine this, a questionnaire survey was sent out to 75 landowners who supplied the wood for the company during the past year. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 15 questions with the opportunity to comment on certain issues.

Derome Skog AB is a purchase company whose main task is to provide Derome Timber's sawmills in Halland with timber raw material. Because of the very hard competition in the roundwood market it is important to know what kind of purchase offers are required in order to buy a valuable product from forest owners.This study aims to elucidate the crucial factors when private forest owners choose to harvest and sell their forest. As base for this study, a questionnaire has been performed with private forest owners. The result of the study shows that it is not particularly often that the timber price is the crucial factor why the forest owners choose to harvest and sell the forest products; i.e. timber, pulpwood as well as energy assortments.

Today there is a widespread opinion that the woodmarket and the forest industry are dominated by a traditional way of thinking and not adapted to the customers of today; a lot of products are produced purely on routine. Also, there is a demand for improving the quality of sawn woodproducts. AB Karl Hedin wants to sort this out by increasingly adapt their products to the demands of the market, i.e. through introducing a short wallstud of standard length, "Hedinregeln". At tirst, the wallstud will be produced in lengths of 2,70 m and of guaranteed quality.

At the beginning of the 1970´s forestry feared an imbalance in the future wood supply. Because of this anticipated "timber slump" forest companies undertook a variety of measures to counter this. One of these measures was the introduction of exotic tree species. The choice finally ended up with lodgepole pines which were considered a fast growing tree species compared to our native tree species. Theambition for the new lodgepole pine stands were to run these with rotation periods of between 40-60 years, thus smoothing out the ?timber slump? that was anticipated.

This study was performed in collaboration with Moelven Skog AB, Örebro district. The purpose of the study was to review existing literature in order to describe the current status of harvester based measurement technology as the way to provide information for calculating payment to the forest owners. In addition to this, a short survey was conducted to find out how a switch to harvester based measurement would affect the administrative workload on timber purchasers working for the district. The literature study shows that the harvester measurement technology is ready to use if it is combined with well-established routines for control of the harvesters, methods for automatic quality indexing of the timber and ways of creating pricelists specially adapted for harvester measurement. Pricing each stem seems to be the most promising method. Stem pricing has several benefits.

This thesis is about the effects of fertilizing and thinning on furniture timber from redwood. Interviews of furniture manufactures have been made and observing of timber from the Swedish fertilizing and thinning trails. The result from the interviews showed which properties that is important for the furniture manufactures and then the result from the observation showed which type of management of the forest that gave the most timber that had those properties. .

This thesis is based on a market survey sent to the passive members of Södra skogsägarna within the scope of practice of Vimmerby. A member of Södra skogsägarna is considered passive if the member not has delivered timber to the association during the past five years. The purpose of this thesis was to obtain as much information as possible about the forest owners, to be able to interpret why the member did not choose to deliver their timber to the association. The survey was worked out in close collaboration with Södra skogsägarna to answer this question. The responses indicate that economic returns are important to the individual landowner. The price of timber is most important in a timber business and the majority of forest owners want to have a personal meeting if you can choose how you wish to be contacted by the inspector.

The study of the French market for softwood has been done in collaboration with VIDA AB. The aim of the study was to investigate important product quality and service quality dimensions, the customers? perception of the offering and generally describe the French market and present actors. The market for softwood around the world changes over time and new markets can mean opportunities for the sawmilling industry. The French market is the second biggest European market for softwood, has had presence of actors with sourcing of raw material from the Nordic countries for decades and there is a growing interest for building with wood. Theory being used is about the different dimensions that make up the total quality of softwood, together with intangible dimensions making up the total offering that helps the sawmilling industry to create positive perceived value for the customers. Methodological approach in the study was a case study research design, aimed at providing knowledge about one specific subject in one context. The general description was mostly carried out by literature studies and data from various statistics sources.