1 December 2025

Talking Timber Journal Nov-Dec 2025.pdf

Marlene Cramer explains how the Australian standard on strength grading recovered timber works and how it compares to new developments in Europe

Timber is currently a much debated topic. We all agree that we should reuse timber, but we are not quite clear how we should go about verifying the mechanical properties of reclaimed wood. Can we assume that wood properties are not affected by aging? Do we need to quantify a decline in properties due to prolonged high loads, or other factors? And how do we deal with potential prior grading and sorting effects? Maybe some of these questions have already been answered on the other side of the world…