• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.337-345
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• 2013

Log grading rules are essential tools to ensure the quality of logs in distribution structure. The rules should reflect the long experience and accepted usage practice in the market. A gap between the rules and market should be improved based on analysis of log qualities that produced and market demand. In this study more than ten millions logs which were produced by 5 Regional Forest Services in 2010~2011 period, were analyzed in their qualities including diameters and lengths by species. A proposal was driven to improve the current log grading rules in terms of log diameter classes and length. The followings are the summary of this study. Most of domestic softwood logs are belong to small diameter class of 100~160 mm, which imply the diameter classes of current log grading rules are immoderate. Distributions of log diameter shows distinctive patterns by species, which indicate a necessity of differentiated diameter classes by species in an improved rules. Lengths of logs in productions do not corresponding to the demands and preferences in sawmills. Therefore it is highly recommended to include log length term in an improved log grading system. Based on these findings, 6 log grading systems for 3 species groups of softwood are newly proposed to improve current log grading rules. Limits of log diameter and log length are also proposed for each log grading system.