Specification
Hardwood Plywood Grading Guide 2015 columbiaforestproducts.com 21
and/or glued into a face or back
veneer so as to achieve a sound
surface.
Rift cut (or sliced): Decorative face
veneer cut on a radial angle to the
growth rings of the tree by slicing
a quarter log, or a half log as it is
reduced to a point near the pith of the
tree. Typically, rift cut oak (Quer-
cus spp.) veneer will have relatively
straight grain with minimal ake across
the growth rings due to the fact that
the cut is roughly across rather than
parallel to the rays.
Rotary cut: Veneer peeled from a
whole log set in a lathe and turned
against a special knife.
Sapwood: The light colored, active
portion of a tree located between the
generally darker heartwood and the
bark.
Scattered: Relatively uniformly dis-
tributed within a given face veneer.
Shake (Ring shake, Wind shake): A
separation of wood structure parallel
to one or more growth rings gener-
ally associated with traumatic shear
stress that may result from wind
storms, ice storms, or felling.
Shop grade (Developed shop): A
common, non-standard industry term
broadly dened in the glossary of
the HPVA HP-1 standard, but not
included as a part of the standard.
Generally interpreted and accepted
as a panel that is deemed by the
nal inspector at the producing mill
to be less than 100% usable due to
a manufacturing defect such as a
dent, scratch, or damage, but having
at least 85% of the surface area of
the panel that is unblemished and
assumed to be usable. Shop devel-
oped from a normal production run
of panels.
Shop, manufactured: A panel
manufactured utilizing one or more
component(s) that have been previ-
ously determined to be damaged to
the point they would almost assur-
edly result in a panel being down-
graded to shop in a normal produc-
tion run. Panels thusly produced
are usually provided as “mill run”
as agreed upon between buyer and
seller.
Slight: Visible on observation but
does not interfere with the overall
appearance of a given face veneer
in consideration of the applicable
grade for that particular face ve-
neer.
Slip matched: Veneer sheets that
consist of individual components
spliced side by side without turning
any of them over to form staggered
but repetitive grain appearance with
all components oriented so that the
tight side of each veneer is on the
same side of the sheet. Often speci-
ed as “Slip Match – Tight Side Out
(SMTSO).”
Species: An internationally estab-
lished and recognized Latin binomial
nomenclature used to identify every
living plant or animal. As with all
such classications, trees are identi-
ed by both genus and species, e.
g.: Acer rubrum. Acer is the genus
and rubrum is the species, in this
case it refers to red or soft maple.
Species with the “s” on the end is
used for both singular and plural
applications.
It is always “species.”
Split: Same as check. Separation
of wood ber along the longitudinal
direction of the grain, this term is
usually associated with such failure
isolated to panel ends, although
splits may occasionally develop
within the eld of the panel face.
Split, splice line: A separa-
tion occurring between adjacent
components in a hardwood plywood
panel face, generally resulting from
stresses that cause the actual joint to
fail, but not the wood ber within the
adjacent components.
Sugar streaks: (See worm track)
Veneer: Peeled or sliced thin sheets
of wood used as decorative faces or
inner plies in a hardwood plywood
panel.
White: A highly generalized term
frequently inappropriately used in ref-
erence to the lighter color of sapwood
in a tree as opposed to the darker
color of the heartwood of the same
tree. Also used to describe wood of
any color, whether heart or sap, that
has no added nish material such as
stains or paint.
Worm track: Accumulations of light
brown parenchyma cells arranged
within the tunnels left in the cambium
by the larvae of certain species of
ies, leaving the image of the trails
(tracks) created by these larvae as
they continuously consume cambial
tissue. Common in maple (Acer
spp.) where it is often erroneously
called “sugar streak,” and in birch
(Betula spp.) where it is sometimes
erroneously called “pith eck.”
SPLIT
VENEER
SHOP
WHITE
NOTE: There are a host of
terms used to reference the
appearances or processes
used in the production of
faces, backs, and inner ply
veneers or other core compo-
nents. Many of these terms
are colloquial or esoteric,
and often misused or at the
very least are confusing. The
purpose of this glossary is to
accurately define these and
other often used terms in
hopes of making some sense
of them.
GLOSSARY OF HARDWOOD PLYWOOD TERMS