effect of juvenile wood and lay-up practices on various properties of radiata pine laminated veneer lumber

Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) was produced in seven different configurations, including current industry practice, all juvenile, all mature, mixed juvenile and mature, deep lathe check, and an alternative lay-up, which glued the loose face to the loose face, and a control. The all juvenile lay-up did not decrease the stiffness of the LVL significantly compared to many other patterns. The juvenile wood component seemed to perform at least as well as current industry practice. The juvenile LVL was found to have more twist and bow, and no difference in crook compared to the mature lay-up pattern. The deep lathe checks did not decrease the stiffness of the LVL, but did show an increase in distortion compared to most of the other lay-up configurations. The alternative configuration of matching the loose face to the loose face increased the average stiffness of the resulting LVL studs. It also has significantly lower crook and bow, although this alternative lay-up did increase the amount of twist.