Two important things have to be taken into consideration when processing Thermo-treated wood: sharp tools are recommended to prevent tearing, dust has smaller particle size than normal wood 1. Sawing Sawing of Thermo-treated wood does not significantly differ from sawing of untreated wood. Due to the stabilization of the wood after heat treatment process the effect of further distortion after sawing is reduced. As there is no more resinous substance in Thermo-treated wood, the machines works well and are very clean after working. 2. Planing Planing of Thermo-treated wood can be made by using ordinary planing machines. According to tests machines works well and also the surface quality is good. Good results are achieved with hard metal blades in cutters. 3. Milling In order to get a good surface quality blades must be sharp, otherwise tearing may occur. Greater tearing is observed when the wood is milled across grain. The greatest problems with tearing occur at the start and end of the milling, when the blade comes out of wood. The best results can be found when there is enough solid wood material behind the blade. Therefore processing must be pre- planned carefully. 4. Sanding General working is the same as with untreated wood. There is very often no need for sanding, because after planing or milling Thermo-treated wood has good surface quality. Sanding is easy and the sanding paper is not clogging up by resin. 5. Surface treatment To prevent color changes and surface shakes it is recommended that surface treatment against ultra violet radiation is used. Oil-based substances work as with normal wood. When working with water-solvent substances it has to be taken into account, that Thermo-treated wood has lower water absorption than normal wood. Water-based work well, when they are slowly drying and there is enough time to penetrate into wood. Use PENOFIN or SIKKENS to finish thermo-treated wood for outdoor applications. Ultra Premium Red Label Penofin Clear (http://www.penofin.com/products_rl.shtml) - find locations here: http://www.penofin.com/location.shtml. Also available on-line: http://www.penofin.com/buy.shtml SIKKENS Cetol® WB SRD (AZKO NOBEL): http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product-category3.cfm?product_category=deck. Where to buy: http://www.nam.sikkens.com/find-a-dealer.cfm 6. Gluing Thermo-treated wood absorbs slowly water and water based glues, such as PVAc. That is why longer pressing times than normal is needed. Some PVAc glues can cause problems is substantially prolonged drying times due to the requirement of the water to penetrate into wood, e.g. the hardening of the glue is based on the water absorption into wood. When working with PVAc glue the water content of the glue should be minimized. PU (polyurethane) glues work well with Thermo-treated wood. Although when using PU-glues, it has to be kept in mind, that the hardening reaction of PU needs water. The water can be absorbed either from the wood or surrounding air. If both wood and air are very dry, gluing may fail. Chemically hardening glues allow unchanged drying times and other gluing parameters compared to normal wood. To prevent cracking it is recommended also to reduce the stress force in gluing machines when joining the Thermo-treated wood parts together. 7. Mechanical joints Screwing. Heat treatment reduces splitting strength of wood. The use of self-tapping screws or pre-drilling of holes must be made to avoid cracking of the material. With Thermo-treated wood it is recommended to use less threaded screws compared with normal wood. Stainless steels screws with countersunk heads are most suitable in external usage or other humid environments. Nailing. Recommended using compressed air gun with adjustable nailing depth on the gun. Using normal hammer increases risk of splitting due to hammer contact with the wood. To reduce risk of discoloration from nail in external usage stainless steel are best, however if using compressed air gun fixing, galvanized nails can be used as no metal on metal contact occurs to brake the galvanized seal. Galvanized nails are also working, if Thermo-treated wood will be treated with covering paint after nailing. It is recommended to use small oval head nails to reduce the risk of splitting.