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Sierra Leone has been self-sufficient in wood since 1942. Wood is the tissue of trees that transmits nutrients and fundamentally strengthens the tree. It is the raw material that produces lumber and plywood, among other by-products. Sierra Leone wood is used as an essential fuel and a renewable resource. It also has an array of different uses, like paper production and construction work.

Wood has more or less been used since the existence of human beings on earth. Its uses go back to the Palaeolithic times. By the 7000BC, people were using wood in transportation. This invention got improved to the making of canoes in the following years. Between the 3-4000BC, the cart got invented as another wood use as a consequence of the discovery of the wheel. The endless uses of wood, especially in construction, have continued to evolve over the years to date. 

Sierra Leone wood is categorized under softwoods. Their trees are cone-bearing and evergreen. This description means they have cones and needles, and they keep them all year round. This category is also referred to as gymnosperms to indicate that their seed is not enclosed in the ovary of the flower. Softwoods are obtained from tall, straight trees. The typical sizes for softwood wood are 2*4, 2*6 and 4*4.

More than a third of Sierra Leone is covered by forestry. The Gola forest reserve that nears the Liberian border is the most critical area for this. It is primarily a tropical rainforest.

Some of the softwoods used for wood production in Sierra Leone include the Guarea cedrata which is a pink, cedar scented mahogany type of wood. Another type js the Lophira alata which is also called the red ironwood tree and has a two centimetres thick, red-brown bark.

Wood can get harvested from trees without consideration of factors like produce. Hence, the product has an all year round availability. Sierra Leone hardwoods grow in colder regions with rich and moist soils. 

Sierra Leone softwood trees produce lumber. Lumber harvest and manufacturing follows a series of steps:

• Head rig: The tree gets sawed into boards or pieces
• Edging: removal of irregular defects and edges from the sawn boards and pieces
• Trimming: the ends of the lumber are squared off into uniform pieces by the trimmer
• Rough lumber sorting: separation of pieces based on dimension and production requirement of the final product that is green or dry
• Stickering: lumber that will go into kiln drying is stacked using spacers called stickers to allow air to circulate within this stack. The green product separated from the step before does not undergo this and the following step process
• Drying: the natural wood moisture content evaporation is speeded up by kiln drying in a controlled environment
• Planing: smoothing the surface of the wood and ensuring each piece has a uniform width
• Grading: assigning a ‘grade’ that indicates the quality (based on varied characteristics) to the lumber pieces

A dry environment for storage of the wood is the got to whereby the wood is stored while bulk-piled to prevent moisture content loss and fumigation and heat treatment are carried out before export to prevent bugs from destroying the wood. Sierra Leone produces wood both for domestic and export markets. During transportation, the moisture content in the wood does not exceed 8%. The softwood is transported in bundles and packages of different sizes and lengths while secured with flat metal strapping bands. 

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