Toolchest · Datasheet

Accumath Toolchest — Wood & Wood Products Dataset: Notes

Dataset file: accumath-wood-dataset.csv (36 rows × 24 columns) Built: 2026-10-20. Every numeric value is traceable to the source named in each row's sources column (FPL Wood Handbook for the clear-wood properties; ANSI/AWC NDS Supplement for the design values — see the NDS section below). Cells that could not be verified are left EMPTY — no value in this dataset is estimated, averaged, or interpolated.

Contents of the dataset

• 10 structural softwood entries (commercial species groups + Alaska species + redwood)
• 13 hardwood species entries
• 4 imported species entries (balsa, teak, Honduran mahogany, ipe)
• 9 engineered wood product entries (glulam, LVL, PSL, LSL, structural plywood, OSB, wood I-joists, CLT, Baltic birch plywood)

Sources

The dataset has two sources:

1. Clear-wood and product properties — USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook — Wood as an Engineering Material, General Technical Report FPL-GTR-282 (2021).

• Clear-wood strength properties, U.S. species: Chapter 5, Table 5-3a (metric).
• Clear-wood strength properties, imported species: Chapter 5, Table 5-5a (metric).
• Shrinkage, domestic species: Chapter 4, Table 4-3.
• Shrinkage, imported species: Chapter 4, Table 4-4.
• Botanical names: Chapter 2, Scientific Name Index.
• Engineered products: Chapter 12, Tables 12-1, 12-2, 12-3, 12-7, 12-8, and the descriptive text of Chapters 11 and 12.

No NIST source was used: NIST does not publish wood engineering properties (its role in wood products is limited to voluntary product standards such as PS 1/PS 2 for structural panels, which contain no property tables used here).

2. Structural design values (the design_* columns) — American Wood Council, ANSI/AWC National Design Specification (NDS) Supplement: Design Values for Wood Construction, 2024 edition, as published openly by AWC ("2024 NDS Supplement — Reference Design Values," AWC website PDF dated 2024-04-23): Table 4A (dimension lumber), Table 4B (Southern Pine), and Tables 5A/5B (glulam). See the section "NDS design values — included as published facts" below for edition, basis, and coverage.

Moisture-content basis

• Clear-wood mechanical properties are the 12% moisture content values from FPL Tables 5-3a / 5-5a. The handbook also publishes green-condition values; they were not used, so all species rows share one consistent basis.
• Specific gravity (Table 5-3a species) is as published: based on oven-dry weight and volume at 12% moisture content (handbook footnote b).
• Specific gravity (Table 5-5a imported species) is the single value printed per species in that table, on the green-volume basis; see the density note below.
• Hardness is the handbook's side hardness value, i.e., the Janka ball test load applied perpendicular to grain, in newtons.
• Shrinkage values (Tables 4-3 / 4-4) are total shrinkage from green to oven-dry, expressed as a percentage of the green dimension. This is the handbook's standard shrinkage basis; it is not a 12% MC value.
• Engineered-product values are at the moisture content stated in each row's note (glulam test data at 11% MC; LVL research data, MC as reported by FPL).

Density

Density is the one computed (not directly tabulated) quantity, computed only from FPL-published inputs, as follows:

• Table 5-3a species: density at 12% MC = SG(12% basis) × 1000 × 1.12 (mass at 12% MC = oven-dry mass × 1.12; volume is the 12% MC volume used in the published SG). Rounded to the nearest kg/m³.
• Table 5-5a imported species (SG on green-volume basis): density at 12% MC = SG × 1000 × 1.12 / (1 − 0.006 × volumetric shrinkage %), using Table 4-4 volumetric shrinkage and the standard relation that about 60% of total volumetric shrinkage occurs between green (~30% MC, fiber saturation) and 12% MC.
• Engineered products: density cells are left blank. Panel/product density is product- and thickness-specific, and the FPL tables used do not state a specific-gravity volume basis for panels.

Commercial species groups vs. species

The structural softwood entries are commercial species groups (the names lumber is sold under). FPL clear-wood tables list individual species, so for each group the dataset uses the group's principal species and says so in the row's notes (e.g., Southern Pine → loblolly pine values; Hem-Fir → western hemlock values; SPF → white spruce values). Group membership is given in the botanical_name column. Alaska Hemlock is Alaska-grown western hemlock and therefore carries the same FPL species values as the Hem-Fir row's principal species.

Legal basis

• The FPL Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282) is a work of the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. As a U.S. federal government publication it is public domain (not subject to copyright in the United States, 17 U.S.C. § 105), and its data tables may be reproduced in a commercial product. Attribution is retained in the sources column as a matter of good practice, not legal obligation.
• The clear-wood property values in this dataset come from that public-domain source. No proprietary compilation (e.g., MatWeb) was copied.
• The structural design values come from the ANSI/AWC NDS Supplement (2024), published by the American Wood Council, which is named as the source in every filled row. They are included under Jeff's ruling of 2026-10-20: NDS design values are publicly published facts, and public facts require no licensure. See the next section.

NDS design values — included as published facts

The eight rightmost columns (design_Fb_psi, design_Ft_psi, design_Fv_psi, design_Fc_perp_psi, design_Fc_par_psi, design_E_psi, design_Emin_psi, design_basis) carry NDS reference design values on an ASD basis, in psi exactly as published (no unit conversion — conversions are the engine's job).

• Decision (Jeff, 2026-10-20): NDS design values are publicly published facts and are INCLUDED in this dataset, with the American Wood Council (AWC) named as source in each filled row's sources column and basis statement. Public facts require no licensure.
• Edition used: ANSI/AWC NDS Supplement, 2024 edition (Design Values for Wood Construction), taken from AWC's own openly published Reference Design Values PDF (awc.org, file dated 2024-04-23).
• Basis — dimension lumber: Table 4A, No. 2 grade, 2 in.–4 in. thick, 2 in. & wider. Exceptions, stated in each row's design_basis: Spruce-Pine-Fir is tabulated in Table 4A as a combined No. 1/No. 2 grade category, so that published category is used; and the Soft Maple row uses Table 4A's Red Maple entry, because this row's FPL values are red maple — the species of the NDS Red Maple commercial group.
• Basis — Southern Pine: Table 4B, No. 2 grade, 2 in.–4 in. wide (2 in.–4 in. thick). Table 4B tabulates Fb, Ft, and Fc∥ separately for each width (2–4, 5–6, 8, 10, 12 in.), so the values for other widths differ from the ones recorded here. Note that the 2024 Supplement's Southern Pine values are revised relative to the 2018 Supplement (e.g., No. 2, 2–4 in. wide: Fb 1,100 psi, E 1,400,000 psi).
• Basis — glulam: Tables 5A/5B, 24F-1.8E Douglas-fir stress class, combination 24F-V4. design_Fb_psi is Fbx+ (extreme fiber in bending, positive bending) = 2,400 psi; Fbx− for negative bending is 1,850 psi. design_Fv_psi is Fvx, design_Fc_perp_psi is Fc⊥x, design_E_psi is Ex apparent (1,800,000 psi, the "1.8E"), and design_Emin_psi is Ex min (950,000 psi). Ft and Fc∥ are the Table 5B axial values for the 24F-1.8E class (1,100 and 1,650 psi).
• Red Oak note: values are from Table 4A's "Red Oak" commercial-group entry, matching this row's commercial group. Table 4A also publishes a separate "Northern Red Oak" entry (No. 2: Fb 975 psi); it was not used.
• Caveat — reference conditions only: tabulated values are for normal load duration and dry service conditions. The NDS adjustment factors (load duration CD, wet service CM, temperature Ct, size CF, repetitive member Cr, flat use Cfu, incising Ci, beam stability CL, column stability CP, volume CV for glulam, etc.) are not included in this dataset and must be applied by the user/engine for actual design conditions.
• Filled — 16 of 36 rows: all 10 structural softwood groups (Table 4A; Southern Pine from Table 4B); 5 hardwood rows whose commercial groups Table 4A publishes (Red Oak, White Oak, Yellow Poplar, Cottonwood, and Soft Maple via the Red Maple entry); and the glulam row (Tables 5A/5B).
• Blank — 20 rows, and why:
• Hard Maple — the Supplement publishes no sugar-maple (hard maple) entry; its "Mixed Maple" is a different, mixed-species commercial group and was not substituted.
• American Beech, Hickory (True Hickory), Pecan — these species appear in the Supplement only as components of the mixed "Beech-Birch-Hickory" commercial group; there are no species-level entries to record.
• White Ash, Black Walnut, American Cherry, Basswood — no dimension lumber design-value entries in the NDS Supplement.
• Balsa, Teak, Mahogany (Honduran), Ipe — not in the Supplement. Table 4F (non-North American dimension lumber) was checked: it covers European-grown softwoods (Norway spruce, Scots pine, Douglas-fir, etc.) only — none of this dataset's imported species.
• LVL, PSL, LSL, Wood I-Joists — design values are proprietary (manufacturer/APA evaluation-report data); the NDS publishes no generic values for them.
• Plywood, OSB, Baltic Birch Plywood, CLT — panel products are outside the NDS lumber tables (CLT design is per ANSI/APA PRG 320).
• Clear-wood properties (the FPL columns) must not be used as design values — they are mean properties of small clear specimens, not graded-lumber allowable stresses. The two value sets answer different questions and are kept in separate columns for that reason.

Gaps (intentionally blank cells)

Gap	Rows affected	Reason
Shrinkage, Interior South Douglas-fir	Douglas Fir (South)	FPL Table 4-3 tabulates Douglas-fir shrinkage for Coast, Interior West, and Interior North regions only.
Shrinkage, white spruce	Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF)	White spruce is not listed in FPL Table 4-3.
Compression perpendicular to grain	Balsa, Teak, Mahogany (Honduran), Ipe	FPL Table 5-5a (imported woods) has no compression-perpendicular column; the property is not published there.
Side (Janka) hardness	Balsa	No value published in FPL Table 5-5a.
All mechanical properties	PSL, LSL	FPL Ch. 11/12 describe these products but publish no property tables; values are manufacturer-proprietary.
All mechanical properties	Wood I-joists	Proprietary products; capacities are manufacturer/series-specific evaluation-report data. No generic published values exist.
All mechanical properties	CLT	FPL publishes no CLT property table; U.S. qualification is per ANSI/APA PRG 320 (APA), and panel data are manufacturer-specific.
All mechanical properties	Baltic Birch Plywood	European product (Betula pendula) outside the scope of the FPL tables; included as a species/product note only, per scope.
Specific gravity / density (single values)	Glulam, LVL, OSB	FPL Table 12-1 publishes ranges only (given in each row's notes); single values were not fabricated from ranges.
Density	Plywood (Structural, Douglas-fir)	Source (FPL Table 12-2) does not state the SG volume basis for panels; density left blank rather than assumed.
NDS design values (all 7 design_* columns)	20 rows: Hard Maple, White Ash, American Beech, Hickory, Pecan, Black Walnut, American Cherry, Basswood, Balsa, Teak, Mahogany (Honduran), Ipe, LVL, PSL, LSL, Plywood, OSB, Wood I-Joists, CLT, Baltic Birch Plywood	No entry for the species/product in the ANSI/AWC NDS Supplement (2024), or values are proprietary manufacturer data (engineered products). See the NDS section above for row-by-row reasons.

Coverage summary

Of the 27 solid-wood rows: specific gravity, density, E, MOR, compression parallel, shear parallel — 27/27. Compression perpendicular — 23/27 (missing only the 4 imports, unpublished). Janka hardness — 26/27 (missing balsa, unpublished). Shrinkage (R/T/V) — 25/27 (missing Douglas Fir (South) region and white spruce, both untabulated). Of the 9 engineered rows: 3 carry FPL-tabulated test values (glulam, LVL, plywood); 6 are documented notes-only rows (PSL, LSL, OSB ranges, I-joists, CLT, Baltic birch) for the reasons in the gaps table. NDS design values (2024 Supplement, ASD, psi): 16 of 36 rows filled — the 10 structural softwood groups, 5 hardwood groups published in Table 4A, and the glulam 24F-1.8E row. The remaining 20 rows are blank for the reasons given in the NDS section above.