What Is Wood and How Does This Natural Material Form?

Wood is a sustainable and versatile material that captivates us with its natural beauty and countless applications. From sturdy building construction to fine furniture making, wood offers endless creative possibilities. Dive into the world of wood, discover what wood is made of, and get to know the unique properties and sustainable importance of this essential material. Check out one of {nrEvents} woodworking classes.

What Is Wood and How Does It Form?

Nature offers us a wide range of materials for creative work, but hardly any is as versatile and sustainable as wood. To answer the questions of what wood is made of and how it forms, we need to take a look at photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, trees use sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water to produce glucose, which is then converted into cellulose. Cellulose is essential for a tree's growth and stability. Other key components of wood's composition are hemicellulose and lignin, which are also responsible for the tree's strength, among other things.

If you saw through a tree trunk, you can see a wood structure made up of different layers:

• heartwood
• sapwood
• the cambium
• and the bark

What Is the Structure of Wood?

Heartwood consists of dead cells and is especially firm due to stored resins and tannins. Sapwood consists of living cells that store nutrients and transport water. The cambium is responsible for forming new wood cells. The bark consists of dead cells and protects the tree.

In spring, the cambium forms new cells and the tree grows thicker; in late fall, it stops cell growth. This is what creates the tree's characteristic growth rings. By looking at a cross-section of a trunk, you can determine the tree's age. Wood's properties, like weight, density, and strength, vary depending on the tree species, by the way. Wood is divided into hardwoods and softwoods, with hardwoods generally being heavier and harder.

The Journey of Wood: How Does a Tree Become a Piece of Furniture?

Before a tree becomes a piece of furniture, or a wood mosaic, it still has several steps ahead of it.

1. Felling: after selective felling, the trunks are transported to sawmills, where they're stripped of bark and cut into various pieces and sizes.
2. Drying: the wood is then dried to reduce its moisture content, a crucial step, since wood shifts and changes as moisture levels change.
3. Processing: wood production only begins after drying. From there, the wood can be further processed and shaped through sawing, planing, milling, or sanding.
4. Surface treatment: the wood then gets its final look through surface treatment, which also protects it from outside environmental influences.

What Is Solid Wood?

Solid wood refers to wood products made from a single piece of wood, and therefore from a single tree species. Solid wood is usually left in its natural state, meaning no chemical treatments are used in processing it. To use solid wood for furniture, for example, wood panels or cross-sections are cut directly from the tree trunk. Various types of wood are used for solid wood, such as oak, pine, maple, or beech.

Wood and Sustainability: What Matters Most?

Wood as a raw material is renewable and, when used sustainably, can make a meaningful contribution to reducing our carbon footprint. As trees grow, they absorb CO2 and store it within the wood itself. That carbon remains stored even after the tree is felled and processed into wood products. But using wood sustainably also requires a conscious approach. To minimize our carbon footprint, we should favor locally produced wood from sustainably managed forests. Sustainability in wood production also means planting as many trees as we cut down, or even more.

Tip: dive into woodworking and create your own piece at the outdoor woodworking class in Berlin.

Wood as a Multi-Generational Task

The trees we cut down today were often planted over 100 years ago. That's why forestry and woodworking aren't just a craft, they're also a task that spans generations.

How Do You Get Started with Woodworking? How Do You Become a Carpenter?

The classic, traditional path into professional woodworking starts with an apprenticeship in the carpentry trade. There, apprentices learn to work with different types of wood, tools, and techniques.

But unconventional paths can lead to carpentry too: Dennis, one of the founders of Gepetto Club, discovered his passion for wood while studying architecture, a passion he now shares with others through his workshops.

Getting Started with Woodworking: How Do You Approach the Topic?

It's a good start to first familiarize yourself with the basics: What types of wood exist, and what properties do they have? What tools do I need, and how do I use them safely?

Start with simpler projects first, to apply what you've learned and build your skills further.

Tip: for anyone interested in woodworking but unsure where or how to begin, Gepetto Club offers an outdoor woodworking class in Berlin.

These classes are designed to introduce beginners to the craft of working with wood. You don't need any prior experience, just the desire to work with wood and create your own one-of-a-kind piece.