Austrian Logging

Wood in Austria has been an indispensable source of energy, but also, a crucial building material. In the field of dendroarchaeology the timeline between raw material harvest and finalisation of a wooden construction is a crucial piece of puzzle in understanding building history. This paper aims to provide an overview on historical timber supply in Austria by examining the felling and debarking methods, as recorded in old literature and, from the visible evidence on beams in wooden constructions. Historically, depending on the size and location of a building, a small or extended supply chain of timber was required. These generally consisted of logs travelling via streams and rivers, and possibly beforehand passing through sluices and log slides, being skidded by horses and oxen, and being moved by manpower on sleighs, or simply on the forest floor. The seasonal working steps of the logging process included felling, debranching, debarking, cutting to length, and the start of the transportation process. Debarking was a specific focus in this investigation, as the appearance of bast (the inner bark of trees from which ropes were made) or even bark residues on the waney edge (outermost growth ring underneath the bark), may provide a clue to the felling time of year. These indications of the cutting season have been noticed during dendrochronological sampling of beams in historical buildings. Improved knowledge of them may contribute to future research of these buildings

Agroforestry · Felling · Geography · Logging · Environmental Science · Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies · Tree-ring climate responses · Wood Treatment and Properties · Forestry