Identification of wood used for column members of historic Korean timber structures

Abstract

For the maintenance and renovation of historic buildings, it is an essential prerequisite to identify the species of each member of a structure. In historic timber structures, identification of the wood used for structural members is a priority, but very limited data have been collected to date. In this study, columns and other structural members of historic timber structures in Korean cultural heritage buildings were collected to identify their wood species using light microscopy methods. Among the 999 column members in the wooden heritages investigated, red pine (Pinus densiflora, 55.4%), zelkova (Zelkova serrata, 29.7%), and oriental chestnut oak (Quercus acutissima, 7.7%) were found in 92.8% of the tested column members. Over different eras, the wood species used in historic timber structures changed from hardwood to softwood. Foreign wood species such as western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and pitch pine (Pinus radiata) were observed in a few cases.