Surface roughness of thermally modified and unmodified selected wood species after sanding

Abstract The paper aims to determine by measuring whether the Thermo-Vacuum modification of selected types of wood causes an increase or decrease in surface roughness after its sanding using drum sander. The roughness change is explained more comprehensively with respect to the change in density and hardness. The surface roughness was measured with a Keyence VHX-7000 digital microscope. The measured data showed that the Thermo-Vacuum modification reduced the surface roughness of beech wood. On the other hand, pine, oak, and chestnut wood increased in roughness probably due to a decrease in their hardness. This caused deeper grooves to be cut in the sanding process. The paper thus answers the question of whether wood modification helps the woodworking processes to achieve lower surface roughness or, on the contrary, increases it, which will require further surface treatments.