DIVERSIFORM UTILITZATION OF WEST SIBERIAN WOOD

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700040382-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 382
• Publication Date: February 14, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011
STAT
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED tits I fib I L.'J
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR F?ADIO BROADCASTS Cr, NO.
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Economic - Utilization of wood
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED vil'nyus
DATE
PUBLISHED 19 Oct 1951
LANGUAGE
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DATE OF
INFORMATION 1951
DATE DIST. II f Feb 1952
DIVERSIFORM UTILIZATION OF WEST SIBERIAN WOOD
0. Krylov, Sr Scientist
West Siberia Affiliate, Aced Sci USSR
The coniferous taiga zone of West Siberia stretches from the Arctic Circle
to a line running through Tobol'sk, Tomsk, and Krasnoyarsk; it is broken only
by rivers and roads, cities, workers' settlements, villages, fields, and mead-
ova. South of the taiga comes the birch forest zone and then the Siberian
steppe.
West Siberia forests are composed of pine, birch, larch, cedar, fir, aspen,
spruce, and other trees. Hundreds of different products are made from the wood
of these West Siberia forests.
Birchwood goes into skis and snowshoes, gun stocks, plywood, spools, weav-
ing machine shuttles, parts for combines, threshing machines, winnowing machines,
and other agricultural machines, dishware, shafts, sleds, wagons, cobbler's
nails, shoe lute, children's toys, chess pieces, and furniture. From birch
bark, a lining for boots and shoes is made; this lining keeps out moisture and
provides the sole with flexibility. Birchwood is also a valuable material for
the production of acetic acid, alcohol, and other chemicals.
Pinewood is used for producing lumber, shingles, electric light poles, and
squared timber for oil derricks. It is also used in the production of pit
props, pontoons, railroad ties, barges and boats, steamship and railroad car
interior riheathing, parts for sport planes, truck bodies, frame houses, barrels,
and boxes. Each cubic meter of pit-prop timber permits the mining of 15-20
tons of coal.
From cedarwood, Soviet industry manufactures pencils, furniture veneer,
lumber for window sills, cigarette and tobacco cases, all kirds of packing
containers, aromatic shavings for packing fruit, fine furniture, and drawing
boards.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/31
CIA-RDP80-00809A000700040382-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/31
BESTRICUU'
Because of its rater-resisting properties, durability, and high specific
gravity, larch wood is used in the production of piles, squared timber for
bridges, railroad ties, and foundation timber for buildings. Larch wood used
for these purposes will not rot for 300-500 years.
Spruce wood is made into timber for shipbuilding, lumber for musical in-
strument production, railroad ties, and pulp for cellulose, viscose rayon, and
paper production. It is possible to produce 200-250 kilograms of paper from
a cubic meter of spruce pulp.
Aspen wood goes into the produclion of matches, various kinds of packing
containers, roofing shingles, parer, and cardboard. Fro-1 one cubic meter of
aspen blocks, it is possible to m.:ko core than a million matchsticks (22,000
boxes) or to produce 300 kilograms of cardboard.
Siberian woods are also ;_ed widely in the wood chemical. industry. If
mechanical wood processing permit:; the production of about 500 different
products, chemical processing reLscs the line of products to about 20,000.
The most common chemically processed wood product is charcoal, used for
steel smelting and purifying sugar sirup.
Soviet wood chemists have begun to utlli>.e the smoke resulting from wood
combustion and are recovering wood alcohol, acetic acid, and other products
from it. Through dry distillation of coniferous woods at wood chemical plants,
they obtain wood alcohol, turpentine, resin, and carbon. From deciduous woods
(birch, aspen), they obtain acetic acid, wood alcohol. carbon, and other prod-
ucts. One cubic meter of birchwood yields 10-15 k. ,rams of acetic acid,
100 kilograms of carbon, 5 kilograms of wood alcohol, and 35 kilograms of
resin. Acetic acid is used widely in engineering and the food, pharmaceutical,
and lacquer industries. It is also used in the production of acetate rayon.
Fine rayon is made from spruce wood. One cubic meter of wood yields 1,500
meters of viscose rayon.
Starch, sugar, and ethyl alcohol are alto obtained from West Siberian
woods. Using the method of S. V. L~,beiev, Soviet scientists produce synthetic
rubber out of ethyl alcohol.
Processing of one cubic meter of wood into synthetic wool may yield
165 meters of cloth.
Formalin and aspirin, medical turpentine, bakelite and urotropine, cello-
phane and cellulose, synthetic camphor and indigo, motion-picture film, paper
dishes, pressed gears, and shatterproof glass are some of those diversiform
products which modern engineers produce from wood.
A very valuable food product of the Siberian taiga is the Siberian cedar
nut. It contains up to 60 percent oil, 20 percent albumin, and 12 percent
starch, sugar, and vitamins. Cedar nut-- have a higher food value than meat
and milk.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/10/31 :