Chemicals are used only in exceptional cases. The stand is cleared two or three times, removing those trees which would lose out in natural competition. At the same time, this creates more light and space for the retained trees. The first thinning yields small-wood which is used as raw material in the pulp and paper industry. The second and third thinning yield timber as well.
Thinnings aim at maintaining a mixed stand structure.
In conjunction with first thinning, high-quality pines can be pruned, i.e. the dead lower branches on select trees are removed. This method gives knotless butt logs which in time will become valuable raw material, for instance for the furniture industry. With good forestry practice , increment exceeds drain The total volume of stock in Finnish forests amounts to nearly 2 billion cubic metres. For as long as there has been an independent Finland, the increment of stock has exceeded harvesting volumes and natural drain. Today the annual increment is about 75 million cubic metres, whereas around 60 million cubic metres or less are harvested or die of natural causes.