Patent ID: 8497020

Claim:
An industrial feedstock comprising a mixture of wood particles having fibers aligned in a grain, wherein: the wood particles are characterized by a length dimension (L) aligned substantially parallel to the grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) normal to W and L; the L×H dimensions define two side surfaces characterized by substantially intact longitudinally arrayed fibers; the W×H dimensions define two cross-grain end surfaces characterized individually as aligned either normal to the grain or oblique to the grain; the L×W dimensions define two substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces; a majority of the W×H surfaces in the mixture of wood particles have end checking; and, the mixture of wood particles is characterized by a substantially uniform size distribution profile as determined by the following protocol: drying approximately 1000 g of the wood particles to constant weight at 110° F.; pouring 400 g of the dried wood particles into a stacked screen assembly consisting of in a contiguous size-ordered array: a top 1-inch screen having 25.00 mm nominal sieve openings, a ½-inch screen having 12.50 mm nominal sieve openings, a ⅜-inch screen having 9.53 mm nominal sieve openings, a ¼-inch screen having 6.30 mm nominal sieve openings, a No. 4 screen having 4.74 mm nominal sieve openings, a No. 8 screen having 2.38 mm nominal sieve openings, a No. 10 screen having 2.00 mm nominal sieve openings, a No. 16 screen having 1.19 mm nominal sieve openings, a No. 20 screen having 0.84 mm nominal sieve openings, and a bottom pan; shaking the stacked screen assembly for 10 minutes on a motorized tapping sieve shaker; weighing the wood particles that are retained on each of the screens; and determining that the wood particle mixture is characterized by a substantially uniform size range if the sum of the weights of wood particles retained on any contiguous five of the screens exceeds 320 g in total.