Product quality means different things to different people. While foresters think of tree size and form, and lumber manufacturers see large, straight and clear logs, customers associate wood quality with other attributes. The building industry, for example, is mainly interested in strength, stiffness and dimensional stability, but it cares very little about basic wood properties.

Many forest scientists appear to consider wood density and fibre length as the key wood quality attributes regardless of end uses.

A common definition of wood quality and a better understanding of its impacts on wood manufacturing and customer satisfaction would facilitate communication among all parties concerned.