The treatment of most softwoods from the western United States with waterborne chemicals poses a major challenge. Although many of these species are commercially treated with waterbornes, there is considerable debate about their treatability. At present, there is little or no information on the treatability of western wood species with waterborne chemicals. The lack of accurate treatability information related to current practices makes it difficult to improve treatment processes. To develop this information, the heartwood and sapwood of three western wood species were treated using five chemical formulations. Included in these tests were oxide and salt formulations of chromated copper arsenate as well as chromated copper borate. Retentions were measured by gross absorption while penetration was measured using chrome azurol S for copper, cucurmin/salicylic acid for boron, and ammonium molybdate/O-anisidine/stannous chloride for arsenic. The results are discussed in relation to future research directions.

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