It is evident that these two ways of timber utilisation lead to different results, but up to now it is not possible to estimate the height of these differences.

The objective of the presented study is to show the importance of the defect position within the timber for the bending E-modulus and also for the bending strength. 40 pairs of small samples (2x2x36 cm) of Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris with well defined natural wood defects (pith, knots) and also with artificial defects were used as material for this study. A pairwise analysis gives an idea about the importance of intelligent wood utilisation and wood testing as well.