SOME people are inclined to think of plastics as synthetic materials that can be molded into any shape and then hardened. In fact, that is about the way Webster defines a plastic. In the case of wood, however, the term plastic is frequently used to indicate changes made either by impregnating resins, by compression, or by remolding component parts after separation. Such separation can ·be mechanical or chemical. This paper outlines some of these procedures.