A study was carried out to evaluate the influence of acetylation on physical properties and gluing ability of some Albanian woods. Three woods were studied: beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), poplar (Populus alba L.) and fir (Abies alba Mill.). For acetylation, pyridine and acetic anhydride were used. After treatment, all the samples were conditioned to 100% relative humidity of air and were measured according to radial and tangential directions. After that, the samples were ovendried and were weighed and measured again, calculating the shrinkage and wood percent gain. Again, the samples were reconditioned to 100% relative humidity of air, calculating the swelling. The volumetric shrinkages of acetylated poplar and beech resulted 4.05 and 8.5%, meanwhile for non acetylated samples 9.8 and 16.5%. Tangential shrinkage of acetylated fir was 2.2% and for non acetylated 6.5%. The volumetric swellings of acetylated poplar and beech resulted 4.2 and 9.3%, meanwhile for the non acetylated 10.8 and 19.8%. Tangential swelling of acetylated fir wood was 1.7 and 5.8% for non acetylated. It seems that acetylation reduced more than 50% the moisture-related dimensional changes of wood. Regarding gluing the shear strength of acetylated beech resulted 2.4 times less comparing with non acetylated one.

Key words: Acetylation, gluing, shrinkage, strength, swelling, wood.