Shannon's Lumber Industry Update

The White Pine was the prominent tree across colonial America and it was thought to be an endless supply. Over 600 billion board feet of White Pine was logged after the Revolutionary War until the mid 1800s. When New England went dry, we turned west to the great lakes states and removed hundreds of billions more board feet. This removal of the "limitless" resource sparked the modern conservation movment and created the science that today we call silviculture. This is the story of the White Pine and why it should have a place on your workbench.

The 2x4. Its the basic piece of modern stick frame construction. But it is not actually 2" by 4". Many of us know this, but do we know why the size has changed but the name stayed the same. Moreover how did anyone even start with those dimensions. This single piece of lumber is a representation of all the changes that have occured in the building trades and the optimization of forestry, economics, and manufacturiung. Its not a measure but a convergence of optimization.

Its not actually a Cedar but who cares. Western Redcedar is an amazing exterior wood used in everything form boats to guitars, decks, shingles, siding and pergolas. Its known as the tree of life among the native peoples of the PNW. This tree produces some amazingly clear vertical grain boards and as you might expect, has gotten pretty darn expensive these days.

Spalting is essential fungal rot in wood. But it is pretty and therefore people seek it out and even go so far as to "grow" their own. In this episode I discuss the 3 types of spalting found in wood and even discuss the fungi responsible for it.

In this episode I feature Pacific Madrone. An interesting pinkish-orange hardwood with the same hardnesss of Hard Maple but a lot more character. I also talk about drying Holly and the gunk build up from Olive and many oily woods.