It could be said that Hickory built America.  Hickory's properties made the American felling axe possible with its extremely high MOR and MOE values.  Today we discuss this great American wood and why you need to add it to your repertoire of woods.

150 - Hickory

Let's define plantations and natural forests and talk about what we can expects from the lumber coming from plantations.  Also how plantations can evolve into natural forests.  Ultimately why do we need plantations and why do we need natural forests.  Also answer some questions about air drying and dealing with bugs as well as drying large timbers.

151 - Plantation vs Natural Forests

Monkeypod is a great timber coming out of Costa Rica that is almost entirely FSC.  It is often sold as wider slabs due to the lighter weight and the way it is sawn in the jungle.  A great alternative to many of the tropical species out there like Koa and Blackwood or even some of the fancy Rosewoods.  

152 Monkeypod

How do you find unusual and typically non commercial wood species?  In this episode I give some tips to help the listener build a network of wood sources.

153  Hard to Source Woods

My featured species this episode is Buckeye.  Its a non commercial species but not terribly hard to find and has some unique color and high propensity to form burls.  But the real meat of this show is a look  at how a forest regenerates after a disturbance like a fire or logging.  The successional forest model helps us understand how forestry managers can foster a healthy forest through logging.  But then we look at how bugs and blights can disrupt the succession model even further.

154 - Buckeye

Today I fight my strong wood bias and take time to talk about composite lumber.  All the various plastic boards you will find on the market from wood flour and plastic slurry to polyethylene capped boards and fully plastic HDPE or PVC.  What you should know about the differences and how you can actually work with this stuff.

155 Composite Lumber

The featured lumber species today is Catalpa.  A very oak like tree but with a really soft workability.  High quality, clear lumber that is easy to work and comes in decent widths and lengths.  Why doesn't this wood more popular?  Also on the show, Tree of Heaven as lumber and the engineered wood products world of PSL, LSL, and LVL.

156 - Catalpa

Today I feature the mighty Ponderosa Pine.  I was marveling at these trees on a recent trip out west and knew I had to feature the species.  A mainstay of the construction lumber industry often labelled as PP/LP on lumber racks.  But also a species with a different life in the form of clear boards in moulding, interior flooring, paneling, etc.  The species is fire propagating and is a perfect example of how healthy forest management needs a little fire from time to time.  The Beetle Kill Pine is the result of weak forests without natures cleaning mechanism.  Ponderosa is a yellow pine but a pale version of yellow pine both in appearance but in workability with softer and less difference between early and late growth.  It makes for a more uniform working experience with planing, sawing or cutting joinery.

Also in this episode I answer questions about:

- Kiln Drying schedules to reduce trial and error when drying lumber
- How pulp wood forests no longer destined to a paper mill could be turned into saw timber forests.
- Typical construction lumber species in the 1920s in the NE United States


LU158 Ponderosa

Today we look at the birth of the timber trade in America.  From when the Pilgrims stepped off the Mayflower up until the Revolutionary War.  Timber was one of those contributing factors that led to war.  We all talk about throwing tea into the harbor, but what about the Pine Tree riots and the Broad Arrow Notices that claimed colonial Pines for the Royal Navy.  Happy Thanksgiving as we explore how and what timber was used and exported from early America.

159 Colonial Lumber

In this episode I feature Peruvian Walnut and talk about how it has become a flooring species.  Specifically how its drying difficulty drove it to be a flooring product.  Additionally I talk about juvenile wood, Jindai wood, and the Hickory/Pecan confusion.

Make sure you check out TDC's video about urban lumber that features previous guests Camp Small and UVA Sawmilling.

https://youtu.be/5kx-CoT4zsg?si=0j-g9JS70K5nFYR-

160 - Peruvian Walnut

An 8/4, Kiln dried podcast all about lumber and your questions about it.  Let's dispel some myths and broaden an understanding of this ancient industry and help us all become a little more wood savvy...woodier??

155 Composite Lumber

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update

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