Shannon's Lumber Industry Update

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.

Decorative arts trends are often tied to a particular species of wood. In this episode I discuss how and why certain species become intertwined in a design style. I also answer a question about the dramatic price differences between similar plywood products.

Today I feature Black Locust and talk about how it was/is used for tree nails, how it resists rot for a hundred years in ground contact and how it invades and colonizes the soil around it for total world domination. Its a tough and imperialistic tree, what is not to love?

With St Patricks Day upon us I wanted to look at the traditional Irish woods and what they are used for an how they are sourced. This is not a country we think of when it comes to lumber but there is a long history or traditional crafts that is still alive today using locally grown and harvested woods.

Zelkova lumber is starting to become more available as the 1st and 2nd generation of urban planting in the wake of the Dutch Elm blight is maturing and urban sawyers are finding more Zelkova in their inventories. This tree has many of the same properties of Elm and a long, revered history across Japane, Korea and China. Additional topics in this episode include what woods are safe to burn from your woodshop scraps and how the Post WWII lumber boom compares to the current lumber market.