Although 2 people could argue whether trees originated via
evolution or design, they and everyone else must concur that trees exist … a
lot of them … not only in numbers around the globe, but in various
characteristics like species (over 23,000 worldwide), heights (sequoias over
375 feet tall), density, unit weight, age (bristlecone pines nearly 4,750 years
old), grain, and color, as well as their ability to be worked and finished. By one estimate, 1/3 of the US is covered by
forests having almost 247 billion trees over 1 inch in diameter. Wood is used extensively in construction from
non-descript internal wall blocking to highly aesthetic wall paneling or door
veneers. Several exotic species of
domestic and international wood used for finished products were observed when
the CSI Pittsburgh Chapter recently visited a local wood distributor who markets
nationally.
This
distributor stocks approximately 125 wood species, about 40% domestic and 60%
imported. Although their most popular
exotic wood is African walnut, they also had a number of African mahogany slabs
that were 8/4 thick by 24 inches wide by 12 feet long at $9.00 per board foot
to Pink Ivory, the most expensive, at $150.00 per board foot. Two definitions seem necessary with that last
sentence: one is wood thickness, which is generally measured in quarters (x/4),
where a piece of wood 4/4 is 1 inch thick and a 6/4 piece is 1-1/2 inch thick;
and board
foot, which is defined as a three-dimensional unit of measure where the
volume is one square foot (one-foot length of a board by one foot wide) by one
inch thick, which translates to 1 ft × 1 ft × 1 in = 12 in × 12 in × 1 in = 144
in³ or 1⁄12 ft³. Board Feet can be
calculated as BF = W x T x L / 12, where BF = board feet, W = nominal lumber width (in), T = nominal
lumber thickness (in), and L = nominal lumber length (ft). Most flooring, siding, and paneling are sold
by the square foot, a two-dimensional unit of measure, which is the length x
width, regardless of the thickness. A
board foot will exactly match a square foot only when the thickness is 1 inch. On occasion, wood might also be sold by the
linear foot, a one-dimensional unit of measure using length only. There are other rules based on whether:
hardwoods or softwoods are being measured; wood lengths are shorter or longer
than a whole number, i.e., 10’-0”; and lumber size is measured by nominal or
actual dimensions.
When used for flooring, a stronger type wood that does not dent is
better. One can relate hardness among
woods via the Janka hardness test, which measures the resistance of a wood type to withstand denting
and wear. It measures the pounds - force
(lbf) required to embed an 11.28 mm (0.444 in) steel ball into wood
to half the ball's diameter, obviously leaving an indentation in the wood. Out of 109 woods listed on one internet site
where tests were performed according to ASTM D 1037 methods, the hardest is
Australian Buloke, a species of ironwood, at 5060 lbf; ipe, a Brazilian type walnut
used frequently for exterior decks, at 3684 lbf; stranded bamboo, technically a
grass, at 3000 lbf; red oak at 1290 lbf; Douglas fir at 660 lbf; balsa at 100
lbf; and cuipo, the softest wood in the world, at 22 lbf.
Depending on its use and cost, exotic wood is used as an exposed
veneer in a panel, such as on doors. The
finest and rarest logs are sent to companies that produce veneer, which is accomplished
either by ‘peeling’ the trunk of a tree or by slicing large rectangular blocks
of wood known as flitches. The advantage to this practice is twofold: first, it
provides the most financial gain to the log’s owner; and secondly, and of more
importance to the woodworker, it greatly expands the amount of usable wood.
While a log used for solid lumber is cut into thick pieces, usually no thinner
than 1-1/8 inches (3 cm), veneers are sometimes cut as thin as 1/40 of an inch
(0.6mm), the thickness used on flush wood doors.
The following are miscellaneous comments made by the distributor
during our visit of their warehouse and woodworking shops: occasionally a
project will require FSC rated wood to meet LEED requirements, but doing so
will generally cost from 10% - 30% more due to higher amount of waste; soft
wood has a higher amount of resin versus hard wood; ipe is very dense, will
sink in water, and will not be bothered by insects; purpleheart is really
purple in color, yellowheart is very yellow in color, and yellow sandher is
actually orange in color. There were a
number of elegant fine grained woods such as sapelle and white limba. Before the tour, I looked on the internet for
different exotics and was struck by something called snakewood; it turns out
the distributor had a half log of that species, but I did not notice that
listing on the handout until after leaving the distributor’s facility.
Most wood species can be found on various internet
websites. Following are a couple of
exotic veneers to show ranges of various characteristics.
black limba (west African). Gold background with
black marbling and subtle shimmer.
padauk (west
African). Bright
golden orange stripe.
purpleheart
(Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname). Nice even purple color.
zebrawood
(central America - Honduras, Nicaragua, & Brazil). Also known as Zebrano, which is imported from
central Africa, (Gabon, Cameroon, and Congo).
Pronounced dark stripes on straw colored background.
red oak. Many times as the generally basis and cost
default of 100. While every state has an
official state tree, there is a current campaign to have the oak as the
national tree.
movinqui - salmon
(west African). Yellow to orangish
brown, which tends to darken with age.
Many times exhibits figured grain patterns such as mottle or ripple.
cocobolo (central
America). Fiery red
and orange with darker grain markings.
maple burl.
snakewood (Suriname, South America).
Miscellaneous Tree Facts: In one day, a large tree can lift up to 100
gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air. One large tree can provide a day's supply of
oxygen for up to four people. Most trees
do not have a tap root or have roots that grow very deep but have roots that
are in the top 12 inches of soil, sometimes extending two to three times the
tree width. Trees receive an estimated
90% of their nutrition from the atmosphere and only 10% from the soil. No tree dies of old age, but is generally
killed by insects, disease, or by people.
One tree can absorb as much carbon in a year as a car produces while
driving 10,000 miles. Burls are tree
growths where the grain has grown in a deformed manner, commonly found in the
form of a rounded outgrowth that is filled with small knots from dormant buds,
and which can create an interesting aesthetic.
Odds and Ends: A local Pittsburgh building, The August
Wilson Center for African American Culture, opened in the fall of 2009 and has
first floor wood paneling and flush wood doors fabricated from zebrawood, a
truly striking aesthetic. Lastly, I have
a close friend who likes to smoke pipes with about 100 pipes in his
collection. My favorite and the most
exquisite is constructed from tiger maple, a wood species not previously known
to me. My hope prior to retirement is having
several projects where exotic woods species are selected and therefore need to
be specified.
[PS. Upon completion and review of this blog entry
for posting, I just read the article “The New Wood” on pages 18 - 27 in the
December 2012 issue of The Construction
Specifier, which has additional information on wood veneers, panel cores,
and LEED related information. This issue
should be downloadable from the CSI website.]
Although 2 people could argue whether trees originated via
evolution or design, they and everyone else must concur that trees exist … a
lot of them … not only in numbers around the globe, but in various
characteristics like species (over 23,000 worldwide), heights (sequoias over
375 feet tall), density, unit weight, age (bristlecone pines nearly 4,750 years
old), grain, and color, as well as their ability to be worked and finished. By one estimate, 1/3 of the US is covered by
forests having almost 247 billion trees over 1 inch in diameter. Wood is used extensively in construction from
non-descript internal wall blocking to highly aesthetic wall paneling or door
veneers. Several exotic species of
domestic and international wood used for finished products were observed when
the CSI Pittsburgh Chapter recently visited a local wood distributor who markets
nationally.
This
distributor stocks approximately 125 wood species, about 40% domestic and 60%
imported. Although their most popular
exotic wood is African walnut, they also had a number of African mahogany slabs
that were 8/4 thick by 24 inches wide by 12 feet long at $9.00 per board foot
to Pink Ivory, the most expensive, at $150.00 per board foot. Two definitions seem necessary with that last
sentence: one is wood thickness, which is generally measured in quarters (x/4),
where a piece of wood 4/4 is 1 inch thick and a 6/4 piece is 1-1/2 inch thick;
and board
foot, which is defined as a three-dimensional unit of measure where the
volume is one square foot (one-foot length of a board by one foot wide) by one
inch thick, which translates to 1 ft × 1 ft × 1 in = 12 in × 12 in × 1 in = 144
in³ or 1⁄12 ft³. Board Feet can be
calculated as BF = W x T x L / 12, where BF = board feet, W = nominal lumber width (in), T = nominal
lumber thickness (in), and L = nominal lumber length (ft). Most flooring, siding, and paneling are sold
by the square foot, a two-dimensional unit of measure, which is the length x
width, regardless of the thickness. A
board foot will exactly match a square foot only when the thickness is 1 inch. On occasion, wood might also be sold by the
linear foot, a one-dimensional unit of measure using length only. There are other rules based on whether:
hardwoods or softwoods are being measured; wood lengths are shorter or longer
than a whole number, i.e., 10’-0”; and lumber size is measured by nominal or
actual dimensions.
When used for flooring, a stronger type wood that does not dent is
better. One can relate hardness among
woods via the Janka hardness test, which measures the resistance of a wood type to withstand denting
and wear. It measures the pounds - force
(lbf) required to embed an 11.28 mm (0.444 in) steel ball into wood
to half the ball's diameter, obviously leaving an indentation in the wood. Out of 109 woods listed on one internet site
where tests were performed according to ASTM D 1037 methods, the hardest is
Australian Buloke, a species of ironwood, at 5060 lbf; ipe, a Brazilian type walnut
used frequently for exterior decks, at 3684 lbf; stranded bamboo, technically a
grass, at 3000 lbf; red oak at 1290 lbf; Douglas fir at 660 lbf; balsa at 100
lbf; and cuipo, the softest wood in the world, at 22 lbf.
Depending on its use and cost, exotic wood is used as an exposed
veneer in a panel, such as on doors. The
finest and rarest logs are sent to companies that produce veneer, which is accomplished
either by ‘peeling’ the trunk of a tree or by slicing large rectangular blocks
of wood known as flitches. The advantage to this practice is twofold: first, it
provides the most financial gain to the log’s owner; and secondly, and of more
importance to the woodworker, it greatly expands the amount of usable wood.
While a log used for solid lumber is cut into thick pieces, usually no thinner
than 1-1/8 inches (3 cm), veneers are sometimes cut as thin as 1/40 of an inch
(0.6mm), the thickness used on flush wood doors.
The following are miscellaneous comments made by the distributor
during our visit of their warehouse and woodworking shops: occasionally a
project will require FSC rated wood to meet LEED requirements, but doing so
will generally cost from 10% - 30% more due to higher amount of waste; soft
wood has a higher amount of resin versus hard wood; ipe is very dense, will
sink in water, and will not be bothered by insects; purpleheart is really
purple in color, yellowheart is very yellow in color, and yellow sandher is
actually orange in color. There were a
number of elegant fine grained woods such as sapelle and white limba. Before the tour, I looked on the internet for
different exotics and was struck by something called snakewood; it turns out
the distributor had a half log of that species, but I did not notice that
listing on the handout until after leaving the distributor’s facility.
Most wood species can be found on various internet
websites. Following are a couple of
exotic veneers to show ranges of various characteristics.
black limba (west African). Gold background with
black marbling and subtle shimmer.
padauk (west
African). Bright
golden orange stripe.
purpleheart
(Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname). Nice even purple color.
zebrawood
(central America - Honduras, Nicaragua, & Brazil). Also known as Zebrano, which is imported from
central Africa, (Gabon, Cameroon, and Congo).
Pronounced dark stripes on straw colored background.
red oak. Many times as the generally basis and cost
default of 100. While every state has an
official state tree, there is a current campaign to have the oak as the
national tree.
movinqui - salmon
(west African). Yellow to orangish
brown, which tends to darken with age.
Many times exhibits figured grain patterns such as mottle or ripple.
cocobolo (central
America). Fiery red
and orange with darker grain markings.
maple burl.
snakewood (Suriname, South America).
Miscellaneous Tree Facts: In one day, a large tree can lift up to 100
gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air. One large tree can provide a day's supply of
oxygen for up to four people. Most trees
do not have a tap root or have roots that grow very deep but have roots that
are in the top 12 inches of soil, sometimes extending two to three times the
tree width. Trees receive an estimated
90% of their nutrition from the atmosphere and only 10% from the soil. No tree dies of old age, but is generally
killed by insects, disease, or by people.
One tree can absorb as much carbon in a year as a car produces while
driving 10,000 miles. Burls are tree
growths where the grain has grown in a deformed manner, commonly found in the
form of a rounded outgrowth that is filled with small knots from dormant buds,
and which can create an interesting aesthetic.
Odds and Ends: A local Pittsburgh building, The August
Wilson Center for African American Culture, opened in the fall of 2009 and has
first floor wood paneling and flush wood doors fabricated from zebrawood, a
truly striking aesthetic. Lastly, I have
a close friend who likes to smoke pipes with about 100 pipes in his
collection. My favorite and the most
exquisite is constructed from tiger maple, a wood species not previously known
to me. My hope prior to retirement is having
several projects where exotic woods species are selected and therefore need to
be specified.
[PS. Upon completion and review of this blog entry
for posting, I just read the article “The New Wood” on pages 18 - 27 in the
December 2012 issue of The Construction
Specifier, which has additional information on wood veneers, panel cores,
and LEED related information. This issue
should be downloadable from the CSI website.]
