Re-cycled Wood Sourcing
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Exceptional sources for wood are intriguing. Public acceptance of distressed wood — surfaces with character marks — have arisen over the years to have a significant impact on design trends. Reclaimed woods from old construction are one source — old water towers and warehouses, and even submerged forests — some of them highly valuable species that would be protected if above water — that may be legally harvested where man-made damns have flooded acreage.

Gathering last month near Chicago was an Urban Forest Products council (so new, it hasn’t formally adopted a name), which is promoting “the highest value use of the sustainable urban forest.” The idea, says the group, is to make good use of “urban forest products acquired under the auspices of commonly accepted urban forestry practices,” such as American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A300 Standards for Tree Care Operations.

This group points out that urban land, which is home to 80% of the U.S. population, uses about 25 percent of land area in the lower 48 states, and contains an estimated 75 billion trees. Forest products with potential use include timber from felled trees, plus products such as berries and woody residues. (Find the Urban and Community Wood Marketing Collaborative at LinkedIn.com.)

Other sources include great tracts of diseased lumber. In Colorado and Wyoming, for example, there are millions of board feet of dead trees standing on the mountain slopes, the victim
of beetles. The Denver Business Journal reports that Clay Corbin of Corbin Woodworking in Aurora, CO, has done dozens of products with mountain pine, tinged blue by a fungus carried by the mountain pine beetle.

“We offer the same warranty as we do on cherry or walnut pieces,” Corbin told the Business Journal, saying the blue-stained wood warps unless it is dried in a kiln or slowly in the air, something Corbin learned by working with Colorado State University. Corbin makes chairs and is considering adding flooring and possibly moulding to his line. One advantage: the wood sells for 37 cents per foot, versus more than $5 for other hardwoods.

Lately, studies have found the perceptions by woodworkers and wood retailers of an increased acceptance among their customers. One study was conducted among Alaska wood retailers, another in Fredericksburg, VA, at an exhibition.

In the Alaska study, users found red alder and paper birch, lesser used hardwoods, can be manufactured into “appearance products.” High levels of natural stain were preferred for birch panels.

 

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