
By Jo-Ann Kaiser COMMON NAMES HEIGHT/WEIGHT PROPERTIES Beech trees grow in North America and Europe as well as in western Asia, Japan and North Africa. European beech has long been a popular commercial timber and veneer in Europe - in fact, in the United Kingdom, European beech is one of the most used hardwoods. In the United States, European beech is a relative newcomer, but it is making inroads with cabinetry, furniture, flooring and millwork manufacturers. Douglas Martin, president of sales and marketing for Pollmeier, Inc., in Portland, OR, says his company has been importing German beech to the U.S. market for the past two years from its parent company, Pollmeier Massivholz GmbH. Martin thinks the market for European beech will grow as American customers become familiar with the properties of the wood. He stresses that European beech has properties that make it superior to American beech. "American beech is a different species and makes up only about 1 percent of domestic hardwood lumber production. It's multi-stemmed so it has more knot structure, and it is shorter-lived, so it tends to rot from the center. It also competes with 98 percent of the other species for light and soil and water, making it a more 'stressed' tree. "European beech makes up 57 percent of the German forest," he continues. "It is the primary hardwood, and so it is less stressed. The species tends to grow tall and straight up to 40 feet with clear boles. It turns red in the heart when it ages, but it doesn't have much of a color disparity between the heartwood and sapwood. You get a higher yield with clear fiber and less defects. It machines better than American beech, and its light, uniform color takes all sorts of finishes well." The origin of the wood and the manner of drying are said to be key in how the material will work. Trees from plantations or well-managed forests yield material that is easier to work and show less stress than trees that grow in the wild. Martin says the material Pollmeier cuts in Germany is plantation grown and lightly steamed. The wood is uniform in color with a density similar to red oak. Bentwood and Beech Beech is more closely associated with bentwood furniture, most likely due to the fact that beech was cheaper than ash. "Viennese cabinetmaker Michael Thonet (1796-1871) is credited with developing the steaming method that made it possible to create "structurally sound and aesthetically desirable furniture to be produced in huge quantities at economic prices without recourse to traditional expensive joining," write the authors of The Encyclopedia of Wood. Beech is often found in bentwood rockers, chairs and hat stands because of its excellent ability to be transformed into curved parts via steaming. Versatile Material
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