Checklist for buying wood:
The following checklist is meant to help you when buying wood; however the decision depends on your taste and lifestyle. It is just a mnemonic device to make your life easier and not about keeping up with norms and regulations.
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8. Has it been sawn appropriately?
Here are some examples: For winter gardens, use core-free and squared pieces. Boards with standing growth rings (edge grain) are best for wooden floors and bathrooms. 7. Once it has fulfilled its purpose, can it be returned to nature?
If the use of chemicals has been consequently avoided, the answer is a positive: "Yes". It can be returned into the natural cycle as mulch or ash and enrich the soil with nutrients for the next generation of trees to grow. To choose the right type of wood translates into positive energy, harmony and better quality of your life.
My advice: make this decision when you are in nature and under trees. You will feel which tree has the best effect on you. - The right time of the year - winter.
- The right phase of the moon - waning moon and new moon, preferably when the moon moves through the zodiac sign of Capricorn. (See table "Timber Harvesting Days for Excellent Building and Furniture Wood") 5. Timber Harvesting Time
Steadiness and durability can be achieved best by harvesting your wood at the right time. Adhere to the following criteria for building and furniture Timber / Wood: Environmentally, this is the best choice and it is wise to avoid hardening the surface with laminates and sealants. Outdoors, it is best to use naturally weather resistant wood like larch, oak or untreated robinia.
Sophisticated wooden buildings require slow and steady grown trees. For heavy traffic areas, durability is of importance and hardwoods like beech, oak, and ash are excellent for solid floor boards.
If you want to be on the sure side, choose a supplier who confirms in writing that his supplies have not been chemically treated in their manufacturing process.
4. The right choice of wood for the project It is best to consult a specialist or perform your own research. Processing
- Particularly synthetic adhesives with active ingredients like Formaldehyde and Isocyanate. Surfaces - Wooden surfaces should be treated with natural resins, oils and or beeswax instead of synthetic paints and sealants. Fast-growing leaf trees like Birch and Alder: older than 50 years; moderate and slow-growing leaf trees like Maple, Ash, Oak and Elm: 100 to 200 years.
These indications are references for high quality workmanship purposes. 2. The age of the trees
Durability and composure are influenced by the maturity of the tree. As a general rule for good wood: coniferous wood should be older than 120 years. It is important that your wood is from well-managed forests and not from some clear or over felling area where reforestation and appropriate care for the re-growth is not appreciated.
My choice is local wood, because you automatically exclude these risks without having to find out from badly informed suppliers. 1. The origin of the wood
To transport wood from one continent to the other is affecting our environment and costs energy. You, as a customer want to be sure your wood is not from a radioactive contaminated area (e.g. Chernobyl, Fukushima)! Maybe you would like to see that forest and absorb the environment where your floor came from.
It is best you can treat your floors with natural resins and/or beeswax instead of sealing it with synthetic applications. Can it be burned without being harmful to humans and the environment?
In Europe nowadays, there are wood suppliers who can even give you a photograph of the forest where the wood for your floor has grown. Has it been imported from overseas, the tropics, Russia or the far north? Do you know the components and surface treatment of the laminates? Is your floor releasing toxic fumes? Is this material safety compostable and biodegradable?
Convenience is often seen as a positive quality and most likely you will be able to take your new laminated flooring material home straight away.
However, do you know where this wood came from? Questions you should ask when buying wood
Imagine you want to replace an old carpet with a wooden floor. You would visit a building supply or parquetry distributor where you can choose between different colours, quality and price. But when it was shrinking, it suddenly became clear
There was a gap now. This is when our wise Lord spoke: My dear wood, this is how you will be recognized. Gaps too are part of your nature, Understand this man, don't try to outsmart me. (Made available by Andreas Scheiblmasser, Baden) This poem of an unknown writer is quite fitting here:
"The Gap" God created wood, some hard and some soft. However, one thing is always the same It will never rest or be inactive. It will move and work constantly. Then he bestowed the wood with cells. So it could shrink and also expand. We can work with wood in a natural way and choose the most suitable tree, harvest it at the right time and allow it to dry naturally to produce a quiet, solid quality wood which doesn't need to be treated!
(while a board with standing growth rings only shrinks about 5% and hardly warps.)
The shrinkage and movement of wood is due to changes in moisture content and are normal. The approach we take towards this natural phenomenon makes all the difference. The tension is rising until its core is cracked by sheer force.
Squared wood free of its heartwood doesn't have these kind of tensions and rarely cracks. (A board with lying growth rings shrinks approximately twice as much (8-10%) and therefore warps more) The older part in the center of the log shrinks less than the younger wood the periphery. With a round log or a stronger piece of squared wood, the outside and younger growth rings hold the inner, older growth rings like staves which keep a barrel together.
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