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Call for questions: WOOD/LUMBER (Patreon)

Published:
2022-09-24 03:07:45
Edited:
2022-09-24 19:19:58
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Sending this out as an update because Patreon is still having a little bug! Gah!

Xylology episode will be recorded tomorrow (today!) in honor of Ologies’ 5th Anniversary. So leave your wood and lumber questions below and let’s learn about burls and knots and saws and such. Recording this with the founder of Angel City Lumber, which rescues trees cut down by the city and saves the lumber from the landfill. 

So excited!

-Ol’ Ward

Comments

ScienceInTheArt

I just started supporting your show today via Patreon (my first), and I was inspired by the excellence of this particular episode on wood. One subtopic I thought you were going to touch on, but you didn’t quite get to, was the subject of “tonewoods“. Taylor Guitars in El Cajon recently started a line utilizing Shamel Ash, which I think you mentioned your table is made from. Tonewood is a fascinating topic. Maybe deserving of its own episode at some point. Thanks for your show.

Trevor Doty

Why do we call them 2x4’s when they aren’t 2x4? I heard that trees in the south used to be marked by ship builders so they

Claire Nurc

What is their favourite smelling wood?

Elijah

Oldest known use of wood by humans for construction? My 6 year old wants to know why wood is hard when other plants are soft and bendy.

Ira Gray

How rare is spalted wood? Does it kill the tree? Can you tell a tree is spalted before you cut it?

Betony Maringer

What’s the deal with burls? As a kid hiking in the woods I heard stories of majorly cool trees being cut just for their burls and the rest of the lumber being left to rot. It made me think of ivory & rhino horn poaching & frankly still horrifies me.

Fiorelily

Hi Alie! Eeeee! Wood questions make me excited (not morning wood excited, thank you) 1)What's the deal with bog oak trees? Does submerging them anaerobic environments change the cellular structure of the tree like petrified wood changes into rock? 2)what classifies a tree as Old Growth? What can we do to protect old growth forests and why are they important vs young growth forests? 3)are any trees listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List? And if so, why aren't we trying to save the species? 4)are there any tree species we should straight out avoid buying to stop encouraging logging of that resource? 5)Also, rosewood is beautiful, but I've heard about rosewood smugglers. What's so special about it that engenders smuggling?

Lauren Cooper

Is the "wood" part of trees alive?

Daniel J McDonald

Are there any city/street trees that give you access to especially beautiful, strong, or otherwise interesting wood that is not commonly commercially available? Does the urban environment produce changes in the wood, positive or negative, compared to wild or farmed counterparts?

Beena

I read that bristlecones (found in Bristlecone National Forest) are the oldest living trees on the planet. Seems like an unlikely place to find the "oldest" whatever so curious to know if that fact is true.

James Jakes

I'm building a composter, do I need pressure treated wood, or will regular pine 2x4s be enough?

Miranda Rose

Why can't you use pine shavings for animal enclosures? And why do soft woods mess up chimneys? :)

Bailey Pyritz

are there any cool bugs that like or live in wood (other than the obvious termites)

Red Cedar

How fast can we really grow back forests or replenish lumber resources? as a Washingtonian I worry deeply for our treasured old growth forests

Sleepy John

I know that there are certain types of hardwood that are (supposed to be) no longer harvested because they're becoming rare. How are we doing for extinctifying trees, and what can we do to STOP?

multi987

What are successful case studies of transforming forests from monocultures back into more resilient forests with multiple tree species that can handle global warming better? While still producing the lumber we need for wood. Edit: what kinds of agroforestry are promising right now and can agroforestry be done in temperate climates? Also: please tell us if successful mangrove forest conservation and rewilding projects. Lastly: which charity should I support to help forest conservation in Europe?

Ted Vician

As a Floridian, I have similar questions about regrowing mangrove forests/swamps to protect from sea level rise and storms.

Trevor Doty

I live in Colorado and every year I see more pine trees killed by the Rocky Mountain pine beetle. This seems like a big problem, how big of a problem is it in the western states?

Trevor Doty

How long after beetle kill trees die is the lumber still viable for harvest in lodgepole and ponderosa forests?

Trevor Doty

Where is the oldest, still running lumber mill?

Joe Wilkie

I’ve heard of mold adding patterns to wood that makes it more valuable, are there any buggy things that do the same? also, scientifically, do lumberjacks get more bitches?

Sienna

What are some of the best sustainable solutions coming out today regarding producing lumber? Is something more sustainable coming? Is there something you would like to see used more often in the industry? What is the most sustainable type of wood to use for carpentry? Where can I purchase lumber that is sustainable and ethical? What non wood, eco-friendly options are there for construction to use instead of lumber? If we could no longer use wood for construction, what wood we do? Got any good wood Puns? How do you figure out the age of a tree that grows in a tropical environment (which would not have the wintering rings)? What are the fastest and slowest growing trees? What conditions make the best wood? What kind of considerations are made for the wildlife in or around areas designated for lumber production?

Sienna

What is the most expensive type of wood in the world and why? Can you stimulate the conditions to grow trees to produce wood similar to the types used in a stradivarius violin? Is climate change changing our wood? As the climate gets warmer are our trees going to produce less dense lumber?

Sienna

The trees in my area in Portland Oregon seem unhealthy. There's **a lot** of limbs falling and weird cracking. We had a smoke-pocalypse, heat wave, ice storm and a weird late spring snow storm over the course of 2 years that wreaked havoc on our trees. What is the long term consequences for our forests and urban trees? Are we going to have a lot of loss? Is there anything we can do about it now?

Ann Hanlin

I’m also from the Portland Oregon area and I second this! I’ve noticed cedar trees are being hit particularly hard. What can we do?? 😭

Stephanie Leské

I recently rescued a chunk of sawn down tree trunk from my daily doggo walk route. However it's rather sappy! I'm hoping to make a wee coffee table out of it to give it a second life. Any tips?

Dicken Crane

Climate change is changing our forests for real. I hear some people say that if we just leave our forests alone they will save us from climate change. If only, doing nothing solved our problems. Can we manage our forests to grow products that store carbon and offset fossil fuels emissions? What is the definition of a forest? Early successional, pole stand, mature, old growth are all forest, right? If a forest is changed from one stage of succession to another by fire, pests or the worst pest, humans it’s still a forest. It’s only when it’s converted to another use, subdivisions, commercial development, industrial development or agriculture that it is no longer forest. My question is; is it more important to preserve the successional stage of a forest or to pro

Dicken Crane

Oops- or to prevent to conversion to a non forest use?

Fiorelily

I'm from Seattle and I've noticed our Pacific Madrone trees aren't doing very well this year.

JaybirdScreams

What’s with cork trees? Their bark is harvested for use in the exotic pet industry. It just grows back? Without harm to the tree? How does that work? Or does it actually harm the tree and I’ve been lied to?

Shelby Smith

What are we using all this wood for?

Sir Monkeyboy

I wish I’d joined sooner! I’d have loved to have asked why North Americans are so easy going about “cheap” timber. As a very amateur carpenter I’m always amazed when YouTubers based in the US talk about cheap ($9) sheets of 1” ply, the same thing in Australia would cost well over AU$130 a sheet - does the US have THAT much timber to throw around? Hardwoods here are insanely expensive for anything of furniture grade.

multi987

"what wood we do?" 😂😂😂 Also great questions!

Sienna

Haha thanks!! I think I got my questions in too late though. I'm new here. 🤓

The Project Project

Barbara Walters used to ask her interviewees "If you were a tree, what would you be, and why?" Well, Babs, I would be the black locust. Strong, hard, heavy, dense; not commercially useful but prized in boats, prickly, and impervious to rot. What tree would your Ologist be? What tree would you be, Alie?

Gracie Zrain

Do you know about trees sucking on trees subreddit? Why does this phenomenon happen ?

Erin Gunderson

Spalted wood! What is it and how does it happen? Burls, same!

Meaghan Walsh Gerard

How does fossilization happen with trees? Do the 'rings' survive? What do we know about crown shyness?

Hannah McCain

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Cece Tincknell

Why do I love lumber and working with wood soooo much more than other materials like stone, metal, or clay? What is it about lumber that’s so sexy?

Naomi Jane

Which wood smells the best? And can you identify different types from the smell?

Naomi Jane

Ohh darn. I realised I'm three days late 😂

Snarky Mermaid

Oh shoot! My whole Snarky Mermaid business runs on reclaimed wood! Exciting though!

Chris Tanzola

Dare I use my “first time question asker” on: How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Well, I did it anyway.

svnseeker_

What woods are the most and/or least sustainable?

Julie Forest

What's the deal with lumber/logging competitions? In NH, most county fairs feature some sort of single our team wood sawing or chopping competitions.

Jess EyeballSurgeon

What's your favorite type of wood to work with? If I wanted to get my favorite woodworker (my dad) something unique and awesome, what would you recommend?

Alice Rubin

What makes hard wood hard (insert immature giggles) and soft wood soft? Nevermind? Too late. Never got the email for this one. Sad.

Lindsay Baker

Why isn’t horse chestnut used for lumber or furniture?

Grandma Theresa

Is using Bamboo to make textiles and paper products good or bad. I hear the process is bad fo the environment especially textiles like fabric and yarn

Mary Long

Are craft woodworkers a good thing or bad thing for the lumber business?

Trevor Durning

Wish I would’ve got in on this one, what about blueing wood? Cross laminated timber? Ah there’s always so much more to learn

Art of life Acrylic painting and art

I live in Michigan, I heard we used to be covered in large hardwood forests. Is this true? Did we just clear cut the whole north of America?

Dorit

This episode was so incredibly rad. Loved it!!

Darius

This guest was faaar more easily understandable with content retainability than 70% of the previous guests, despite not having an MD or a PhD. What does that prove? Please invite more experts that can put to words their passion, otherwise what's the point?