Tom Kimmerer: Good Wood

Announcing Bluegrass Urban Wood

Wed, 06 Jul 2005 02:41:11 GMT

Our new division, Bluegrass Urban Wood, is now shipping products. We make fine wood products from trees growing in the streets, yards and horse farms of the Bluegrass region of central Kentucky. Presently, we are making flooring from red oak, walnut and other species, with more products to come. Read more about it here.
	Select red oak
	Quarter sawn red oak (vertical grain)
	Street grade red oak

Europe acts to reduce illegal logging in Africa

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 03:12:32 GMT

European timber buyers are demanding that Ghana's timber industry get third party certification for legal logging to meet new European standards. The UK Timber Trade Federation informed a meeting of Ghanaian timber producers that certification for legality would be a minimal requirement and certification for sustainability would be desirable. Similar meetings are to be held across Africa's tropical timber producing countries. Ghana's Forestry Commission is developing a log-tracking system to allow verification of legality.

It is clear that this kind of external pressure, supported by aid programs, is essential if illegal logging is to be halted. Europe, Japan, Australia and others will have to take the lead, since the US government is hostile to any moves to control illegal logging.

Reclaiming wood in paradise

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 19:12:34 GMT

A Hawaiian company is making wood products from trees cut as part of safety programs in Hawaii's Polipoli State Park and Kula Forest Reserve. The company, South Pacific Lumber Co. is providing wood for furniture, millwork and timber framing. The trees are being felled because they pose a risk to cabins and other facilities in the park, but they present a fire hazard if left on the ground. The company has paid $2000 to $3000 to the state to mill 20 pine and cypress trees and will return to mill about 25 more. The fire danger in these forests is very high. Milling the trees prevents fuelwood buildup and provides useful products in a state that lacks available wood resources.

Malaysian government to promote timber plantations

Mon, 20 Jun 2005 16:15:46 GMT

Malaysia's Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry (KPPK, Kementerian Perusahaan Perladangan dan Komoditi) has announced plans to build up the capacity for timber plantations to remove pressure from native forests. Most of Peninsular Malaysia's lowland tropical forests were converted to other uses during the colonial era, and today there are vast areas of former tin mines, as well as current plantations of oil palm and rubber. Collectively, these lands could produce large amounts of wood products that could be certified as originating from sustainable forest management (plantations can obtain sustainability certificates provided they are not created by felling existing forests). Malaysian growers have long experience with plantations of oil palm, rubber and fruit trees, and should be able to adapt to new species with careful planning.

KPPK Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui announced the plan, saying that private funds would be sought from the wood industries for the approximately RM2 billion needed. The Ministry would like to see 1.5 million hectares of timber plantation set up in the next 10 years. Much of the money would be for federal support for states to develop plantation management methods. In Malaysia, land management is a state responsiblity in which the federal government plays an advisory role.

The world has an insatiable demand for timber, and today that demand is being met to a large extent with illegally harvested tropical timber. The US, New Zealand, Australia, Chile and other nations have had considerable success establishing major forest industries based on plantation-grown timber. In Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, rubberwood has become a major export commodity. Conservation of remaining tropical rainforests requires that alternative sources of raw materials be found, and Malaysia is taking appropriate steps in that direction.

One important challenge will be species selection. Many valuable forest species, such as meranti (Shorea spp. and other dipterocarps), may be difficult or impossible to adapt to plantation conditions. Forest scientists, including geneticists, physiologists and silviculturists, will need to carefully research and test appropriate species. Initial plantation projects should be small, so that large investments are not made in projects that fail.

Without this kind of science-based approach, the entire RM2 billion could be wasted on failed attempts at large-scale plantations. This happened in the Jari project in Brazil where Daniel Ludwig, an American entrepreneur, started large-scale plantations of Gmelina for pulp production. The project denuded 6475 square kilometers of Amazon rainforest and was a complete disaster. The disaster was due to bad planning, excess expenditure of funds, and, perhaps most importantly, the lack of results from any pilot projects prior to scaling up.

Majestic trees, symbol of Chile, are threatened.

Sat, 18 Jun 2005 03:32:14 GMT

A national symbol of Chile, the alerce, Fitzroya cuppresoides, is threatened by logging. Cutting of live trees is prohibited, but illicit loggers have found a way around the ban: make sure plenty of dead trees are available by killing them. From the UBC Botanical Garden Weblog.

Green buildings and green basketball courts

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 17:06:58 GMT

Inc. magazine says that the boom in LEED-standard buildings, often called 'green buildings' is accelerating, and that several states are offering tax incentives for private construction that meets LEED standards. One indication of the growing acceptance of LEED standards is coverage in traditional business publications like Inc.

The San Diego Union Tribune reports that the basketball courts at City College (a San Diego community college) are being replaced with new flooring of Smartwood-certified maple from sustainably managed forests in Canada. The San Diego Community College District decided in 2003 to require LEED certification for all new and remodeled buildings. The basketball floor planning took place before this requirement, so although a green floor is being installed, the remainder of the court's remodel will not meed the LEED standards.

Tangled Bank

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 16:49:10 GMT

The latest Tangled Bank is up at Geomblog. Tangled Bank is a blog carnival for science writers. The current offering has lots of great articles and is worth a visit.

Maple rustlers at work

Tue, 31 May 2005 15:12:02 GMT

In the Pacific Northwest, bigleaf maple is a highly valued wood for musical instruments and furniture, especially if it is figured. Figured wood includes bird's eye, ripple and other patterns which make the wood exceptionally beautiful. More often than not, trees with figured wood are gnarled, decayed or have other defects that lessen their value as sawlogs, but dramatically raise their value in the specialty wood market. Figure in trees is often the result of very subtle growth abnormalities. The shifting of cambial cell divisions by small angles between years of growth results in ripple patterns. Bird's eye is the result of the growth and division of trace buds beneath the bark. Burls, which usually contain highly figured wood, may result from virus or fungal infections. The physiologic and genetic factors that cause figures wood are not known. A gallery of great photos of figured wood is at Jim Mattson's lab at Simon Fraser University. Jim and his colleagues are investigating the genetic causes of wood figure, in hopes of being able to propagate trees with a high probability of producing figured wood.

The price paid for this high-value wood is high enough that timber rustlers are a major problem. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer tells us that maple theft is rampant in towns and rural areas around Seattle. Since woodoworkers will often pay hundreds of dollars for a single board of figured wood sufficient to make a guitar, thieves have substantial motivation for their deeds. A single pick-up truck load of good figured wood can fetch $5,000, not bad for a day's work. Or a night's work, since the trees are sometimes taken while a homeowner sleeps.

A new Washington state law will require that transport of figured or specialty wood be accompanied by a permit. The permit must be signed by the land owner where the wood was harvested. Until the new law takes effect in July, law enforcement authorities have to prove that the wood was stolen.

The real problem here is that wood is a commodity, whose origin is unknown to the end user. Once a log is sawn, the identity of the wood product is lost. All over the world, illegal logging ranging from huge forests in Borneo to individual trees in Washington brings a flood of illicitly obtained wood to the market. As long as there is no systematic effort to track the origin of the wood, many of the wood products we buy will come from illegal operations. Third-party certification programs, such as Smartwood, provide a trusted chain-of-custody system that allows the origin of wood to be tracked. Woodworkers and consumers have a moral obligation to avoid the use of illicit wood, but this message does not seem to have penetrated the wood market sufficiently. Considerably more consumer education is required before guitars like the Gibson Les Paul Smartwood guitar becomes the norm in the marketplace.

Live Blogging from Sawlex

Tue, 31 May 2005 00:22:59 GMT

Beginning Friday morning, I will be blogging live from Sawlex in collaboration with the Forestry Forum. Sawlex is the Midwest's premier equipment, tool and technology show for logging, sawyering and wood processing. The Forestry Forum is a collaborative community of people interested in forestry, logging, sawyering and wood processing and utilization. I will be blogging live from the Forestry Forum booth. Be sure to stop by the booth if you are at Sawlex. See you there!

Major league baseball players breaking more bats

Wed, 25 May 2005 20:55:34 GMT

Major league baseball players use bats made of ash or maple. Ray Glier and Mel Antonen tell us in USA Today that ball players and managers think that they are breaking more bats than ever. Suspicion centers on maple, with some players claiming that maple bats fracture more easily than ash. Others place the blame on the trend toward thinner handles. Maple bats also tend to fly across the field when they break, while ash bats usually splinter but hold together.

Until the 1990's, all major league bats were made from ash. Hillerich and Bradsby, the maker of the Louisville Slugger, dominates the bat industry. Joe Carter began using maple bats in the late 1990's. Today slightly less than half of MLB players use maple. Some players use both, reserving ash bats for cold weather.

European beech bats are also coming on the market, with a few players using beech Louisville Sluggers. The origin of the wood in these beech bats is a closely guarded secret. If successful, Hillerich and Bradsby will probably promote beech bats as an alternative to ash. Ash, unlike maple and beech, flakes in use, so maple or beech bats are potentially more durable.

Robert Adair, a Yale physicist and baseball fan, has examined data on bats at the request of Major League Baseball (MLB), and concluded that there is little difference in the capabilities of maple or ash bats. Players who grow up on aluminum bats, allowed in amateur and school ball but not in MLB, like the weight of thin-throated wood bats. They apparently feel more like aluminum bats. The increase in bat breakage could be a result of the trend toward thinner throats.

Supply is an interesting issue. With "EAB" threatening ash resources, a shift to maple and beech may be inevitable. Louisville Sluggers are made from ash wood only from upstate New York, which does not yet have a problem with "EAB". The spread of "EAB" to New York could eliminate ash as a resource for bats. The switch to maple or beech may be accelerated by threats to the ash resource.

Amazon destruction accelerates

Tue, 24 May 2005 11:02:40 GMT

This morning is "Rainforest Rally" at my son's elementary school, a celebration of rainforests and expression of concern. So the news of events in the Brazilian Amazon is especially disturbing. Loss of rainforest in the Amazon to agriculture is accelerating. In spite of strong laws to protect remaining rainforests, the Brazilian government is unable to stop illegal logging and land clearing.

Rainforest clearing increased by 6% in last year's satellite surveys. The major cause is a booming national economy, but high worldwide demand for soybeans is a factor. Annual revenues from soybean exports now exceed those from coffee and sugar, Brazil's mainstay commodities for many years.

The government, despite passing strong laws and attempting to enforce them, is complicit in the conversion of land. BR-163, the major highway that bisects the Amazon from north to south, is being paved. The history of road encroachments is clear - more roads provide easier access which accelerates land conversion.

Corruption plays a major role. The governor of Mato Gross is also the largest soybean producer in the country. As in Indonesia and other countries where rainforest destruction is accelerating, the combination of poverty, greed and official corruption is fatal to efforts to conserve rainforests. Countries like Malaysia (at least Peninsular Malaysia) with strong economies and a tradition of fairly clean government are better able to combat greedy interests and at least slow the rate of rainforest conversion and illegal logging.

Where do the logs from illegal logging and land clearing go? While domestic consumption is significant, much of this wood is probably finding its way onto the international market, and is therefore winding up in the US. Is any going to China?

Philippines furniture makers running out of wood

Mon, 11 Apr 2005 02:22:00 GMT

The Philippines, once almost completely clothed in tropical rainforest, is running out of wood. Philippine furniture makers are complaining that prices for raw materials are rising and available wood does not meet demands. Plantations are not producing sufficient raw material, and timber permits for natural forests have been suspended. A four-month suspension of timber permits is allowing government authorities to inspect all operations for compliance with current logging rules. The underlying cause of the shortage is simply that the forests are gone: only about 3% of the original primary rainforest remains. In secondary forests, illegal logging and burning for clearance are rampant. This situation contrasts with Malaysia where restrictions on logging are helping preserve upland rainforest and rubber wood production is filling the demands of furniture makers.

Technical Difficulties

Sat, 02 Apr 2005 11:52:32 GMT

We are continuing to have technical problems. New posts will be limited until the problem is resolved. We lost some posts and will try to recover them.

Update: Thanks to Steve Kirks of Radio Userland, I think we have solved the problem.

Teak furniture from Burma

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 18:54:37 GMT

Teak furniture is popular for patios and gardens because the wood is resistant to decay. Substantial amounts of teak (Tectona grandis) wood are produced from plantations in Southeast Asia. Teak from Burma (Myanmar) supports a corrupt and brutal regime which is devastating native forest and native peoples. Despite claims of American and British teak furniture vendors, there is no evidence that Burmese teak is sustainably produced. To the contrary, Burmese teak is one of the most destructive wood products on the market today. An article in the Independent tells us all about it.

In 2001, the Rainforest Alliance Smartwood Program suspended all FSC certificates for teak products from Indonesia, as a result of the inability of Indonesian companies to comply with chain-of-custody requirements. However, there are a number of teak producers elsewhere with certificates.

Consumers should be able to buy teak from sustainably managed plantations, but only if they seek out products with a proper FSC certificate.

China's voracious appetite for wood is consuming forests

Fri, 25 Mar 2005 17:31:55 GMT

China is importing vast quantities of wood from all over the world. A large amount of that wood finds its way to the US in the form of furniture, flooring and other finished products. Illegal logging operations and unsustainable timber operations produce a large amount of this wood. Britain's Environmental Investigation Agency uncovered the largest timber smuggling racket in the world, bringing logs from Indonesia to China. EIA estimates that 44% of China's hardwood imports are from illegal logging. The US Commerce Department has complained about dumping of furniture from China on the US market (but the Bush administration imposed only modest penalties). It is very likely that a significant amount of illegally harvested wood is finding its way to US furniture and flooring markets. The Chinese imports are seriously hurting employment in the US furniture industry. Americans are now buying large amounts of illegally logged wood that hurts American industries as well as tropical forests.

Log exports are illegal in Indonesia, as they are in most countries, but timber theft is rampant. Seven Malaysians were recently arrested in Indonesia for financing illegal logging in Irian Jaya, the Indonesian western part of Papua. The operation also involved Indonesian military authorities and Asian crime syndicates. This is the same operation uncovered by the EIA. The operation was exporting vast quantities of merbau (Intsia spp.), amounting to 300,000 cubic meters per month. A Google search for 'merbau flooring' shows hundreds of companies selling this wood in the US. Much of this comes from China, and most of that is presumed to be illegally obtained. There is presently no Forest Stewardship Council certified, sustainably produced merbau on the world market, so all merbau products must be assumed to be obtained illegally.

The Lacey Act prohibits import into the US of wildlife products obtained illegally under the laws of a foreign country, but the Act contains an exemption for logs and wood products. The US is the largest importer of finished wood products in the world, and probably the largest importer of illegally obtained wood.

Palm conservation on Palm Sunday

Tue, 22 Mar 2005 02:53:05 GMT

Churches in North and South America are changing the way they obtain palm fronds for Palm Sunday celebrations. More than 300 million palm fronds are harvested for Palm Sunday use in the US alone. At least 22 American churches are buying certified chamaedorea fronds to protect palm resources in Mexico and Central America. The Rainforest Alliance has developed a certification program that will help educate villagers in sustainable harvesting practices. Eco-Friendly Palms for Church Services (LiveScience). Rainforest Alliance.

Roasting wood for energy

Sat, 12 Feb 2005 12:57:16 GMT

Roasting wood at 250-300C followed by gasification may be an effective way to produce efficient biomass energy. Roasting decreases moisture content and increases energy density. Roasting and gasification may produce energy more efficiently than traditional biomass burning. Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

King County adopt LEED standards for county buildings.

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 19:46:00 GMT

King County, WA, which includes Seattle, has announced plans to seek the Green Building Councils LEED certification for all county buildings. Five buildings are currently planned for LEED certification. King County press release.

Boom in LEED buildings

Tue, 08 Feb 2005 01:09:27 GMT

There is a rapidly developing boom in construction of buildings that meet the Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standard. The New Construction (LEED-NC) standard was introduced in 2000 and 140 buildings were certified between then and 2004. Now, there are over 1,700 construction projects at various stages of certification. Read more at Renewable Energy Access.

The boom in LEED standards is accompanied by increased demand for renewable, locally-sourced and locally-manufactured materials, including reclaimed and sustainably-certified wood products.

Harvesting urban wood

Mon, 07 Feb 2005 17:22:24 GMT

We are harvesting and milling urban wood in Lexington KY. We saw with a Lucas Mill and transport to ArborCity Wood Products in Winchester for resawing, drying and manufacture.

Good Wood

Mon, 22 Nov 2004 01:32:59 GMT

Use of reclaimed wood is growing rapidly, as is press attention to wood recovery programs. This Salon article is a good overview of reasons for use of reclaimed wood, mostly in furniture.