Hi,
I'm about to get some sash windows replaced. Most joiners I've spoken with seem to use northern grown Scandanavian Redwood, but one's suggesting Siberian Larch. Anyone have any experience with the latter?
Thanks, - Paul.
According to my book Larch isn't grown in Siberia so 'siberian larch' may be yet another loose name for a timber which is siberian and resembles larch. Softwood names can be confusing. European larch is OK as an alternative to scots pine (redwood) but no particular advantage. In either case the durability and lifespan is entirely dependant on maintaining a good paint finish - this is more important than the variety of wood. Scandinavian (or Finnish or Russian) redwood is the trad joinery standard material and lasts forever if painted well.
cheers
Jacob
Only things I know about larch (UK grown) is that it's damn near rot proof, but it's also a real pain for twisting during seasoning. You could use it, but I'd want it to be a few years old before I even thought about machining it, especially for sashes.
Never heard of siberian larch. Big place though, and the edges of it are warmer than you'd think - they do grow all sorts of timber there that's only just starting to appear.
Correcting my other posting - siberian larch does exist as a tree, but doesn't feature in Trada's 'Timbers of the World' series, so basically I know nothing about it! I guess it is only rarely available as timber .
cheers
Jacob
Apparently they're shipping it in from Poland.
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