Making Plywood: Then vs. Now

[-MIKE-]

Not much has changed.

[DerbyDad03]

Not much other than...

1 - How many fewer people it takes now vs. then 2 - How many fewer chances to be killed or maimed now vs. then

[krw]

3- How much smaller the useful logs are. The logs going into the "now" are about the same size as the waste coming out of the "then".

[DerbyDad03]

I wonder how that came about...

1 - "Holy crap...there ain't no big logs left. We better improve the cutting process."

or

2 - "We've improved the cutting process so much we can start using smaller logs."

[-MIKE-]

True, but they are fast growth, sustainable, forest trees. More wood, faster than the old growth stuff. Easier to harvest and transport, too. Supposedly yields better grain and less variation in density, etc. Plus, you're not cutting down 300 year old trees.

[krw]

True, but no "but". That's the whole point.

Yep.

[pyotr filipivich]

Unfortunately, not as strong as clear beams cut from old growth timber.

I looked up Western Red Cedar, planning to plan a couple trees at the old place. Very popular for decking, shingles, siding, etc. As I recall, _minimum_ commercial size is 75 years. 100 years is better. But they do tend to take up a lot of room. I figured, by that time, it would not be my problem B-).

tschus pyotr

[pyotr filipivich]

Yes. When you start to run out of "easy to process" stock, you start looking at ways to make do with the stock you have.

It was the recognition that they couldn't depend on "wild" trees that lead Georgia Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, et al, to start farming their own trees. And to start coming up with wood products from "lesser trees"; e.G., making OSB, or using cottonwood or alder for "pulp".

Right now, there is a glut of pine in the South. Seems that 30 years ago, a lot of people planted pine trees as part of their retirement plan. But when the trees became "ripe" twenty years later, there was an economic downturn. Nobody wanted logs. Now, ten years after, those trees are "too big" for the mills (which were optimized for 20 year old trees, not the much bigger 30 year old trees.). So a lot of people are selling "good lumber" trees for "pulp" or firewood. Because there is no market for them as raw lumber.

[-MIKE-]

Fortunately, they don't have to be as strong. The stuff for construction that used to be solid lumber is now mostly engineered lumber.

I love the Western Red Cedar I used on my patio. It's beautiful, a joy to work with, strong, aromatic, and did I mention, beautiful? :-) I wonder how old the tree was that gave it to me... hopefully, the patio will be around as long or longer.

[pyotr filipivich]

I also found out that "Western Cedar" isn't a cedar, but a member of the arborvitae family. "Cool".

[Martin Eastburn]

Nice memories. Northern Ca. When I was a young man I'd go with Dad to hardware stores and such. The local (town of 400) town had a lumber yard attached to the hardware store and they made plywood in the building behind. I could watch from the back dock across a lot with trucks moving and wood flying. It was some project. We bough lots of ply there and most were Marine type since they ran mostly Marine. Boat building... Some of it lasts today. He bought a nice belt sander and cut it all by hand saw.

Thanks for the nice video. The > Not much has changed.