Windows from larch wood: Any reason why not?

[Juergen Hannappel]

Hello, given the good rot resistance and mechanical properties of larch wood, is there any reason *not* to make windows from that? My book ("Fachkunde fuer Schreiner", a german textbook for the official education of carpenters) does not list it with the woods for window making...

[Charlie Self]

Juergen Hannappel asks:

If our larch is the same (Laris occidentalis) it is also listed for use as millwork and doors in The Encyclopedia of Wood.

Biggest knocks seem to be lots of small, tight knots and much shrinkage in drying.

Charlie Self "Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves." Dorothy Parker

[Andy Dingley]

It's very prone to twisting. Don't use it unless it's straight grained, and until it's _really_ dry. Even then I'd be wary of it for moving parts of a frame. It's OK for sills and the like though.

Some larch is extremely resinous, such that it's almost translucent. This stuff never rots.

-- Do whales have krillfiles ?

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 20:56:56 +0100, Juergen Hannappel queried:

Here, in western Canada, wooden windows and doors are most often made of Douglas Fir and/or Larch, just referred to as Doug Fir. Not the absolute best in terms of stability, but still pretty good. Western Red Cedar (Thuya plicata) or, if you're in the east, Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus - Yellow pine, Jeff) are more stable.

The two species, Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and western Larch (Larix occidentalis), are graded and sold together, presumably because of their similar properties and almost identical appearance.

I remember my father exclaiming: "Now I know what Doug Fir is in Italian, it's 'larice'!" This was after he brought home a bunch of old dock timbers from a port on the Saguenay River that he had got milled into smaller timbers. Really nice stuff. Actually, as this was in Québec, he called it "BC Fir". While Douglas Fir plywood was ubiquitous, I don't think he had ever examined actual Doug Fir timbers before. The rotary cut plywood has really wild grain.

A few months later, he called from Chicoutimi telling my brother and I to build a dock at our cottage in the Laurentians north of Montreal, as he had bought a motorboat. When I asked what wood to use, he said there had to be a bunch of 2X4 lying around. My brother and I couldn't find anything except the Doug fir, so we used that to build a 100-foot long floating dock. He was a little pissed at us for using the nice clear wood that he was reserving for interior finishing. The next spring, I spent many unhappy hours belt-sanding the grey weathering off the Douglas Fir which was eventually used for its originally intended purpose. The memory of that experience was probably the reason that a thickness planer was among my first purchases when I got shop space.

To confirm my father's observation, about six years ago in Italy, I was visiting a friend's father's country house in the Maritime Alps north of Genoa on the Piemonte side. I noticed the stair railing and commented that I was surprised they could get Doug fir. I was corrected and told it was actually "larice" or larch.

Moral of the story: If you can get clear, dry larch, go for it. Assuming, of course, that you European Larch has the same properties as Western Larch.

Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" for real email address

[George]

I suppose someone should chime in and say that there is another American Larch - Larix laricina, or Tamarack. It is very much like European Larch, and it's a world-champion resin producer, which was commonly used for timbers and mine lagging.

Is Juergen trolling?

tree has a rotating habit when open-grown, with pesky rings of branches every foot and a half. This kind of tree would make horrible lumber, which is why it was used in larger section as beams. When growing in competition with other trees, it seems quick to drop its branches, and runs rapidly toward the sky, producing straight, clear lumber which would be ideal for window framing, though you'd be well-advised to have it kilned to try and set the resin, and then shellac it under the paint to keep it from bleeding.

[Juergen Hannappel]

No. My wifes aunt needs a new small window and can't find anyone to make it, since her old house is protected by code from being defaced by plastic windows and so i am considering making one,

question. BTW, i work *for* the physics department of Bonn university, but not *at* Bonn, rather in Geneva.

[...]

So the answer would be "yes, it can be done, but getting wood in useful quality is probably hopeless".

[George]

Not if you lived near me, but that's a few thousand Km. As the link says, some of the finest and most durable stuff around. My eldest kid's stationed over in Germany, and he says wood is extremely expensive and difficult to get in any grade above utility.

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 08:07:20 -0500, "George" scribbled:

closely related botanically, although the similarity of the woods should have been a clue. The trees are completely different, with larch and tamarack having sparse soft needles that grow in tufts. And they are deciduous. While Doug Fir resembles spruce and fir trees, except for the deeply corrugated bark in older trees.

Luigi Note the new email address. Please adjust your krillfiles (tmAD) accordingly Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[P van Rijckevorsel]

Juergen Hannappel schreef

• + + Yes, European larch has a reputation of being the best and worst softwood around. Quality matters a great deal. In itself it is very durable, but with the wrong grain it can twist horribly. At the moment Siberian larch is all the rage and has a good reputation. PvR