What is heart pine? History and how heart pine is defined today. October 30, 2003
Durable Wood for a Screen Door A craftsman's question about screen door materials kicks off a long discussion about the qualities of various wood species, old growth and second growth. October 4, 2005
Spalting Tips and Tricks A question about how to get rid of a bad batch of spalted Maple leads to a nice discussion of different ways to spalt wood, with photos. April 15, 2012
Making Raggle Boards Suggestions on how to tool up for volume production of raggle sticks, and speculation about what a raggle stick is. March 9, 2010
Cherry Color After Aging When cherry shelves are constructed years apart, how dramatic will the color difference be? May 8, 2004
Stabilizing Wood with Polyethylene Glycol Advice and explanations about using PEG to prevent shrinkage and cracking in heavy wood disks being dried for a specialty application. July 15, 2014
Think before you take the CNC plunge WOODWEB technical advisor Brian Personett offers some food for thought to those thinking about purchasing CNC equipment. November 15, 2000
Worm Holes and Lumber Grading Bug holes aren't a lumber defect in everybody's eyes — it all depends on your market. Here's some info about how grading standards account for insect damage. December 9, 2010
Sapwood and heartwood Questions on sapwood and heartwood of pecan and hickory, and how-to instructions for quartersawing. April 4, 2001
Ambrosia Beetles in a Chainsaw Bear Characteristic fungal growths turn out to be the telltale sign of Ambrosia beetle infestation of a chainsaw sculpture. June 14, 2014
White Pine for Stick Framing A few facts about the standards relating to the use of White Pine as house framing lumber. November 3, 2010
Surface Mold on Framing Lumber If the wood will be dry in service, mold on the surface is strictly a cosmetic concern. Here's more info on washing and drying for the sake of appearances. April 20, 2011
Timber Framing with Red Oak The material needs to be kept dry. Here's info on that, and some other useful tips. November 3, 2010
Drying Mesquite with Denatured Alcohol Denatured alcohol (DNA) drying techniques work best on porous wood, not so well on a low-porosity species like Mesquite. October 1, 2010
Working with hickory How to get around the difficult machining characteristics of hickory. July 24, 2001
What Can Spread a Lyctid Infestation? Be cautious — Lyctid powder-post beetles are hard to get rid of, and can spread even on small chips or shavings. March 13, 2007
Slippery kiln-dried wood What could make dried wood so slippery that it is difficult to machine? August 12, 2001
Catalpa: Uses and Vulnerabilities Catalpa is a beautiful wood, rot-resistant and prized by some wood turners. Standing trees may have heart rot, however. April 24, 2013
Lightning-Struck Wood Puzzle Observations and speculation about whether lightning weakens the wood of a tree it strikes. August 29, 2006
Specific Gravity of Dawn Redwood We're talking about a particular tree species here, but the comments on determining specific gravity apply to any wood sample. April 27, 2007
Facts about PEG (Polyethylene Glycol) Polyethylene glycol, or PEG, is an interesting molecule with uses beyond woodworking. Here's some info on the varieties on the market. July 23, 2014
Moisture content for exterior doors Determining the appropriate MC for lumber that will be exposed to vastly different humidity levels. November 14, 2001
Green wood fencing Potential problems and solutions when using green wood for fencing. January 16, 2002
Wormy Cherry Lumber A furnituremaker gets help figuring out what kind of critter made holes in his nice Cherry boards (and hears that some people consider them an improvement). April 21, 2008
Locating Scraps for Charcoal Advice on finding sawmill offcuts and byproducts for use as feedstock for a charcoal kiln. October 3, 2009
Walnut Steaming Difficulties Steam that is too hot and "dry" will not have the desired effect. Here is some technical advice on operating the steamer successfully. December 12, 2008
Straightening Old Bowed Floor Joists Overloaded wood deforms over time (it's called "creep"). There's no quick way to reverse the process. December 1, 2005
Setting the pitch The why and how of setting the pitch in heart pine. October 15, 2001
Milling Cypress for a Deck Advice on how to process Cypress timber for use on an outdoor deck. July 30, 2009
Whether to Kiln-Dry Wood Before Turning A woodworker is advised to kiln-dry Osage Orange wood (also referred to as "Hedge") before gluing up blanks for turning bowls. October 19, 2014
Gluing white oak panels Because of its density, white oak lumber must be machined carefully for panel glue-up, and assembled within an hour of preparation. 1998.
How To Spalt Wood Like making a world-class cheese, spalting wood intentionally is more art than science, and you may waste some raw material learning how. Here's an extended and detailed discussion. May 28, 2008
Hiring a timber consultant When selling your woodlot, who should you enlist for help with all the choices you'll need to make? August 12, 2001
Pine Board Sheathing for Homes Works fine in most cases — here's some useful advice about practicalities and codes. July 14, 2010
Hard vs. soft maple Can these maples be mixed, and what are the differences? January 21, 2002
Paulownia Characteristics and Uses A fast-growing, light and strong semi-tropical wood, Paulownia has enough value to be worth stealing. Here's an example growing on a bathroom windowsill. September 5, 2010
De-Nailing Salvaged Antique Floor Joists There's no magic bullet for pulling hard old cut nails from antique hardwood floor joists — but there are lots of techniques. February 14, 2010
Economics of Sawmill Operations This thread takes a close look at some hard numbers for logs and various sawn lumber products, and teaches some valuable lessons about how sawmills can make money, or lose money. September 6, 2010
American Chestnut Log Identification The Woodweb detective team tries to determine if one of the group has found a large American Chestnut log in a firewood pile. March 9, 2010
Framing Lumber for Planting Boxes A discussion of treated wood, naturally rot-resistant lumber, outdoor exposures, and pests. April 14, 2010
What is value added? Forum participants give technical and personal definitions. April 2, 2002
Eradicating an Insect Infestation A load of insect-infested reclaimed wood may have contaminated a whole operation. What to do? April 20, 2011
Steambending How much time to allow based on thickness and proposed radius of wood. September 23, 2003
Applied wainscot Creating fake raised panels for the lower portion of walls. April 3, 2002
Fortune Teller: Making More Money in the Wood Industry Wood Doctor Gene Wengert makes some educated guesses about the near future in the wood products industry, and offers some advice about how wood-based businesses can profit from change. April 15, 2013
"China Cedar" -- What Is It? "China Cedar" is a separate species grown in the Far East. However, Cedar logs from America do get sent to China and come back to North America as lumber, complicating the picture. December 30, 2007
Fine Points of End Coating Advice on applying Anchorseal or roofing tar to log ends immediately after felling. October 19, 2013
Wood Choice for Paint Grade Historic Millwork Woodworkers discuss the pros and cons of Spanish Cedar, Mahogany, Sapele, Black Locust, and recovered Heart Pine for a restoration and historic reproduction project. April 27, 2011
Dehumidifiers and Lumber Storage A dehumidifier in the storage room will keep lumber at the proper moisture content, and will do no harm. December 6, 2012
Recognizing a Big-Leaf Maple Burl This big burl, received as a gift, is identified as the western species Big-Leaf Maple by woodworkers familiar with that wood. December 23, 2014
Tooling up for Euro-style cabinets When considering a switch to the 32mm system, there are two choices: Get your feet wet, or dive right in. 1998.
Dollar Value of Spalted Wood Pricing varies widely for spalted lumber, based on subjective factors. January 18, 2011
Minimum Sticker Thickness How thin can stickers be in order to maximize kiln capacity without creating drying problems? May 11, 2005
Converting log volume scales When sellers and buyers want numbers in different scales, how do you come up with the calculations? July 22, 2003
Sunlight and a Cherry Entry Door Cherry is a problematic wood for any exterior use, because it is known to first darken, then bleach, from exposure to sunlight. April 24, 2006
Uses for Sassafras Sassafras has been called "poor man's oak" for its durability, strength and beauty. The markets for it are small ans specialized. April 20, 2011
Identifying Old Pine Planks The Woodweb crew checks out some photos of what is probably Southern Yellow Pine, and possibly Longleaf Pine. September 6, 2010
Low-Acid Wood Species? All wood and sawdust tends to be acidic, but some varieties are milder than others. August 1, 2011
ITEMIZER - From R & R Drummond, Inc. Use your computer to generate efficient layouts for cutting sheet material into desired sizes (a link to a demo download is provided)1998
FSC Certification Basics Quick tips about the certification process for the Forest Stewardship Council. September 6, 2010
Poplar Siding Advice on using locally sawn Poplar as siding for a house addition. February 14, 2010
How to move logs Creative and practical ways of loading, unloading and transporting logs. Illustrated. (Sawing and Drying Forum) March 23, 2003
Bacterial Action in Wood Temperature and the availability of oxygen help determine which sort of bacteria can thrive in wood, and therefore how the infected wood might smell. January 27, 2007
Powderpost Beetles in Furniture Pinholes and powder are a dead giveaway of a beetle infestation. Here are some facts about the bugs and how to handle them. February 19, 2006
Powder Post Beetle Worries Will powderpost beetles found in a piece of furniture spread elsewhere in the house? April 21, 2011
Building with Urban Trees Harvesting and utilizing wood which would otherwise end up in the landfill. February 28, 2004
Books About Historic Lumbering and Sawing Sawmill forum members recommend some interesting reading about the history of logging and sawmill operations in various regions of North America. April 18, 2015