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Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

chalmers.se

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Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#171

Post by nkurz »

cm2012 wrote: post #113

Hardwood in the USA is mostly farm grown, so I'm not concerned.

Are you sure? If you mean that most hardwood in the US was "managed" at some point as a woodlot, then I guess it might be true, but if you mean that most hardwood in the US was specifically planted to be harvested, I'm very doubtful.

I'm far from an expert, but I am in the process of planning our hardwood harvest in Vermont. The northeastern US produces a lot of hardwood and my impression is that very little of it is "farmed".

Can you point to sources? My attempt at searching didn't produce much either way. If you are right, I'd love to update my false impression. Or are you possibly confusing "hardwood" with "softwood", such as pine?

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#172

Post by bhandziuk »

devonkim wrote: post #133
bhandziuk wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Polyurethane is one type of varnish so if you're going to contrast it you'll have to be more specific (phenolic resin or alkyd resin) Usually oils would be combined with some other varnish, especially on a floor, because they offer nearly zero abrasion or water resistance. You'd think oil finishes like boiled linseed oil or tung oil would offer some water protection because of the oil but they don't. Better than wax…

Hardwax oils are also used but oftentimes have quite bad VOCs. However, I’m familiar with at least one manufacturer that has low/no VOC oils which certainly shows it’s possible but perhaps there’s a good technical explanation for why VOCs are so common in these oil treatments.

I've not used any hard wax oil finish. I'm surprised reading this [1] though that it offers "Great wear-, water- and heat resistance". But I guess that's from the company also claiming that Monocoat only takes one coat. But, what I'm understanding from that link is also that maybe the curing accelerators have VOCs so maybe the hard wax oils without accelerators don't have the VOC content (?)

[1]: https://www.rubiomonocoatusa.com/blogs/blog/what-is-hardwax-...

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#174

Post by worik »

whyenot wrote: post #101
wlesieutre wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another side of this is you really want to put economic value on sustainably harvesting these trees and preserving the forest, because if you say "no harvesting at all" then it's more profitable for someone to burn the forest down and replace it with cattle. Years ago tracking lumber from harvesting through the supply chain was one of the few convincing cases I heard for blockchain applications, where you have a sequ…

The problem is that in many cases tropical hardwoods are so slow growing and so intertwined with other species (both physically and metaphorically) that there isn't a way to harvest them sustainably. As a planet, we need to decide how much of these forests we are going to save, and then actually protect them. That may sound idealistic, but as someone who has spent a significant portion of my adult life working and st…

> that there isn't a way to harvest them sustainably

I did not think that was true.

My opinion was that almost any useful tree can be grown in some sort of plantation

But talking with foresters I encounter (not many) it seems ecological considerations are along way down the priority list

So not that we cannot, but we will not

Have you more information?

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#175

Post by worik »

Fatnino wrote: post #164
wlesieutre wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly not in the volume for people to be using it for all their decks and flooring. Actual sustainable harvesting would probably price out everything but musical instruments and maybe some expensive outdoor furniture.

The formula seems pretty straightforward. Take the area of land we're willing to give over to lumber farming, divide by how long it takes to grow a tree to harvest and that's how much lumber demand can be met. Adjust price to make demand meet that limit.

> Take the area of land we're willing to give over to lumber farming, divide by how long it takes to grow a tree to harvest and that's how much lumber demand can be met. Adjust price to make demand meet that limit.

Much more complicated

Trees grow in an ecosystem

They are not widgets

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#176

Post by lozenge »

Fatnino wrote: post #164
wlesieutre wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Certainly not in the volume for people to be using it for all their decks and flooring. Actual sustainable harvesting would probably price out everything but musical instruments and maybe some expensive outdoor furniture.

The formula seems pretty straightforward. Take the area of land we're willing to give over to lumber farming, divide by how long it takes to grow a tree to harvest and that's how much lumber demand can be met. Adjust price to make demand meet that limit.

Until a buyer comes along who will pay 5% less for the same wood without the "sustainably farmed" certificate.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#177

Post by SpaghettiCthulu »

balls187 wrote: post #149
trgn wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And you feel it, barefoot, touching it, it feels more natural. Hardwood floors cleans better too, more hygienic. Hard to put into words.

Don’t wear outdoor shoes inside. We asians figured this out generations ago.

Are there cultures where people actually wear shoes throughout their homes?

Taking your shoes off is absolutely not a uniquely asian thing.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#178

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

aaronax wrote: post #16

Black locust is basically as good as ipe--competitive in characteristics like hardness and rot resistance, and I think slighly lower in price. It has been used for years for fence posts and now a lumber industry for it seems to be maturing. Apparently it grows like a weed and is even considered invasive in some places. I used black locust for a large porch and am very pleased with it.

I don't know the real practical importance of this, but this [1] Wikipedia page states that the Janka hardness of Black Locust is much less than half that of Ipe.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janka_hardness_test

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#179

Post by ufo »

woliveirajr wrote: post #8

In 2020, the then president of Brazil said he would reveal which countries were the consumers of the illegally extracted wood from Amazonia. [0] No further news were heard about it. There were even a startup that would use DNA to certify the origin of the wood, allowing traceability. The "efforts to halt trade in illegal timber such as the EU Timber Regulation and the US Lacey Act" can greatly contribute to reduce th…

It's no surprise that Bolsonaro would not follow up with a plan to conserve the environment.

Re: Exclusive hardwood may be illegally harvested

#180

Post by maxerickson »

simonsarris wrote: post #49
bastardoperator wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would argue there is zero point in using real hardwood on floors these days given vinyl planks are way cheaper, way more durable, and look nearly indistinguishable from real thing.

> look nearly indistinguishable maybe I'm top 1% neurotic about these things but I can tell from Zillow images alone. And definitely by feel of walking on them and the distinct noise they make. There's no comparison. I seriously doubt they are indistinguishable for most people, but I could be very wrong, especially since so many people go for them.

What is it about the laminate that makes it better?
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