Eco Friendly Wood

I harvest my own wood from trees that are given to me. Often times the trees would be cut up as firewood or disposed of in some other way.  Some of the trees have blown over in storms, some where removed due to poor health and a few were removed because they just got too big and were threatening the owners home.  Doing something good for the environment would be a good enough reason to justify milling my own wood.  Another benefit is that  much of the wood I use is from species that are known for their fine quality lumber but are not commercially available.  This includes woods like Camphor, Monterey Cypress, American Elm, and Black Acacia.  The following is a list of woods that I have milled. Each is a link to a page with a photo and a little info about the properties and uses for that wood.  the wood itself is not for sale but clients can commission a work made from any of the wood I have in my inventory.  If you don't see a type of wood you like for  your commission I have several other sources for  wood that is also milled from urban trees.

My opinions on "sustainable" and   Plantation grown woods

The Idea of wood as a sustainable resource is a sound one and I am sure there are many responsible logging companies around the world.  The problem is,   I have yet to see a certifying  organization address the topic of past deforestation in defining areas of habitat for sustainable populations of fauna.   Most  address existing areas of production and water quality and ignore the damage and loss of migratory paths caused by previous logging operations, even if they were caused by the same companies as the ones now being certified as sustainable.

I think "plantation grown" wood is a poor excuse at an attempt to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers.  What "plantation grown"  means in a nut shell is that a bunch of land has been clear cut and planted with a single species of commercially viable lumber.  This lumber is harvested by clear cutting and the process is started again, if the market is still viable.  If the market is no longer viable there are few requirements for restoring the land.  One of the leading certifying agencies address how much land can be "put" into production in the future, but it fails to limit the amount of land that was clear cut before applying for certification.  And you can read "put into production in the future" as the amount of forest each year that is permitted to be clear cut and planted with a single species of tree and still qualify as sustainable or plantation grown.  I would be less critical of timber plantations if they were managed more like Eco-systems and less like  crops but I have yet to see an organization that mandates this as a condition of being certified.

So what are your choices for responsible wood?  There is a huge industry gaining in popularity each year that specializes in salvaging wood.   Most salvage operations get their wood from buildings that are being torn down, however a few are getting their wood from logs that have sunk decades ago enroute to saw mills along rivers and lakes.   Another source for wood is the struggling urban sawmill operators scattered across the country.  It isn't always the easiest wood to find, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

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©Robin Corell  2005