Twelve Trees You Won't Believe Actually Exist

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Here's a fun way to start out the new year on Go Wood. The title is self-explanatory, the video is snappy, and the trees are real.


Now I have to go dig through our Penn State wood collection to see how many of these we have. It is really amazing the stories behind all of the various tree species in the world. I'll start a new series this year on Amazing Woods, and share their stories as we Go Wood.

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Comments

David Paal said…
Unbelievable. The earth is full of these trees that likely few have ever seen before. Kudos Chuck for bringing them to our attention. Would like to find these in a tabletop book one day. (Where is Morris Lake when you need him? Maybe he could stand another project. LOL.)
January 20, 2017 at 12:01 AM
Anonymous said…
Obviously NOT a Sailor who did this. . . .this is a "Granny Knot" not a "Square Knot" 10 points for effort, tho. . . . .
September 13, 2018 at 1:28 PM
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Going Wood with Hannah Barron

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What were you doing for fun last weekend? Well, Hannah Barron and her dad were throwing up a workout building. She recorded a video of it...and there's not a minute of the seventeen-minute video you'll want to miss.

Hannah is famous on social media as a "noodler"...for those of you not from The South, that's catching big catfish with your bare hands. Here's one of her best catches...




But here at Go Wood, we're even more impressed with her skill with the tools. If you've ever tackled a construction project, you'll love this one.


Lots of fascinating aspects of this video, not the least of which is Hannah's diet. Wish I could still eat like that and maintain my girlish figure.

I especially like her explanation of why they're using horizontal studs to make their board and batten siding installation go easier. This girl knows what she's talkin bout. (Now she's got me slipping back into my southern dialect.) And the best part of the vid…
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Real Firewood Stacking

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If you're nice and cozy by your wood stove, and feeling good about your own energy and stamina in splitting and piling all that wood for the winter, then good for you. But don't get too impressed by your own firewood prowess until you consider these Herculean efforts.

Remember the holzhaus(en) we discussed back in September? Well, those were woodpiles that mere mortals would build. But real wood users need a real stack of wood, one to be proud of. And the young lady below certainly can be proud of her woodpiles, and whoever built them.



No need to stop at two when you're stacking big woodpiles. You never know how long it might snow, especially if you live near the Arctic Circle...



Of course, stacking wood is always better with a partner - especially if you're building a pile that endangers local air traffic.



And there just is no better way to display your national pride than building a wood stack flagpole.



Of course, you can always stay practical with your wood-stacking …
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Great Designs in Wood (74) - The Olde Oaken Barrel

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I was giving a presentation to a group of chestnut scientists (more about that in days to come) when I showed them these slides...



The first shows shows a phenomenon called tyloses, which is a waxy build-up of parenchyma cell distensions that grow like balloons and plug up the cell lumens, or the pores, of woody cells. Tyloses grow to a slight extent in most hardwoods, but they are especially prominent in the various species of white oaks.

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Who Says Go Wood is Boring?

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When I was contemplating the renaissance of Go Wood, I got lots of advice from The Wife and The Daughters, who are all social media experts. Daughter Two advised me to keep it shorter - the posts were too long to read. Daughters One and Three counseled me to be sweeter - my posts were all too serious. And The Wife gave me the best advice of all - make it sexier.

So I get it - shorter, sweeter, sexier. That's our new motto here at Go Wood.

I think this next photo is what they had in mind...

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Well, I guess this does slightly resemble me splitting wood on a nice day. Slightly. I have the same jeans, anyway.

But I've considered their comments very deeply since then, and decided that no, I just can't diminish the dignity of Go Wood like that. We want folks to seriously consider the finer points of a Woody Life, without stooping to the lowest …
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Holy Wood

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One of my earliest memories...about 1960, standing in the second row of the Littleton Baptist Church in Littleton, Colorado..I'm about four or five years old. We're all singing

"On a hill far away, stood an old rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame..."

My dad's deep singing voice stands out in my memory for this song, because he didn't normally sing out. But he did for this one.
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Best of Logging 2018

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This one will get your blood pumping again and shake off your post-Christmas lethargy. The technology just keeps getting better every year for those who can keep their cash flowing. Best watched full-screen on your computer monitor with the sound cranked up.



Tip AmountOption 1 $2.00 USDOption 2 $4.00 USDOption 3 $10.00 USD
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Timber Glory Years in Minnesota

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You've read in this blog about the westward movement of logging and the unique way of classifying wood products that evolved during this migration. But we've not really touched on the stories of the lumber kingdoms created and lost during this migration. In state after state, region after region, timber fortunes were made and then moved westward with the remaining timber.
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CREDIT: Halvorson, Lewis H., photographer. "Banner load, Blackduck, Minnesota : biggest load of logs ever hauled / by Lewis H. Halvorson." 1909. The Northe…
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Don't Fence Me In

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Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above  Don't fence me in  Let me ride through the wide open country that I love  Don't fence me in  Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze  And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees  Send me off forever but I ask you please  Don't fence me in.
And so begins a new chapter of Go Wood.

I imagine everyone out there has run into a situation where you felt like someone was trying to fence you in, trying to make you conform to some nebulous standard which is clear only to them. It can be frustrating...but hey, that's life. It happens to us all sooner or later.

And when it does, and we jump the fence and break into the clear, it can be invigorating. Fresh wind at our back, new companions to ride with, new places to see and conquer.  A chance to listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees just for the pleasure of it. Without the constraints that hobbled us in the past...

I want to ride to the ridge where the west commence…
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Let the Buyer Beware

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I spent an interesting day Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. But not doing what I had planned...

We had a couple of guests over for Thanksgiving dinner, a Penn State sophomore far from his home in Nebraska, and a doctoral student even further from his home in India. It was a nice meal, everyone was cordial, and all were stuffed by sunset. However, as we lingered at the table over conversation, and the setting sun caused us to turn on the overhead light fixture, I noticed a couple of tiny insects buzzing me at the table. They were bigger than fruit flies, but smaller than anything else I could readily identify. Odd, I thought. It was freezing outside and Pennsylvania is not especially known for flying insects this time of year.

The mystery was solved the next day. The Wife woke up in a Christmas decorating frenzy that Friday morning. One of the first things she decided to do was to re-decorate the sideboard in our dining area, and she started out by cleaning off the top and pushing i…
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From the Sawyer's Perspective: Sawing Hardwood Logs

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Ever wondered how sawmill operators make their sawing decisions? Or how square-edged boards are profitably produced from round, rough logs? Well, watch this video, and you will know.



Dr. Gene Wengert, who offers his advice online as "The Wood Doctor", does a nice job of laying out the steps and decisions made by a sawyer as hardwood logs are sawn. The emphasis here as illustrated is to maximize value by sawing for as much "clear lumber" as the log will produce...because clear lumber is much more valuable than lumber with defects in the board.

This differs from softwood lumber production, where logs are usually sawn for yield, or a yield/quality combination. Softwood lumber is usually produced for structural applications, such as rough framing, where defects such as knots and wane do not impact the value of the board as much as in hardwood lumber, where furniture, cabinetry, or trim are the most profitable products.

GoWood thanks go out to Patrick Rappold, who digi…
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