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  • From: "Frances and David" <fdnokes@hotmail.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] types of woods and their uses
  • Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:48:56 -0800

I'm definitely going to use LL's info as a skeletal beginning for my database which I might not start before a few days when I am back home.
The other category, which I've previously found a link on is burning for fuel. Also, by looking into the sites about bird perches, and poisonous to birds, I found out about photinia leaves and their poisonous potential... So, another area to be aware of. We had not included them in any composting, just going by intuition (and the observation that they do not break down).

Here is a post I was working on earlier. Rather than toss or save and perfect, am just going to share in its unfinished state, and from here, am going to go into some kind of database collection technique. Have not decided whether hard copy or digital. But, as I type, realizing that digital is easier to share with others... as well as easier for cross referencing categories.

Have started my research and found a thread on permies.com about eating utensils.
Shall copy and paste some of the relevant contributions:

I agree with the sentiment that apple wood is a great choice for carving table ware. I think pear wood would be an excellent choice as well, they're both very tight grain, beautiful, non toxic woods. I also would recommend black birch, as it is quite a bit harder than other birches in my experience and non toxic, as I've heard about folks chewing on the twigs for the wintergreen flavor. By the by, would it be improper to note that I have all of these woods available? I harvest everything responsibly and am PDC certified! -Jesse

Seconding the birch and basswoods ideas, and perhaps ash might be a good choice? Tight grain, hard but not too hard, plenty of them...

Thought of hickory in the same light; a bear to carve, but it wears like iron, nice straight grain...

Our native Carpinus, called ironwood, falls in this same category; be ready to sharpen the chisels quite a bit, but you now have an heirloom rather than a disposable spoon...

Hope this helps...

HG

Generally, in spoons you're not so much worried about the strength of the wood so much as it's propensity to splinter -- nobody wants splinters in their soup, and splintery, fiberous woods (like pine, poplar, or birch) sometimes get a hairy texture that is difficult to clean. Because of that, some of the more popular woods are actually those that aren't good for much else: Beech, Sycamore, and Apple all come to mind. Beech in particular has worked well for me -- I even made a spatula about 1/8 inch thin from it in college, and it's lasted me for almost 9 years with no rest.

Cherry, plum, apricot and other stone fruit woods do have cyanogenic glycosides in them, though not nearly as high of quantities as the pits. Since wood utensils rarely come into contact with liquids for long enough to transfer significant amounts of soluble materials (remember, wine has to sit in oak barrels for months before it picks up enough tannin to taste) you're probably fine using these woods, especially for serving spoons (as opposed to cooking spoons which contact hotter liquids for longer), and definitely for serving bowls.

Some more info on woods that are safe for birds (and by proxy perhaps, humans) can be found here:
http://www.birdsafe.com/woods.htm

[note: this is the second reference to a bird safe link, not sure how relevant... though I imagine when I have the time, it would be worth looking at and picking apart a bit...]
(you can see by my comments -- above -- that I'd already started that process and was quickly rewarded re: photinia)

Fran



-----Original Message----- From: Frances and David
Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 11:42 AM
To: permaculture
Subject: [permaculture] types of woods and their uses

It looks as if we are going to stay settled for now... And act as if we own the place. By that I mean that we would begin to maximize the space for growing.
And do some serious pruning and removal of trees on our property that are ‘ready to go’ and/or seriously block the sun from the yard as conscience permits.
What I am contemplating is that this is a golden opportunity to learn more about trees’ woods and what they work well for...
Which ones are good for huglekultur (sp?), composting, fungi/rot barrier, carving into eating implements, utensils, buttons, etc. (My mind is a little frozen at the moment)

Would anyone have any idea of such a database of information?
Just thought I’d start by asking this highly resourceful group of people.
Other than that, I can start by looking up the individual species as well as seeing what resources I can locate on my topic!
There is also a wood turner in our area that I intend to look up when we are back home, and he would also likely have something to say on the matter.

Cheers!
Frances
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