[blindwoodworker] Re: Early wood vs Late wood

  • From: "John Sherrer" <john@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:06:47 -0500

I grew up in Calument City.  It also had quite a reputation until the late 
1960's.

John
http://WhiteCane.org
http://BlindWoodWorker.com
http://HolyTeaClub.comcom\whitecane
http://anellos.ws

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Larry Martin 
  To: blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
  Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2010 3:27 PM
  Subject: [blindwoodworker] Re: Early wood vs Late wood


  I grew up in Toledo and knew some people in Cinti so I guess that's how I 
learned about it. I moved to Chicago after college and have been here ever 
since.








  On Jan 23, 2010, at 1:21 PM, Tom Hodges wrote:


    You’ve got it right.  Newport, Kentucky has had a colorful past.  Back in 
the 1930’s through the 1960’s this city was full of gambling, prostitution. 
Dancing girls, mafia influence, etc.  When I was in high school in the early 
sixties, Us kids could get a beer or alcohol at any bar in town.  If you could 
reach the bar, you could get a drink.

    Where are you ocated and how did you know about our little town.?  There 
are a few books that tell about us.  One is Mafia wife and the other is the 
Bicintennial history of Newport Kentucky.

    Tom Hodges, Newport, Kentucky

    From: blindwoodworker-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:blindwoodworker-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Larry Martin
    Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 9:50 PM
    To: blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: [blindwoodworker] Re: Early wood vs Late wood

    I want to know where you live, Tom (hint: Newport, Kentucky). As far as I 
know, hasn't your town always had a reputation for wonderfully naked 
ladies????? Or is that just a nasty puritanical Cincinnati rumor?




    On Jan 22, 2010, at 1:13 PM, Tom Hodges wrote:



    John, Where are you anyway?  What you don’t seem to understand is that you 
have to put on long johns and wool socks when it gets below 68 degrees F.  Well 
around here, the girls go naked when it gets over 100 f.  So you see, you are 
not looking at the whole picture.  We will put up with a lot of cold, just 
knowing that the hot naked weather bwill make it’s annual return some day soon.

    On a less serious note.  You may know this but around here, they take pine 
boards and sand blast them to eat away the softer, early pulp, then use the 
planks for forms for pouring concrete and the result is a concrete wall with a 
wood grain to it.  It is a very effective system and looks great, especially 
when painted. Or stained.  I never realized that the reason there was softer 
wood that the sand would eat away was because of wsofter early growth, as you 
explained above.

    Thanks for the very interesting information.
    Tom Hodges, Newport, Kentucky

    P.S.  Where do you live?  May it says that in here somewhere but I missed 
it.


    From: blindwoodworker-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:blindwoodworker-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of JDM
    Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 8:56 AM
    To: blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: [blindwoodworker] Early wood vs Late wood

    Hi all,

    I hope everybody has had a wonderful Christmas new Year break.  Here, it is 
summer and everyday is around 40 Celsius, that's er um...about 104 Fahrenheit.  
I simply cannot imagine the intense cold and freezing conditions that you have 
in North America.  For me here, any temperature below 68ºF, I'm putting on the 
long Johns and three or more woolen pullovers. I went up into our Mountains 
here once, and experienced some snow, about an inch deep, and I have never felt 
more miserable, depressed  and unhappy. hahahaha, so, never ever again...give 
me a sunny beach, rolling surf and a blazing sun every time.

    Over the Christmas period I've been doing a little delving into the science 
of tree growth and its consequent lumber. I viewed/listened to  several videos 
by the Canadian woodworker named Hendrik Vardu from the Web site, "Passion for 
Wood."

    I now understand  the structure of the wood grain in Douglas 
    Fir which I previously talked about with reference to urushi or Japanning.  
Actually, the same structures occur in all lumber, but in Douglas fir it is 
particularly noticeable.

    I spoke about a grain pattern of soft, pulpy, light coloured  wood, 
separated by much harder dark coloured grain lines. In my childhood, I learned  
that every grain line represents a year of tree growth. but apparently, that's 
not exactly true.
    Apparently,  as the Winter thaws out, and the warmth and rains of spring 
arrive, a tree puts on a very rapid growth spurt. During this very rapid growth 
spurt, the tree develops a new outer layer of the soft pulpy wood. Then as 
Summer comes on, and the air temperature heat increases and the rains stop, the 
tree develops another new outer layer of wood which is much more dense, harder 
and darker.

    So, to count a trees age, you do not count every apparent sequential growth 
ring, but every second light coloured pulpy ring, or every second dark coloured 
hard growth ring.  The light coloured pulpy wood is called "early wood, "and 
the dark coloured hard growth rings are known as "late wood."  My apologies and 
sorry if all of this is old news to you, but for me, it's new and exciting.

    In speaking with many woodworking friends here, and talking about my idea 
of Urushi or japanning a Douglas fir stool, to make a lined pattern of dark 
late wood and black Urushi filled early wood hollows, it has been suggested 
that I,

    1: wet the wood to raise the grain,

    2: scrape out the "early pulpy wood" with a wire brush, by following and 
scraping along the grain line,

    3:  applying a pore filling wood sealer to the scraped surface,

    4:  applying a black Japan or Urushi stain to the now, non-porous, surface,

    5:  applying urushi or Japan lacquer across the grain to fill the "early 
wood" hollows,

    6: continue applying Urushi/Japan coats, until the scraped out "early wood" 
hollows or valleys are more or less filled and flush with the high "late wood" 
peaks,

    7:  then sanding the surface in line with the grain until the peaks of the 
"late wood" are re-exposed, and are flush with the filled "early wood" filled 
hollows,

    8: then apply many coats of clear lacquer to the surface, leaving a pattern 
of dark black "early wood" hollows, which contrast with  a myriad of much 
lighter mid brown "late wood" grain lines.

    So far, it is all just an idea and I've not made any further progress on 
the project. I've spent my summer holidays experimenting with the use of Tung 
Oil on a Pine DVD Cabinet I recently built. Natural Tung Oil smells wonderful, 
but it takes days and days to dry, even in this hot dry heat, so I've been 
messing around with the addition of hardeners and dryers to the natural 
product.  It has worked out wonderfully, and the texture of the pine surface 
has turned out to be hard as rock and as slippery smooth as an Ice skating rink!

    Cheers,

    John

    Melbourne, Australia.

    From: John Sherrer
    Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 4:35 PM
    To    : blindwoodworker@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
    Subject: [blindwoodworker] Re: Urushi/Japanning technique
        
    Let us know how it works out. 
    I have been in the Southwest North Carolina mountains for Christmas.  I 
have no internet service there.  We came back to Winston Salem, and our house 
felt like a coffin, we found that turning up the heat did no good.  In fact, we 
are still waiting for repair parts for our furnish.  We had bought a load of 
fire wood a month ago and we are quickly using it up.
    Canada is currently dumping a load of very cold air on up.

    I hope all went well with all of you.

    John
    http://WhiteCane.org
    http://BlindWoodWorker.com
    http://HolyTeaClub.comcom\whitecane
    http://anellos.ws


    Larry Martin
    woodworkingfortheblind@xxxxxxxxxxx






  Larry Martin
  woodworkingfortheblind@xxxxxxxxxxx







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