Woodworker's Journal 1994-18-5, страница 28

ages wood users to ask questions of their suppliers about their forest management practices, and advises manufacturers on ways to conserve wood in the shop. New efforts just getting underw ay include fostering the use of a wider variety of woods, such as lesser known tropical and lesser used temperate species from well-managed forests, and recycling and/or salvaging wood products.

WARP's director Scott Landis reports that, because of the group's efforts, you're likely to see some lesser known tropical species on the shelves by 2000. Recently, WARP started testing four such woods in order to identify new applications and possibly recommend them for import, if results prove positive, you may buy chakte kok (Sickingia salvadorensis) from Central America; machiche (Lonchocarpus castilloi) from Mexico Belize; chechem (Metopium brownei) from Central America; or narra (Pterocarpus indicus) from Papua New Guinea for future projects.

According to Landis, developing markets for lesser known tropical woods would give tropical countries more economic incentive to practice good forest management. This, he says, could actually help save the remaining rain forests.

You may see more softwoods imported from other countries as well. At present, about one-third of all softwood lumber used in the U.S. comes from Canada. By the year 2000, we may be importing woods such as spruce, larch, and red pine from Siberia, where large native stands still remain relatively untouched. Tree plantations in New Zealand and Chile produce large quantities of Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata), which may also find its way into the United States.

Costs Will Be Passed On To Us

Expect to pay higher prices for wood from well-managed forests. At present, the price we pay primarily covcrs just the cost of extraction, processing, and transportation. In the future, we will also help pay the costs of responsible forest management—the price of ensuring a continuing wood supply.

We'll also have to look more closely at the way we use wood. For example, over half of all hardwood timber harvested in the U.S. goes into pallets, skids, and packing crates, most of w hich eventually ends up in landfills. As w oodworkers, we need to find more uses for all those pallets and shipping crates. By 2000. many of us may find ourselves searching for sources of recycled and salvaged wood. At least. I'll feel "environmentally proper" when I ask building contractors and house demolition crews if I can scroungc through their scrap piles. Of course, the desirable scrap piles will get smaller as the residential construction industry switches to more alternative building materials, such as metal studs, laminated plywood and chipboard beams, and concrete floor systems.

Doing Our Bit To Stretch Wood Supplies

True, you and your fellow^: home woodworkers consume only a small fraction of all the wood harv ested or wasted—in our country. However, we can help do our bit to save the forests and save a few bucks in the process. Instead of building solid-wood projects with expensive or exotic hardwoods, we can. when appropriate, substitute veneers and engineered wood

products, such as plywood and particleboard, and non-wood products, such as plastic laminates. We can also plan and execute projects with a view to minimizing wood waste in the shop, keeping our own cutoff piles to a minimum. As choice lumber becomes increasingly scarce and expensive, we'll need to become more resourceful.

Tools: A Fertile Ground For Change

If you've been reading tool reviews over the last few years, you've seen many technological advances in power tools. Electronic variable speed control, higher-voltage battery tools, longer-lasting, smoother-cutting blades and bits, quieter, smoother, more powerful machines, all have developed in the last decade. At the same time, whole new categories of woodworking tools have appeared on the market. The sliding compound miter saws, random-orbit palm sanders, and detail sandcrs quickly come to mind. And with every new tool catalog, 1 discover new and innovative accessories and attachments to make w oodworking safer and easier.

These advances, combined with a more competitive marketplace. give us more tool for the buck today than 10 years ago, despite inflation. And with them, we're able to perform a greater variety of woodworking procedures, and do them more accurately, quickly, comfortably, and safely, in less space.

All indications suggest that tools and machines will get even more sophisticated and versatile bv the end of the century. We'll certainly sec broader applications of existing technology, especially in electronics.

Electronics To Protect Your Tools And Improve Performance

Many high-end tools already use electronic circuitry to maintain a constant speed under load. On some Metabo tools for example, an electronic sensor connected to the field w inding "senses" the motor temperature and energizes an LED light to inform the operator. Ignore the light, and the sensor will automatically shut off the tool to prevent motor bumout.

Tools that Metabo sells in Europe have even more sophisticated features. One hammer drill model has an electronic keypad. Users key in the type of material being drilled and the bit size, and the tool automatically chooses the correct speed for the job. Steve Jost. marketing coordinator at the tool firm, says the company tried marketing the drill in the U.S., but it didn't sell well because of its price tag. However. Jost believes that electronic circuitry in general will become more affordable in the future, so we should expect to see it on more tools, not just high-end tools.

Other tool manufactures with whom I spoke agreed that LED measurement scales lend themselves to use on both portable and stationary tools. They'll be used to indicate tool operating conditions such as rotation, speed, and load. Delta already uses an LED readout on a scrollsaw to report blade strokes per minute and on a tablesaw fence to show distance between the blade and the fence. Porter Cable may offer an LED readout on its routers to show the exact plunge depth of a bit beneath the router base. Although highly accurate, Porter-Cable's product manager Leslie Banduch says they haven't offered the acces

4fi September/October 1994

Woodworker's Journal