Woodworker's Journal 2004 Summer, страница 9

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Redwood

with redwood. The dust can be a respiratory irritant, especially if you already have allergies or asthma.

Antique, reclaimed "sinker" cypress an p emerging lumber source you might consider ■ ; : for your outdoor projects. Much of this wood comes from virgin timber logs dredged up from the i. ers. The 1< • rmk

en route to lumber mills a century or so ago, and the wood may be hundreds, upwards to a thousand, years old. Thicknesses of 4/4 or more aren't hard to find in oversized widths and in lengths exceeding 8¹.

Cedar

Western red cedar is probably the least expensive and most accessible exterior lumber option. It's easy to find at home centers and lumberyards in many parts of the country. Depending on your location and the demands of regional construction, you may be able to buy cedar in both 2x and lx thicknesses as well as post and beam dimensions and 5/4 decking. As an : outdoor wood, it fares well against rot and insects, especially if you select boards with minimal sapwood. The heartwood has a higher level of natural extractives than the sapwood to fight fungal growth that leads to rotting. Cedar has a familiar, pleasant aroma when machined, and the wood is easy to work

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are soft and prone to splintering, similar to redwood, so treat end grain carefully especially when routing.

Cypress

Cypress is a swamp wood common to Southern and Southeastern states. The lumber has exceptional fungicidal properties, and wood-loving insects avoid it like the plague. Aside from a difference in smell, cypress looks, works and feels like cedar, but it tends to be more expensive. The fibers are soft and easily dented, but it cuts, routs and sands almost effortlessly.

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White Oak

-n used for ce; vafac-

ture of wine and whiskey barrels in part because it. contains the pore-filling substance tyloses. Since water doesn't penetrate the pores, neither does fungus.

Tannic acids in the oak also provide natural fungicides while Cedar protecting the

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Cypress

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wood from termit es

sect pests. Quartersawn white oak is dimensionally more stable — and more

expensive — than flatsawn white oak, but either cut is an excellent choice for outdoor projects. The wood fibers are hard, so they'll stand up well to wear and tear, but white oak isn't difficult to cut or shape with carbide bit-; and blades, fie careful that the stock you buy isn't red oak, which lacks the tyloses and won't fare well outside.

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