Happy Thanksgiving here in the US and today I will talk about one of the first lumber industry concessions in North America. Yes that's right the Plymouth Company funded those Pilgrims and you better believe they wanted some lumber back in return.

On episode 63 I dig into the mail bag and talk about Knotty Pine, Paulownia, Old lumber and old veneers, and of course address a few more tone wood questions.

Buying specialty wood products can be really tough unless you have the buying power to purchase a lot of volume. The fact is that woods with specific uses like tone woods, or quartersawn cuts have some kind of industry driver behind them. Those industries responsible are often buying directly from the landowners and sawmills so that the supply of the specialty product rarely ever makes it to the general public. This has brought about the rise of specialty distribution businesses who do all the heavy lifting and sell products more akin to furniture kits or guitar kits. I also talk about Koa and Monkeypod in this episode as they are two very special woods.

This is my most technical episode yet and it is my own personal Venn diagram of topics: music, physics, and wood! I dive deep into what makes a good tone wood for the specific type of instrument you want to build and what technical properties to consider. In the end there is a lot you just can't measure and therein lies the magic and artistry of making musical instruments from wood.

Softwoods. These woods get overlooked a lot because they are deemed not as durable or stable as hardwoods. In this episode is dive deep into the structure of softwoods. I start with a look at the botanical families and then look closely at the major players: Pines, Cedars, Cypress, Yew, Spruce, Fir, and some weirdos dating back to the dinosaurs. Plus I declare my softwood dark horse that everyone should try to work at least once. Come along and learn how more about softwoods. Maybe not so soft after all.

In this episode I talk about pressure treated lumber, define wood rot, discuss the Emerald Ash Borer, how to bleach wood, and finally delve into the term "full" and "scant" when it comes to lumber dimensions.

Today I'm taking about wood spalting and wood staining due to fungus, bugs, or the enzymes within the wood. All of the gooey goodness inside our woods can produce some cool results and in many cases they aren't fully understood by science.

Steaming lumber is done to change the color by blending more of the heartwood color into the sapwood. In this episode I talk about this process but do so by answering a whole bunch of semi related questions to build our understanding of the steaming process.

In this episode I discuss the seasonality of the lumber industry, mold on your drying boards, the varieties of Hickory, wood movement during the build, fishing lure woods, and woods we see every day but may not know about.

On this episode I'm revisiting lumber prices yet again as the craziness may be nearing an end. But I predict pricing will never return to pre COVID levels. It seems the Fed agrees with me too. Also on this show some Lacey Act changes, Pallet wood, equilibrium moisture content, White Oak, and matching veneer.