Harvesting wood for fuel from sustainable forests

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Throughout history wood has been burnt as a fuel. Nowadays there are concerns that excessive wood burning has a negative effect on the environment – both because it depletes rainforests and because it contributes to global levels of carbon dioxide.

However, wood is one of the Earth’s resources that can still be used responsibly. By sustaining forests that are used for harvesting wood for fuel, we can help to maintain habitats and reduce soil erosion and nutritional depletion.

Sustainable plantations also maintain the balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as a tree that is planted will absorb as much carbon dioxide as will be released when another is burnt as fuel.

Why wood is chosen as a medium by artists

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Wood may be used primarily for practical uses – fuel, construction and paper being among the more obvious practical uses – but it is also widely recognised as an excellent medium for art.

Art using wood is generally restricted to sculpture and marquetry, but it is a wonderful material for such techniques. Its grain and finish often gives it an incomparable visual appeal. Wood is also widely available for artists to use and although it takes time to learn how to sculpt using it, it is more workable that stone or bronze.

Of course, wooden artworks are often considered very precious because they must be treated very carefully. Wood is vulnerable to damage from water, excessive dryness, fire and insect attacks.

Historical uses of oak wood

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Oak has a very rich history in terms of the things it is used for. Throughout antiquity oak wood, has been used for shipbuilding because of its properties of hardness and strength. It is also resistant to fungal and insect attacks. The same qualities make oak a very popular wood in house building.

Oak barrels have also long been used by makers of wine and whisky because of the flavour that they add to the drinks. Some whiskies are aged for decades in oak barrels to achieve the right taste. Flavour plays a huge part in the use of oak wood. Chips of oak are even used to smoke cheese, meet and fish.

Beaver dam can be seen from space

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Not a lot of things built out of wood are visible from space, but new satellite pictures have shown that beavers have managed to piece together a dam that is.

The beaver dam in question is in Wood Buffalo National Park in the United States and is visible on Google Earth. It is thought to have been constructed by a number of different beaver clans and is almost 3,000 feet in length.

Beavers build dams to protect themselves and this is a fort of unprecedented size. Biologists have attempted to get a closer look at the gigantic dam, but that area of the park appears to be too inaccessible. At the moment, they are having to make do with the footage from space.

Learn more about mahogany

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Mahogany is a really popular choice of wood for items of furniture. This particular variety of wood is renowned for its workability and durability so it is no surprise that it is such a good wood for furniture.

Mahogany is also very attractive thanks to its deep, reddish tone. This makes it even more popular with furniture designers. The wood is also commonly used to make musical instruments, with numerous guitar manufacturers preferring it for the depth of tone it yields. Drum manufacturers also commonly use mahogany.

Traditionally, mahogany was also used to make boats because of its natural resistance to wood rot.

Looking after wooden furniture

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Wood furniture is a really appealing addition to any room, but it is important that you look after it properly.

Generally speaking, your maintenance of wood furniture should be about cleaning it and protecting it from moisture and heat. You can do this simply by tending to spillages quickly, polishing the surface of the furniture every so often and keeping placemats and coaster on tables to avoid moisture rings or heat marks.

Whenever you wipe your furniture down with a damp cloth, make sure that you dry it afterwards rather than leaving it to dry on its own. Tablecloths provide excellent protection but they hide the natural appeal of the table.

Taking action against deforestation

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Deforestation is a major problem is the world today. Forests are vital to planet, supporting vast ecosystems of plants, animals and birds and absorbing CO2 to maintain the atmosphere of the Earth. Unfortunately, areas of woodland are being increasingly diminished because of the following reasons.

• Farmland is being created for more and more crop growth. Clearing space for these areas of farmland means cutting down trees.
• Climate change is having an effect as rising temperatures are killing forests.
• Large companies are accessing timber from the developing world without consideration of the rights of the people who live there.

It is important that we take action against deforestation to preserve our planet.

Timeless wooden flooring

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Wooden flooring is a fantastic way to improve the interior of your home. Wood brings an unmatched aesthetic appeal to any room with its natural beauty and incredible durability and strength.

Wood flooring is timeless and it can raise your interior decor to a new level. It is also hygienic, requiring regular sweeping and polishing, but limiting the dust and dirt that collects in carpets and rugs. A little care will keep you wooden floor looking incredible for years, whereas a carpet can end up looking shabby very quickly.

Bolster your home improvements with by installing wooden flooring into your house.

The rise of reclaimed wood furniture

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Improving the current state of the environment is on everybody’s mind at the moment, so it is no surprise that more and more ideas are surfacing about ways we can cut down on waste. However, people are used to a certain measure of luxury and using recycled products doesn’t always appeal to the masses.

What will appeal to even the choosiest of environmentally-aware people are the reclaimed wood furniture ideas that many workshops around the country are now coming up with. Most reclaimed wood can be put to use in the kitchen as worktops or as beds in the bedroom, once it has been remodelled.

The wood is usually of fantastic quality and it saves on vital resources, satisfying your pretensions to being green.

Wooden turbines for greener energy

Posted by: David  /  Category: General

Usually, even the most environmentally-friendly ideas need to make use of non-renewable materials and resources in order to achieve their goal of green energy. Wind power and wave power have to be harnessed with the use of materials like steel and so on, which are producing using huge amounts of energy.

Hydra Tidal, a Norwegian energy company, is looking to bypass this contradiction, however, by engineering its tidal power machinery using laminated pine wood. It is a novel idea that wood can be used in the machinery that hopes to deliver more ecologically aware energy for the future, and Hydra Tidal have expressed their belief that wood is actually easier to work with in the mechanics of their operations than metals.