Are We/You being responsible?

Interesting post…I will pay more attention to where the folks I buy wood say it is from, and if they don’t I will ask. So far the most exotic wood I’ve used is maple and I am pretty sure it was from somewhere in North America :-)

-- "Checking for square? what madness is this! The cabinet is square because I will it to be so!" Jeremy Greiner LJ Topic#20953 2011 Feb 2

All the distributors I have spoken with in the Oregon area have stated they only buy from sustainable rated suppliers, with exception to the urban logging groups (of course). Good post, humans have responsibilities.

-- Power tools put us ahead of the monkeys

80% of the solid wood I use is from the state I live in. I find alot of woodworkers think adding exotic wood to their projects will add some sort of extra value to the piece.

If you know how to work the grain, there is no real need to jazz up a project with fancy wood. Besides, local wood is beautiful and speaks of the area it is from.

“Those are nice ebony pegs, too bad they didn’t make that joint any tighter”

-- http://www.niceashplanes.com/ http://www.efcabineture.com/

So far the only thing I have used is local native woods. Actually, the ash I have was growing in my back yard 6 years ago.

-- I still have all my fingers

Well most of my wood is local, and I just keep an eye out for power companys cut down and road clearings.
Some of my wood is take from thining my wood lot. Oak Cherry, ash and some hickory and walnut

-- In His service ,Richard

Heh, the wood I use comes from the lumber yard, the big box stores or the hardwood outlet. I don’t worry about where they get theirs.

I don’t waste a moments energy on the “Save the Planet” crowd. The planet isn’t going anywhere, it was here long before the human race was and it will be here long after humans are gone.

sustainable source – shame on you.

There is no shame here and I am plenty responsible for myself and my family. LOL

-- Ohh mann...pancakes and boobies...I'll bet that's what Heaven is like! ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

“I’ve been lucky enough to have visited the far east (including Burma), and to Africa, and seen ports and rivers full to bursting point with seemingly endless tree trunks. I’ve also seen the land where those trees used to grow – often, as we all know, they simply aren’t being replanted.”

America looked like that once too.

-- That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” ― Aldous Huxley

Trees are like the Earth’s hair. We humans couldn’t give the planet a bad haircut, much less turn it’s hair into an usustainable resource. We don’t have that power if all human ingenuity set out to do it.

-- "The way to make a small fortune in woodworking- start with a large one"

England deforested most of its firests (oak trees) to build its navy, much of S. America is being clearcut for sustance or cash crop farming, much of Africa is being clearcut for charcoal production and sugsistance farming. I’ve seen the strips of clear cut in British Columbia, and various American states. We DO have the power, it doesn’t require ingenuity to clear cut a forest it takes ingenuity to harvest the wood in a sustainable fashion.

Yup the ‘Save the Planet’ crowd can be irritating at times, and I myself thought much as you did at one point… then I realized yeah the planet will go on but quite possibly with out any humans or more complex creatures on it. We can make this environment unsuitable for human habitation, why would we not want to take care of it?

-- "Checking for square? what madness is this! The cabinet is square because I will it to be so!" Jeremy Greiner LJ Topic#20953 2011 Feb 2

I will phone Home Depot right of way and tell them they had better buy their wood from renewable tree sources or else the Lumberjocks will get them! :)

Or maybe I will just go there when I need to and purchase what I want. I really couldn’t care less where they purchase their lumber as long as it holds, nails, screws and glue….these days that’s asking a lot from the box stores I know.

why would we not want to take care of it?

I prefer to live my life without all of the Save the Planet worry. If it makes a few of you fellows feel better you may worry twice as hard about it to make up for my not worrying about it. Enjoy :)

-- Ohh mann...pancakes and boobies...I'll bet that's what Heaven is like! ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

The planet may not be going anywhere, but many of the resources sure are. There’s a reason it’s pretty much impossible to get very useful woods like lignum vitae (ironwood) and Brazilian rosewood. It’s the same reason that the lumber available these days is of lower quality than it was just 40 years ago.

I suppose if you’re old and selfish, it might make sense to use up everything you can without thinking about the future. But if you have a long life ahead of you, or if you care about what your children and grandchildren will be able to do, then it’s another story. Imagine what a nightmare it would be if the only lumber available to them was pine, red oak, and plywood!

“If you know your wood is not from a sustainable source – shame on you.” Trying to shame a group of people into thinking/doing the way you do grates me the wrong way. There are lots of folks that are very passionate about their responsibility to our planet but they don’t wear it on their sleeve or push it on others. They live it. I don’t tell people in my church how much I tithe, I don’t need to trumpet it. Same thing here.

If you would have stopped your topic before reaching——
If you know your wood is from a sustainable source – trumpet it loudly.
If you know your wood is not from a sustainable source – shame on you.
If you don’t know where it came from – perhaps it’s worth finding out?—-

You would have had properly educated a bunch of woodworkers who have not thought about your point without shaming them into any particular action. An educated person usually makes good decisions. A person who is preached too or shamed into action may just get their backs up and not go anywhere near where you want them to go.

Just my two cents.

-- Like a bad penny, I keep coming back!

Thanks Betsy, well said.

-- Luke 23: 42-43

As a lumber Co.
All of our lumber is sustainable.
That is, not illegally harvested or harvested from genetically altered sources. We practice selective harvesting and prepare erosion management plans. We do everything to comply with what sustainable harvesting means and stands for.

Here’s the problem

For our lumber company to be “certified” sustainable we have to pay for the Certified Stamp… That’s right organizations like SFI, FSC, Tree Farmer, whatever, have all developed programs where they come in to your company, check you all out and before you get their approval…...You have to PAY and not just a hundred bucks…. $ Thousands $, based on a percentage of your net business.

These certification programs are a special interest rip off, created solely to take advantage of the “Green Movement” and exploit the North American Lumber industry in to shelling out $ Money $

Example The State of West Virginia has some of the most rigid and stern timber harvesting laws in the country. More regulations than any of the Certification programs could come close to implementing. Why would any lumber producer in that state need to sign up and pay out money to be certified sustainable? They already surpass all the program standards. “Well if they want to be part of the Green Movement and be able to stamp their product certified, they will pay”. That was the answer I heard right from the representatives mouth.

Heres another example I sell lumber to large distributors. They are certified FSC, SFI. Once a year (all of them) send me a waiver form to sign stating that our lumber is not illegally harvested and sustainable blah blah blah… So I sign it and now, on just my word, they can sell my lumber with (and as) theirs as certified sustainable.
Guess what…. the certification program doesn’t care. They are getting paid by the large company…. BIG $

I believe in and run our company in a green, earth friendly way, We practice sustainability.
However all this certified sustainable bull is just a lot of money making CRAP.

I’ll be glad to discuss this issue with anyone.

-- There's many a slip betwixt a cup and a lip.--Scott

I agree with KnickKnack….......

But I agree with Abbott and Betsy too…. and a lot of other posts here.

KnickKnack, I think you had a very good point which could have been a good topic for a thread, but with these LumberJocks, you went about stating your view in the wrong way. No one likes a finger shaking in their face. Including me. ( and by the way, I am very selective about what type lumber I use and where it comes from ).