Craftsmanship in Wood

Unbelievable. Say what you will about crappy furniture - this is far worse

(the link is to a short video on Vimeo)

https://vimeo.com/157751923

Hi Jacob,

I think my message may not be clear - this is not a complaint against using wood to make stuff. On the contrary, my remark about crappy furniture stems from the discussion elsewhere (Furniture Topic I think) on the use of wood to make modern furniture that portrays the essence of craftsmanship without actually having any serious craftsmanship - I think most, if not all of you who belong to this forum do their best to develop and use craftsmanship, and have a respect for the material. Even those whose focus may be less on craftsmanship and quality, at least use wood in a useful manner (the longevity of the product may be doubtful, so could be considered wasteful, but the wood used at least retains some value). I mean in no way to disparage the efforts of anyone. So my apologies to anyone who may have taken it that way.

The video, unfortunately, shows a tragic waste and total disrespect for wood as a building material. In this case, all the wood cut (generally by clearcutting), no matter what its value otherwise (and it doesn't take any imagination to realize the value of old-growth hardwood), is simply burned as a fuel to make electricity. I posted the link here, because I felt the members of the forum should be informed about the actions of those illustrated. I'm Canadian and live in Nova Scotia, so this is in my back yard. At least I can vote in protest come the next election, but getting the word out to the world will, hopefully, create some negative feedback. One can only try.

Does this make sense?

Steve

The value of old growth softwood too It's ashame that the laws of supply and demand are not put aside, at times, for some basic consideration for the material. This sort of thing only happens after the worst of it is done and only a small amount remains.

Such as, I know old growth cypress makes damned good shingles, but I think it should always be reserved for projects which respect the years it took to grow. When viewed in proper context, rather than just as material, it starts to have different meaning and it's uses are narrowed.

I don't think my work is at the level for which I should be using incredibly rare material, and so I generally avoid it.

Brian wrote:The value of old growth softwood too It's ashame that the laws of supply and demand are not put aside, at times, for some basic consideration for the material. This sort of thing only happens after the worst of it is done and only a small amount remains.

Such as, I know old growth cypress makes damned good shingles, but I think it should always be reserved for projects which respect the years it took to grow. When viewed in proper context, rather than just as material, it starts to have different meaning and it's uses are narrowed.

I don't think my work is at the level for which I should be using incredibly rare material, and so I generally avoid it.

Hi Brian,

This (the subject of the video) is not a case of supply and demand - at least not demand. There are sawmills that would pay well for the best timber to be used as a building material. They are not allowed to buy it - it is cut for fuel and sold at a fraction of its value. The logs are felled and chipped in the forest or hauled to the trucks - no one looks them over and culls the best for furniture or 2x4s. That's the crime and tragedy here - the wood is far more valuable as building material and there is a market for it, but the stupidity of the politicians involved cater to big business and a "green" concept even though it makes no economic sense and there is nothing green about it. The only worse case scenario is in places like South America where wood is cut and burned just to get it out of the way for access to gold and diamonds.

If practises like this continue, you will be using a rare material.

That is quite an upsetting situation. It's certainly not a new story of government shortsightedness or complete lack of broader thinking. It's especially frustrating that it's done in the name of "green" energy. I find it particularly interesting as this fall I moved and was required to find a new electricity supplier. Where I live you are given the option to select from a variety of electricity suppliers, some of which are biomass plants. I didn't end up going with a biomass source because they were few and far between and rarely had any real information detailing their operation. The situation from the video is related to so many consumer products, "green" or not, that are presented to the consumer with a certain image or idea, but what lies behind the product is so often a much uglier reality.

Steve I'm curious since you live in NS, have there been any protests against the biomass plant? IIRC in the video it was stated that this plant has been in operation for over twenty years or so? That's a long time and a lot of trees I hope that enough people will become aware of the issue and try to fight it.

Mine is a separate rant to pile on It drives me crazy to see resources being burned through with little consideration for their value beyond a moment of energy. If they were doing this properly they would be burning that which is fit for burning and selling the remainder to those who will put it to good use.

Jon B wrote: Steve I'm curious since you live in NS, have there been any protests against the biomass plant? IIRC in the video it was stated that this plant has been in operation for over twenty years or so? That's a long time and a lot of trees I hope that enough people will become aware of the issue and try to fight it.

Hi Jon,

The original wood boiler was part of a pulp mill, so the wood supply back then was waste from the pulp wood and the electricity all went into running the plant. The pulp mill sold the boiler to Nova Scotia Power in 2011 to provide a "renewable" energy power plant to supplement the entire provincial electrical energy demands. There were plenty of forewarnings back then that there was no way "scrap/waste" wood could be supplied either in sufficient quantity, nor economically at current wood prices. Regardless, the plan went ahead with any protest(s) ignored. The area is rural with not much industry or jobs and thus, not enough votes to bother the government - they just yelled louder "green, renewable, clean, only uses wood that has no other use, etc."

The reality (as it is coming to light) is that wood from other production streams (furniture, flooring, construction, etc.) is being diverted as the amount of wood needed to generate electricity can only be satisfied by burning everything standing. The cost to Nova Scotia Power for the wood is so low, that it is cheaper than coal or oil, thus they have no incentive to stop. They simply do not care that a great deal of the supply is worth thousands of dollars if sold as building material, and many forestry and wood product industry jobs are lost.

Hi Jacob,

I'm not qualified to define either art or craftsmanship (although, I've read elsewhere and agree, that art requires craftsmanship). Its too subjective a topic, but if someone wants to start a discussion, I'll offer my two cents worth (and in Canada, they've gotten rid of the penny, so two cents gets rounded down to zero - about what my opinion is worth ). Regardless, we here on the forum look at wood as far more valuable than something suited only as firewood (at least until I've had my chance to create something with it first).

And thanks for making me clarify my remarks [Note to Chris: Jacob for Moderator]- as I said, I had no intention to point a disparaging finger at anyone personally, nor discourage anyone from making an effort to apply themselves in a creative way, so it is good that you highlighted the possibility that what I said (and in retrospect, probably a poor choice of words), might be taken that way.

Anyway, lets hope that the more people become aware of this, the more pressure will be put on the government and business to do the right thing.

Now, should I try to make toothpicks out of this project, or just go straight into the wood stove?

Very upsetting. People tend to think if a tree can grow in 40yrs then a "forest" can be regrown in that time. I wish that were true. It is sad how litle value can be place on something that can be obtained "for nothing".

There was a proposal to put a similar sort of biomass plant in this area, however there was a lot of opposition to it so it doesn't appear to be going anywhere. After reading about the one in Nova Scotia, I am of course disgusted, and glad we (probably) won't have to deal with the same around here.