Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 87 – CITES Convention is Nigh New species nominationsThis episode I catch up on some questions submitted via email and give an update on the Amazon Rainforest fires, a beetle cure, and a lumber laundering scheme.Industry NewsThe CITES convention opens next week and there are several major species being proposed […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 86 – Opportunity Logging Tools Logging Tools for the Non LumberjackWhat tools do you keep in the car for those opportunistic roadside stops to grab a fallen tree or some choice turning blanks? How about choosing a wood species for making wooden hand planes? Both of these topics and several […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 85 – Garrett and the Great Big Oak The Lacey Act requires “Due Care”Today in our story time circle we talk with Garrett and his adventures with the great big Red Oak tree that fell outside a local historical home.  How he tamed the blog and will be working with […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 84 – Don't Be a Sap, Use that Sapwood Walnut Sapwood is just Butternut right?In today’s show I talk about sourcing historic woods, Walnut sapwood, Rubberwood, Ukrainian timber exports, and what the lumber pricing future looks like.  And some other stuff as I ramble on and get excited about nerdy […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 83 – Buying Lumber from a Dude in the Woods Things to Look for when buying lumber from alternate sourcesWhat to look for when buying lumber out of the back of a ’69 El Camino?  Or from a guy on Craigslist?  There can be some great lumber finds out there […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 82 UVA Sawmilling Institutional Forestry ManagementWalk through any university or large corporate campus and you will find tree lined pathways and quiet groves for study and contemplation.  Essentially you have a forest concession, but are they managed as such?  In most cases as those trees comes down due to storms […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 81 Soil chemistry Same Species, different Soil ChemistryIn this episode I look at how the soil chemistry can change the appearance and working properties of the lumber we use from the tree.  You can have the same species of tree from 2 different watersheds or even different parts of the […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 80 – David Barmon wrote the Book on Urban Lumber Urban Lumber isn’t all SlabsDavid Barmon runs Epilogue LLC a Portland, OR based sawmill that draws its material from urban forests.  David started in landscaping which turned to tree removal and naturally into sawing those trees into lumber.  His business […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 79 – So You Want to Start a Lumberyard A Lumberyard is a businessStarting a lumberyard and selling your boards or slabs or millwork is much like starting any business.  The competitive landscape needs to be assessed and you need to find your niche.  In today’s episode I talk about […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 78 – A Replacement for Western Red Cedar? Western Red Cedar Prices Keep climbingThis episode I catch up on some questions submitted via email covering a range of topics from green and air dried timbers, checking timbers, and even planting your own grove of trees.  But my perhaps click bait […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 77 – Poplar is so Popular Yellow Poplar isn’t a Poplar?Let’s talk about Poplar…or Tulip Poplar…or Eastern Cottonwood…or White Poplar or Yellow Poplar or Quaking Aspen or (gasp) Tulipwood. No they are not all the same tree. Or are they? Today I talk about the Populus genus and that upstart […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 76 – Wood Identificaton Wood Identification is in the End grainWe’ve all held that unknown wood species in our hands and wondered what it is.  This episode hopes to give you a process to follow to help you get you a wood identification.  I give you some resources in both […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · LU 75 Finding Lumber at Auction with Tommaso Valeriano Other Ways to Find LumberI have spoken about some other ways to find lumber in past shows from cooperative buying to contacting your local cabinet or millwork shop.  Today I have Tommaso Valeriano on the show and he gives us some […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 74 – CD's Trees Removing Trees and Turning them into LumberCaleb Darnell runs CD’s Trees out of Hot Springs, AR.  He’s an arborist removing trees for a variety of reasons but mostly on residential properties.  Since 2009 his company has been doing this work but more he was always sad […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 73 – Alternatives to Russian Birch Plywood? Baltic Birch is a Hard Product to Compete AgainstRussian Birch plywood prices are tripled at minimum. Moreover even paying the higher price isn’t something the general market wants to do and support the Russian economy. So what are the alternatives? There aren’t very […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 72 – Cambium Carbon Saving the Planet One Urban Log at a timeCambium Carbon is a Washington DC based company that is into Urban Lumber.  That’s the understatement of the year because they have the potential to change the face of the lumber industry by creating a circular industry.  Put […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 71 – Trending to Local Timbers Local Timbers on the riseIn my predictions for 2022 I stated that there would be more focus on domestic lumber. Today I dive deeper into that and look at how local timbers present opportunities and challenges to the commercial lumber market as well as […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 70 – Choosing Wood for a Workbench Locally Sourced Exercise in Wood DiversityOn this episode Alex Adams joins me to talk about choosing wood for his upcoming workbench projects. He wants to incorporate as many locally sourced woods as he can in order to gain experience with many species that […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 69 Got a Log? Now What? Logs to LumberSo you’ve decided to go from logs to lumber. In this episode I discuss how and where you might get a log when first starting out and then the care and feeding of that log before you begin to saw it.  How […]

Shannon's Lumber Industry Update · 68 – Interpreting Working Properties of Wood Chinese Mahogany: How does it work?Today I look at Chinese Mahogany (Toona sinensis) and use my philosophy of technical numbers to identify how this unusual species would work when compared to more commonly known woods. This is the same process I have spoken […]