Wood is the center of our beloved woodworking hobby and we should learn as much as we can for it . We probably aren’t interested to know as much as we can for the wood , because we are going to give exams for it in a University or something like that , but because we just love it .
Wood “Lovers” , Love Knowledge .
The knowledge we want to learn , gives us personal joy . We want to learn how wood its created in its primitive form . How we can indentify the age of a tree . How we can dry it as better as we possible can .
We want to know how many types of wood is outhere , except the main separation for the types of wood . We want to know , what kind of wood it is usualy used for our several wooden projects and what is the appropriate wood for our woodworking plans .
We want to know with what ways we can connect our wooden pieces ( logs , boards , et.c ) .
We want to learn how many woodworking tools exist and how many are hand – tools , and power tools . We want to know how to identify if our furniture wood , is solid wood or industrial ( which isn’t so easy ) . We want to know how we can protect our precious wood projects from the “enemies” the wood has , as an “alive” material .
The Wood Rings , tell us the Age of the Tree .
If we take a piece of wood branch or better a log , so we can see more clearly and cut it , vertically of its axle , we’ll get in our hands two cylindrical wood pieces .
If we watch carefully one of this pieces we’ll see a central darkest spot which is the core of the log and around it , concentric rings .
The rings which are closer to the core are darker and harder then the others . These rings are the wood cells which are born between the spring and the autumn . The Winter the tree is “sleeping” , so we have zero new woody cells .
So one of those rings , represents one year of the development of the tree .
If a log has 8 Rings , the Tree is 8 years old . If it has 20 , the Tree is 20 years old and so on .
So if you want to count the age of a tree and you don’t have any information for a friend , a family member or someone who knows the truth , just count the rings of the log and you know the age .
If you observe these rings you’ll see that , as closer we go to the center of the log , to its core the color of the rings are darker than the ones who are in the external surface .
This is because the new rings have more moisture . The inside rings are darker and harder than the external ones .
These “newbie” rings have more posibilities to get affected by bugs or any other illnesses , than the inside ones which are more drier .
Some extra Info , for our wood .
So wood is a primitive material the first humans who stepped on earth , used and benefit from it . Wood existed since day 1 and exists till nowdays and we use it for more than 2000 products .
Yes in our 21th century , with all the technology we have , wood is needed to more than 2000 products .
The primitive human needed it making weapons , and later he combine it with metal making stronger weapons of any kind .
The ancient Greeks , Egyptians used it in their ships . Cristopher Colombus used it for his ships too , and the big evolution came in the 14th century .
Gutenberg and his invention of typography made possible the printing on wood and the world would never be the same again . The first trains and aeroplanes were made from wood in the 19th century and in our days we use wood in so many ways .
We use wood in our constructions , in architecture , as a paper , for our furniture , in our pharmacy factories , in our chemist factories and in more than 2000 products .
Wood is “Alive” .
Wood is organic material . It comes from living organisms , the plants . Wood consists of cellulose fibers combined with a substance called lignin . This is why we have so many types , shapes and colors of wood .
If we put a wooden piece in the microscope we will see its woody cells and it is estimated that in 1 cm3 of wood , we have between 200.000 – 2 million of woody cells .
Happy Woodworking .
