Still struggling a bit in the USA, it appears. The latest jobless numbers came out last week, and the consensus was fairly gloomy. Oh, well. This article by Justin Lahart in the Weekend Journal kicks this ball around in the dirt a bit. China is quite predictably selling off their short-term US Treasury holdings, and the Dow has ticked backwards for five consecutive weeks.
It appears we have room for improvement, eh? The housing market, for better or worse, is a crucial indicator of our nations’ economic strength. As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve got quite a way to go here. The final tally still isn’t even racked up on the total number of homes underwater. Part of the reason is that the banks left holding the paper aren’t in the position to absorb all the losses at this time. Furthermore, immediate liquidation of all delinquent properties isn’t possible—the devaluation of those currently making their payments would make virtually every home in the country unaffordable.
So we’re stuck for a bit. There is some good news, however. From May’s jobs report, Educational services, health care and social assistance, and mining and logging were sectors showing a net positive overall growth from January 2008 through May 2011. So…someone out there is still harvesting some trees. Construction still hasn’t made a complete recovery, but there are signs of this trend leveling out, and possibly rebounding pretty well in the next couple of years.
There is definitely development going on—it’s just a little more selective, and one hopes quite a bit better thought out than the practices of the first decade of this century. We will see. I remain optimistic. Growing pains are inevitable when an entire generation hadn’t seen a substantial letdown in economic growth. The measure of our character will be demonstrated, I suppose, in the nations’ response over the coming years. I’m cheering for consumer confidence!
A Specialty Lumber Solutions blog about ipe, deck tiles, cumaru, cypress, and everything in between.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Balata Balls: A Golf Flashback
I was informed earlier today by Charles that we were playing in a golf tourney next Friday. If I could hit the ball at all right now, that would be one thing. Unfortunately, there’s much work to be done…So I hit the links.
A member's snapshot of the BGA the morning of the Open Championship.
The local golf course in my town is the Baldwin Golf Association, a nine-hole, 2833-yard sand greens remnant of the 1950s. Someone playing immediately before me left a treasure-trove of circa-1990 golf balls sprayed around the first hole of the club. (It’s a local custom to fire as many balls possible strewn randomly across the course, so that someone else can pick them up.) I was a well above-average player in 1990. Today, I don’t bother even handicapping myself. But the discovery of this golf-ball time machine took me back a bit.
One of my all-time favorite golf balls was the Titlist Tour 90 compression. It had a balata cover, offering the best feel one could accomplish for players who can work the ball a bit. I used to be one of those players, but I haven’t committed the time recently to make that happen again quite yet.
The balata cover used in the manufacture of these and many other popular balls of the era was derived from the sap of the Massaranduba (Manilkara bidentata) tree. These balls haven’t been made in quite some time, due to the more recent advances in Surlyn and other synthetic covers.
The diversity and wide range of uses for many tropical hardwoods is astounding. Medicines, latex, and many other raw materials are derived from responsibly harvested forests.
The earliest golf clubs were often produced with Hickory shafts. Persimmon was the wood of choice, back when they were making "wood" clubs. They were stiff, yet flexible. It was the best-suited shafting material for these earliest tools. With the industrial revolution came the advent of more predictable metals, and the consistency and mass-production capabilities of steel would later be supplanted with titanium- and graphite-alloyed creations.
None of this is very interesting if one can’t even properly strike the ball. I have a little work to do.
The local golf course in my town is the Baldwin Golf Association, a nine-hole, 2833-yard sand greens remnant of the 1950s. Someone playing immediately before me left a treasure-trove of circa-1990 golf balls sprayed around the first hole of the club. (It’s a local custom to fire as many balls possible strewn randomly across the course, so that someone else can pick them up.) I was a well above-average player in 1990. Today, I don’t bother even handicapping myself. But the discovery of this golf-ball time machine took me back a bit.
One of my all-time favorite golf balls was the Titlist Tour 90 compression. It had a balata cover, offering the best feel one could accomplish for players who can work the ball a bit. I used to be one of those players, but I haven’t committed the time recently to make that happen again quite yet.
The balata cover used in the manufacture of these and many other popular balls of the era was derived from the sap of the Massaranduba (Manilkara bidentata) tree. These balls haven’t been made in quite some time, due to the more recent advances in Surlyn and other synthetic covers.
The diversity and wide range of uses for many tropical hardwoods is astounding. Medicines, latex, and many other raw materials are derived from responsibly harvested forests.
The earliest golf clubs were often produced with Hickory shafts. Persimmon was the wood of choice, back when they were making "wood" clubs. They were stiff, yet flexible. It was the best-suited shafting material for these earliest tools. With the industrial revolution came the advent of more predictable metals, and the consistency and mass-production capabilities of steel would later be supplanted with titanium- and graphite-alloyed creations.
None of this is very interesting if one can’t even properly strike the ball. I have a little work to do.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Proper Acclimation: A Necessity
Too often in the contracting field, unnecessary and easily avoidable errors are made due to deadlines and impatience. I’ve been a culprit of this myself. Needing to have a job done by date X, corners are occasionally cut, and it almost always shows.
When a commitment is made to a high-end decking material such as Ipe, Cumaru, or Tigerwood, it’s essential to remember that with the solid durability and resilience of these species come a few concessions. The most important allowance any contractor or homeowner can make to assure the highest quality installation is proper acclimation of the building materials.
If I were contracting an exterior siding or decking job, I would certainly allow the delivered wood to be sorted, spaced, and stacked with adequate spacing to assure proper air-drying for all four surfaces of the material. Cover it, forget about it for a week or two. Catch up on some other projects. It’s so easy to get anxious for delivery of the stock and immediately start pounding through the inventory to finish the contract. Sooner than later, this oversight will show up.
It doesn’t always necessarily happen. But I wouldn’t want to assume the risk of anything but the highest-quality installation. If the homeowner/project manager is already investing several dollars per square foot for a high-end material, the project should likely be budgeted to allow for this crucial acclimation of the lumber. Especially in the instance of finish boards, risers, skirt boards, and other applications which require direct fastening and/or plugging, having as close to a fully acclimated lumber member will prevent splitting from shrinkage or swelling of the stock when it has not yet fully adapted to the local climate.
Less splitting, a truer feel of the finish presentation of the product, and a happier customer are what can be gained by simply exercising just a bit of prudence, and sometimes allowing a job a week or two allowance providing the stock, the builder, the architect, and the homeowner a proper chance at the highest-quality overall installation.
When a commitment is made to a high-end decking material such as Ipe, Cumaru, or Tigerwood, it’s essential to remember that with the solid durability and resilience of these species come a few concessions. The most important allowance any contractor or homeowner can make to assure the highest quality installation is proper acclimation of the building materials.
If I were contracting an exterior siding or decking job, I would certainly allow the delivered wood to be sorted, spaced, and stacked with adequate spacing to assure proper air-drying for all four surfaces of the material. Cover it, forget about it for a week or two. Catch up on some other projects. It’s so easy to get anxious for delivery of the stock and immediately start pounding through the inventory to finish the contract. Sooner than later, this oversight will show up.
It doesn’t always necessarily happen. But I wouldn’t want to assume the risk of anything but the highest-quality installation. If the homeowner/project manager is already investing several dollars per square foot for a high-end material, the project should likely be budgeted to allow for this crucial acclimation of the lumber. Especially in the instance of finish boards, risers, skirt boards, and other applications which require direct fastening and/or plugging, having as close to a fully acclimated lumber member will prevent splitting from shrinkage or swelling of the stock when it has not yet fully adapted to the local climate.
Less splitting, a truer feel of the finish presentation of the product, and a happier customer are what can be gained by simply exercising just a bit of prudence, and sometimes allowing a job a week or two allowance providing the stock, the builder, the architect, and the homeowner a proper chance at the highest-quality overall installation.
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