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Stuart Noble

On 21/10/2012 11:13, wrote:
On Sun, 21 Oct 2012 08:13:13 +0100, Tim Lamb
wrote:

Slightly sideways... is it possible that the quality of timber available
to the Victorians was better than that of today?

I use a lot of recycled 4"x2" and generally find that the grain is more
dense and the knots smaller than that supplied new.

Most timber Victorians used in buildings would have been imported and
Baltic or Scandinavian, slow grown 14 rings to the inch and the snow
load knocks off dead suppressed branches.

Interesting about the snow.

We were major importers of wood on the global market as our economy
grew earlier than others.

Since the 1950s more home grown timber has come on line and it has
benefited from machine stress grading where in the past it failed
visual grading. Also I suspect much Canadian lumber is second growth
nowadays.

AJH

Finnish softwood is as good as it's ever been but too pricey for the
general market