"Anna Kettle" wrote in message


I can't see why preservative is necessary or 500 year old oak timber
framed houses would have fallen down centuries ago

Wayne oak is susceptible but heartwood is quite good at standing up for
itself. However most ancient oak timbers were creosoted and covered with
pitch or some other standard preservative.

500 years ago a tree cultivated for the purpose it was eventually felled
for, would spend a few years pointing downstream in a clean, fast river.
This would wash out all its sugars and starches. It might then have been
buried in mud. Quite elabourate techniques were used in the good old
days. None of them involved rushing them through a bakery.

What would be saved buy not using preservative? Ten or twelve quid?

At what price?


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