"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
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On Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:52:06 GMT, "toller" wrote:

From what I have read, larch is a perfectly good wood as long as you
avoid
the knots. It simply isn't particulary attractive. Would that be about
right? Any problems with it?

Very prone to twist on seasoning. Apart from that it it's fine. My
bench underframe is made of it, although it's too soft to make a good
top. I do use it for "indoor" work on rough stuff like bech frames,
but mostly it's for exterior timber framing. Being highly resinous, it
lasts longer than Easter Red Cedar (UK climate).

Most stupid thing I've done in the last few years was _not_ buying 10
acres of woodland, just because I didn't like the fact it was larch.
Since then I've used a lot more larch and even got quite fond of it.

Of course, Andy's stuff is European, but ought to be close. Western is
lumped with Douglas fir in the trade, which is a pretty good indicator of
what it's like. Eastern might as well be a different tree when close grown
versus open grown. Open grows right and left twists between alternate
spread of branches, and is therefore a perfect bitch to control. Close
grown loses the habit in favor of racing for the light in competition with
others. It's some pretty stuff, though a touch yellower than DF.

Up here it was the preferred wood for mine lagging. I've about eight acres
or so where it thrives in the transition between higher hardwood and lower
swamp conifers.