The wood industry is as old as the hills. But it is still something we cannot do without. Therefore, it is but important to know a few interesting things about the whys and wherefores of the wood industry. Here are just a few to get you started.
• A generic cord of wood can be used to make 12 dining room table sets, 30 rocking chairs, 250 copies of the Sunday New York Times, 942 one-pound books, 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of paper, 1,200 copies of National Geographic magazine, 2,700 copies of an average (36 page) daily newspaper, 4,000 one-gallon milk containers, 61,370 standard envelopes, 89,870 sheets of letterhead bond paper, 460,000 personal checks, 4,384,000 postage stamps and 7,500,000 toothpicks.
• An 1,800 square foot home requires about 10,000 board feet of lumber, which is roughly equal to about 20 cords of wood.
• An acre of forested land may yield an average of 10-15 cords of wood when harvested at maturity.
• Balsa wood has been the standard material for model airplane construction since it first became readily available in the U.S. in the late 1920s.
• For hundreds of years, balsa was actually considered a weed tree. There is no such thing as entire forests of balsa trees. They grow singly or in very small, widely scattered groups in the jungle. By the time they are mature, there may be only one or two balsa trees to an acre of jungle.
• Balsa trees grow very fast. Six months after germination, the tree is about 1-1/2 inches in diameter and 10 – 12 feet tall. In 6 to 10 years the tree is ready for cutting, having reached a height of 60 to 90 feet tall and a diameter of 12 to 45 inches.
• When the Balsa tree is young, its leaves measure a much as four feet across. They become progressively smaller as the tree grows older, until they are about 8-10 inches across.
• The real start of the balsa business was during World War I, when the allies were in need of a plentiful substitute for cork.
• Oak trees can live 200 or more years. The largest certified Oak tree is one named The Seven Sisters Oak in Lewisburg, Mandeville, Louisiana, measuring 37 feet and 2 inches in circumference with a crown spread of 150 feet, and is estimated to be more than 1,000 years old!
• The first recorded Saw Mill in England was erected by a Dutchman near London about 1663, but had to be abandoned because of rioting.
• A banyan tree is the widest – it can fit 2000 people under it.
• The oldest living thing on earth is a 4,700 year old bristlecone pine tree in California.
• The Ginkgo tree provided food for dinosaurs and is still around today.
• The 379-feet tall Hyperion, a redwood tree, in California, is the tallest tree in the US.
• Incense Cedar is the name of the tree used to make pencils.
