I will shortly be commissioning a set of doors that open out from my
kitchen into the garden.  Are there any particular pros and cons for
the varioius hardwoods that are available?  Any factors I should be
aware of in selecting the wood?

Many thanks

Chris

On 29 Aug 2005 02:22:36 -0700, "reellifetv@hotmail.com"
 wrote:


>I will shortly be commissioning a set of doors that open out from my
>kitchen into the garden.  Are there any particular pros and cons for
>the varioius hardwoods that are available?  Any factors I should be
>aware of in selecting the wood?
>
>Many thanks
>
>Chris


I looked at the "durability" of the wood I choose. Hardwood / Softwood
is the difference between weather the leaves fall off the tree, not
how hard/soft the wood actually is.

I chose Douglas Fir, for various reasons
 cost
 local supply - managed woodland
 I like the look of it
 The people who are making my windows like working with it 


Rick

"reellifetv@hotmail.com"  wrote in message
news:1125307356.053098.198450@g49g2000cwa.googlegroups.com


> I will shortly be commissioning a set of doors that open out from my
> kitchen into the garden. Are there any particular pros and cons for
> the varioius hardwoods that are available? Any factors I should be
> aware of in selecting the wood?


There is no point in having hardwood if you intend to paint it. What you
need is to ensure long straight grain and no knots. But you should
expect that without asking, from a reputable workshop.

You might insist on a dip in preservative or at the very least a brushed
on coating of something like Cuprinol when it is assembled and the glue
has dried. (I presume they still make poisons like that?)

If you insist on hardwood make sure it has the seal of approval from
sustained forest management authorities.

Most of the illegal logging comes from Indonesia and Brazil these days,
so just stay clear of mahogany type woods.

If you want Oak go the France or Spain for it. I bet you get better
quality or cheaper than if you buy British.


-- 
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

reellifetv@hotmail.com wrote:


> I will shortly be commissioning a set of doors that open out from my
> kitchen into the garden.  Are there any particular pros and cons for
> the varioius hardwoods that are available?  Any factors I should be
> aware of in selecting the wood?
> 
> Many thanks
> 
> Chris
> 


Look for the FSC logo.  Then you can be sure the wood wasn't previously 
home to an orang-utan, or a spotted owl, or something rare and interesting.

Andy

Andy Champ wrote:

> 
> reellifetv@hotmail.com wrote:
> 
>> I will shortly be commissioning a set of doors that open out from my
>> kitchen into the garden.  Are there any particular pros and cons for
>> the varioius hardwoods that are available?  Any factors I should be
>> aware of in selecting the wood?



If the doors face south or west, I'd consider upvc or aluminium. The 
basic design of french windows makes them very vulnerable to the weather.

Douglas fir is a moderately durable softwood and so is larch.
Curiously larch is also deciduous -the needles drop off in winter.
Either of these would be suitable and do not need painting with poison.
Forget all the tropical hardwoods if you care about the planet.
Similarly upvc and alluminium.
Oak is, of course, far and away the best. It is durable, will not need
preservative treatments, can be left bare to age gracefully to a
silvery grey or can be coated with linseed oil for a warmer colour.  Or
you can paint it but use a real linseed oil paint.  It is a little more
expensive to buy and harder to work so expect to pay more for quality
but it will last for ever.  And it is beautiful.
I don't agree that you have to buy oak from France or Spain.  Rumour
has it they keep the best for wine barrels :-)  There are large
supplies of good oak from Poland and Hungary but there is also plenty
of excellent home grown oak.  I only use British oak for my windows and
doors

Keruing ( Dipterocarpus Costatus Gaertn.F.) or Teak. Can be linseed
oiled, or left as they are naturally oily. We used to use keruing for
slats on wooden boxes that were intermittently submerged as part of a
boating pontoon.

On 30 Aug 2005 03:03:12 -0700, biff@biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk wrote:


>Douglas fir is a moderately durable softwood and so is larch.
>Curiously larch is also deciduous -the needles drop off in winter.
>Either of these would be suitable and do not need painting with poison.
>Forget all the tropical hardwoods if you care about the planet.
>Similarly upvc and alluminium.
>Oak is, of course, far and away the best. It is durable, will not need
>preservative treatments, can be left bare to age gracefully to a
>silvery grey or can be coated with linseed oil for a warmer colour.  Or
>you can paint it but use a real linseed oil paint.  It is a little more
>expensive to buy and harder to work so expect to pay more for quality
>but it will last for ever.  And it is beautiful.
>I don't agree that you have to buy oak from France or Spain.  Rumour
>has it they keep the best for wine barrels :-)  There are large
>supplies of good oak from Poland and Hungary but there is also plenty
>of excellent home grown oak.  I only use British oak for my windows and
>doors


Biff, as a matter of interest, what do you use for hinges and
fitments?  Brass?


-- 

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Rick wrote:

> On 29 Aug 2005 02:22:36 -0700, "reellifetv@hotmail.com"
>  wrote:
> 
> 
>>I will shortly be commissioning a set of doors that open out from my
>>kitchen into the garden.  Are there any particular pros and cons for
>>the varioius hardwoods that are available?  Any factors I should be
>>aware of in selecting the wood?
>>
>>Many thanks
>>
>>Chris
> 
> 
> I looked at the "durability" of the wood I choose. Hardwood / Softwood
> is the difference between weather the leaves fall off the tree, not
> how hard/soft the wood actually is.


Yup - all to do with whether it is a deciduous tree or not  as many 
people are surprised to hear that Balsa wood is actually a hardwood!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balsa_wood

D

Andy Hall wrote:

> Biff, as a matter of interest, what do you use for hinges and
> fitments?  Brass?


Yes, I mostly use brass.
You can get a chemical reaction between ferrous metals and the
chemicals in oak particularly in places where it can get wet.  A good
quality stainless steel would be fine.  For antique-looking iron hinges
and latches use real whiteheat malleable iron.

On 31 Aug 2005 00:09:02 -0700, biff@biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk wrote:


>
>Andy Hall wrote:
>> Biff, as a matter of interest, what do you use for hinges and
>> fitments?  Brass?
>
>Yes, I mostly use brass.
>You can get a chemical reaction between ferrous metals and the
>chemicals in oak particularly in places where it can get wet.  A good
>quality stainless steel would be fine.  For antique-looking iron hinges
>and latches use real whiteheat malleable iron.


OK.  I've always used brass or stainless for internal projects.  How
do you avoid problems with using malleable iron?  Do you use stainless
screws and then accept that you will get some staining from the iron?


-- 

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

biff@biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk wrote:

> Douglas fir is a moderately durable softwood and so is larch.
> Curiously larch is also deciduous -the needles drop off in winter.
> Either of these would be suitable and do not need painting with poison.
> Forget all the tropical hardwoods if you care about the planet.
> Similarly upvc and alluminium.
> Oak is, of course, far and away the best. It is durable, will not need
> preservative treatments, can be left bare to age gracefully to a
> silvery grey or can be coated with linseed oil for a warmer colour.  Or
> you can paint it but use a real linseed oil paint.  It is a little more
> expensive to buy and harder to work so expect to pay more for quality
> but it will last for ever.  And it is beautiful.
> I don't agree that you have to buy oak from France or Spain.  Rumour
> has it they keep the best for wine barrels :-)  There are large
> supplies of good oak from Poland and Hungary but there is also plenty
> of excellent home grown oak.  I only use British oak for my windows and
> doors
> 


The glazing bars of the typical french door last about as long as 
hardwood beading i.e. no time at all.
Save the gay whale.

>From what?


Stuart Noble wrote:


> The glazing bars of the typical french door last about as long as
> hardwood beading i.e. no time at all.
> Save the gay whale.


> biff@biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk wrote:
> > Douglas fir is a moderately durable softwood and so is larch.
> > Curiously larch is also deciduous -the needles drop off in winter.
> > Either of these would be suitable and do not need painting with poison.
> > Forget all the tropical hardwoods if you care about the planet.
> > Similarly upvc and alluminium.
> > Oak is, of course, far and away the best. It is durable, will not need
> > preservative treatments, can be left bare to age gracefully to a
> > silvery grey or can be coated with linseed oil for a warmer colour.  Or
> > you can paint it but use a real linseed oil paint.  It is a little more
> > expensive to buy and harder to work so expect to pay more for quality
> > but it will last for ever.  And it is beautiful.
> > I don't agree that you have to buy oak from France or Spain.  Rumour
> > has it they keep the best for wine barrels :-)  There are large
> > supplies of good oak from Poland and Hungary but there is also plenty
> > of excellent home grown oak.  I only use British oak for my windows and
> > doors
> > 
>

On 30 Aug 2005 03:03:12 -0700, biff@biffvernon.freeserve.co.uk wrote:


>Oak is, of course, far and away the best. It is durable, will not need
>preservative treatments, can be left bare to age gracefully to a
>silvery grey or can be coated with linseed oil for a warmer colour. 


We once did some trial work on promoting sweet chestnut for window
frames, it's better than oak in many ways, more stable but splits very
easily so the joints need considering. It is also readily available in
long thin sections.

We did our work using cleft sections to avoid short grain and machined
these clefts. Lack of interest meant we never got further than
machining a few sections and seeing how they faired over time, which
was good. I think it is still a good project to pursue but of course
we have largely lost our hardwood saw milling resource over the last
30 years as they couldn't compete with imports or timber substitutes.

AJH