Allocasuarina luehmannii

greenstone

Māori carving developed its own unique style, including the curved patterns and spirals inspired by New Zealand plants such as ferns. Elaborately carved pātaka (food storehouses) and waka taua (war canoes) showed a tribe’s mana and wealth. There was some difference in carving style between regions and different tribes.

NZ Heart Kauri

swamp kauri

1. Australian Buloke – 5,060 IBF. An ironwood tree that is native to Australia, this wood comes from a species of tree occurring across most of Eastern and Southern Australia. Known as the hardest wood in the world, this particular type has a Janka hardness of 5,060 lbf.

Generally acknowledged as the hardest wood, lignum vitae (Guaiacum sanctum and Guaiacum officinale) measures in at 4,500 pounds-force (lbf) on the Janka scale. That’s more than twice as hard as Osage orange (one of the hardest domestic woods) at 2,040 lbf and more than three times harder than red oak at 1,290 lbf.

Some finishes slow moisture exchange better than others, and all finishes do this better the thicker they are. For example, coating wood on all sides with 1/8″ thick epoxy resin comes pretty close to completely stopping any moisture exchange. This warping will occur even if the wood is finished on all sides.

Store your lumber in a clean, cool, shaded and dry location. If you’re storing wood in an area with high relative humidity—80 percent or more—be sure it’s wrapped in material that is impermeable to vapor. This prevents the wood from absorbing significant amounts of moisture from the surrounding air.

What I did was run a water hose to the top of the post, wrapped the post about 3″ below the hose with a towel, let the water trickle down all four sides for a couple of days. I then just yanked the post back into position, and screwed a length of 2X6 on either side to “help it hold that position”.

Before driving in a nail or screw, drill a pilot hole to prevent splitting the wood. This is especially important when fastening near the end of a board. Over time, most treated lumber will shrink slightly across its width as it dries out.

When you want to dry pressure treated wood without it warping, you have two easy options to choose from;

1. You can dry out the wood using a home-made wood kiln.
2. Or you can stack the wood in a dry place and let it dry out naturally over 2-3 days.

The first tip for working with pressure-treated lumber is to let it dry before using it. Other woods such as redwood and cedar are dry when you buy them. But lumber that has been treated has been injected with massive amounts of chemicals and water. When the wood is dry, it may be too hard to nail.

But, the catch is that you should not paint treated wood too soon after it has been purchased. If you paint treated wood while it is still wet, your coat of primer or paint will most likely be rejected by the water-borne chemicals slowly bleeding their way out of the lumber.

Because of the pressure-treating process, exterior paint is less likely to adhere to pressure treated wood and more likely to peel. Some experts advise staining or sealing over painting, but paint can be successfully applied by following extra precautions.

All PT lumber comes wet. They put it under pressure and force chemicals into it. Then they palletize it tightly so it won’t warp in transit and ship it.

Wet pressure treated wood is all over the place today as treatment remains the primary step of wood protection. So, it’s a big YES, you can build with wet treated wood. The only drawback about this type of wood is that they contain so much moisture components.

While the chemicals in pressure treated lumber prevent rot and ward off insects, they don’t prevent moisture from seeping into the wood. On a deck that’s going to be directly exposed to rain, water can seep into the boards and cause them to swell. As they dry in the sun, they’ll shrink.

Pressure treated lumber exposed to freeze-thaw and wet-dry cycles without care or maintenance will last about 9-years. With proper maintenance and treatment, the same deck will last 40 plus years. Many manufacturers warranty their treated wood for 30 years against rot and insects.

Simply setting the posts in concrete does create a condition that will accelerate rot in the bottom of the posts. With pressure-treated posts, the rot will be slow. The concrete at the top should be sloped away from the post to grade level to avoid water pooling around the base.

Pressure-treated wood in contact with the ground needs the most protection, and will rot in just a few years if you use the wrong grade. If your wood will touch the ground or be buried, you should get the highest grade you can, up to .

Pressure Treated Pine wins only in the category of below ground use. It lasts longer and is stronger than either redwood or cedar. The two natural woods have a lot of Tannin in them, which is a chemical that prevents rot and insect damage, redwood has more tha cedar so it has a slight advantage.

Installation- With some quality woodscrews, a circular saw and a few strong backs, a pressure treated deck can be completed in hours. Redwood often needs to be predrilled, sanded and finished to bring a deck to completion.

Redwood specifically designed for structure use is still a natural wood, but pressure-treated wood contains harmful elements, such as arsenic, copper and chromium. Care must be taken when installing this type of wood by using face masks and gloves to reduce contact with these chemicals.

The disadvantages to redwood are its softness which makes it prone to denting. It is also fairly expensive, especially for premium vertical grain or “All Heart” redwood. In addition, high-quality, stainless steel fasteners must be used with redwood. Otherwise you could stain the wood by using cheaper fasteners.