Loved your post. If you ever get tired of carpentry you should seriously consider writing books, you have great style. And taste. Beech in my estimation must be one of the hardest woods in Europe. Not sure if oak is harder or not. Or perhaps elm. In my home country of Poland we have quite a few of them. Australia, my second country, has possibly the hardest woods one can find on this earth. And Japan, my third country, surprised me with cherry trees. I jad no idea that cherry can be so hard and so bloody heavy. I remember a low Japanese table we used in the tatami room on special occasions which required two or three strong people to move, and it cost about a million yen, or around $10 thousand in those days. I haven’t worked out the Thai trees yet though teak seems to be the most popular here.
Beech is indeed very hard (Janka hardness = 6.460 N to white oak's 5.990 N). When I started out woodworking I was more interested in the 'flashier' species with their striking patterns and burls, but I've come to value boring, old beech for it's many good qualities. It's the cheapest hardwood and I can get it in broad, clear planks. It's very strong, finishes well and a sharp plane will leave a surface like silk. For chairmaking, where I want to highlight the shape of the parts, I don't want any visually distinct grain / open pore (oak, ash etc.) to steal the attention. I've come to like beechwood.
Although beech is not a common tree here in Norway, I can see four or five of them from my desk, out of my balcony door and down the path. Their leaves are hysterically bright green when they first come out in the spring -- makes me happy just to look at them :-)
I've used teak quite a lot, for furniture and boat-work. It is perhaps my favourite wood because of it's rich, brown colour when it mellows (freshly cut it contains a surprising range of colours from pink via yellow to pistachio-green and black). It is also very stable and very rot resistent, easy to work tho' it dulls your tools something awful. But teak has become astronomically expensive! I have 3 quarter-sawn planks squirreled away; they are so valuable that I'm afraid of using them. I'll save them for when I'm a pensioner -- perhaps I'll use them for my own rot-resistant and maggot-proof coffin :-)
That is a lovely beech - straight and free of brackets at the bottom. Pay attention in October for large brackets at the base of the stem as that could indicate Meripilus giganteus, which eradicates root / stems connections. You won't see it until it falls over and in places where beech struggles to thrive it's a common failure. At treeschool there was a woodland full of beech that looked super healthy but every year October proved otherwise. In 2024 a few finally came down and they must have been well over 200 years old.
Congratulations to the Blog Anniversary! I know how much work goes into producing them - and I don't mean just the actual woodworkings!
I love that beech tree - they are exceptional, especially when planted at the side of a private, long, road to an old manor. Even more do I love their first leaves in Spring - they manage to look sun-lit even when there's no sunshine.
Some clever gardener here has planted a row of beech trees along a little snicker going from a road to Llandaff Cathedral, alternating normal, green-leafed beeches with copper beeches. They are beyond beautiful in the morning sunlight.
Still, we're a few weeks away from the time their leaves appear.
Thanks for your work, both in wood and on the blog.
I have one copper beech close by, too. It's very different from the one featured in the post above; It's stout and sprawling. I wrote about it in one of my first blogs, almost three years ago, in another of my 'walk in the neighbourhood-posts': https://walteregon.substack.com/p/its-sunday
Wishing you a good week! (We've suddenly got some snow here ...)
Yes, that's it, precisely - and you can just about make out the slightly darker colour of the copper beeches.
Thankfully we don't have snow - it's been rain and more rain and even more rain since the beginning of the year, but since about yesterday afternoon it's drying, we have weak sunshine and it's mild. The crook are out everywhere, so are the daffodils (very important plant in Wales!) and the camellias are coming out as well.
You have a good and productive week as well - meanwhile, I'll be planning the music 'lecture' for Saturday.
Loved your post. If you ever get tired of carpentry you should seriously consider writing books, you have great style. And taste. Beech in my estimation must be one of the hardest woods in Europe. Not sure if oak is harder or not. Or perhaps elm. In my home country of Poland we have quite a few of them. Australia, my second country, has possibly the hardest woods one can find on this earth. And Japan, my third country, surprised me with cherry trees. I jad no idea that cherry can be so hard and so bloody heavy. I remember a low Japanese table we used in the tatami room on special occasions which required two or three strong people to move, and it cost about a million yen, or around $10 thousand in those days. I haven’t worked out the Thai trees yet though teak seems to be the most popular here.
Oh, you shameless flirt!
Beech is indeed very hard (Janka hardness = 6.460 N to white oak's 5.990 N). When I started out woodworking I was more interested in the 'flashier' species with their striking patterns and burls, but I've come to value boring, old beech for it's many good qualities. It's the cheapest hardwood and I can get it in broad, clear planks. It's very strong, finishes well and a sharp plane will leave a surface like silk. For chairmaking, where I want to highlight the shape of the parts, I don't want any visually distinct grain / open pore (oak, ash etc.) to steal the attention. I've come to like beechwood.
Although beech is not a common tree here in Norway, I can see four or five of them from my desk, out of my balcony door and down the path. Their leaves are hysterically bright green when they first come out in the spring -- makes me happy just to look at them :-)
I've used teak quite a lot, for furniture and boat-work. It is perhaps my favourite wood because of it's rich, brown colour when it mellows (freshly cut it contains a surprising range of colours from pink via yellow to pistachio-green and black). It is also very stable and very rot resistent, easy to work tho' it dulls your tools something awful. But teak has become astronomically expensive! I have 3 quarter-sawn planks squirreled away; they are so valuable that I'm afraid of using them. I'll save them for when I'm a pensioner -- perhaps I'll use them for my own rot-resistant and maggot-proof coffin :-)
Congratulations on the anniversary! I have enjoyed reading your recaps over the past 3 years and look forward to the next.
Thanks! I value your encouragement and appreciate your comments :-)
That is a lovely beech - straight and free of brackets at the bottom. Pay attention in October for large brackets at the base of the stem as that could indicate Meripilus giganteus, which eradicates root / stems connections. You won't see it until it falls over and in places where beech struggles to thrive it's a common failure. At treeschool there was a woodland full of beech that looked super healthy but every year October proved otherwise. In 2024 a few finally came down and they must have been well over 200 years old.
Meripilus giganteus (looked it up on Wiki) ... sounds nasty -- I'll keep an eye on her.
Congratulations to the Blog Anniversary! I know how much work goes into producing them - and I don't mean just the actual woodworkings!
I love that beech tree - they are exceptional, especially when planted at the side of a private, long, road to an old manor. Even more do I love their first leaves in Spring - they manage to look sun-lit even when there's no sunshine.
Some clever gardener here has planted a row of beech trees along a little snicker going from a road to Llandaff Cathedral, alternating normal, green-leafed beeches with copper beeches. They are beyond beautiful in the morning sunlight.
Still, we're a few weeks away from the time their leaves appear.
Thanks for your work, both in wood and on the blog.
"... they manage to look sun-lit even when there's no sunshine." They do!
Since I love to travel using Google Maps, I couldn't resist looking up Llandaff Cathedral and I think I've found your copper beeches: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.4952767,-3.2151534,242m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDIxOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
Between the cricket grounds and the cemetery?
I have one copper beech close by, too. It's very different from the one featured in the post above; It's stout and sprawling. I wrote about it in one of my first blogs, almost three years ago, in another of my 'walk in the neighbourhood-posts': https://walteregon.substack.com/p/its-sunday
Wishing you a good week! (We've suddenly got some snow here ...)
Yes, that's it, precisely - and you can just about make out the slightly darker colour of the copper beeches.
Thankfully we don't have snow - it's been rain and more rain and even more rain since the beginning of the year, but since about yesterday afternoon it's drying, we have weak sunshine and it's mild. The crook are out everywhere, so are the daffodils (very important plant in Wales!) and the camellias are coming out as well.
You have a good and productive week as well - meanwhile, I'll be planning the music 'lecture' for Saturday.