Wood & Facts, Facts About Wood & Trees Part 2
Posted: Sunday, March 26, 2006
by Johnny {J W} Morlan
J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
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I have more than 21 years of experience working with wood and have worked more than 500 different species of wood. I normally keep more than 125 species in stock. I have studied hundreds of woodworking magazine articles and more than 230 books on woodworking by as many as 190 authors. In addition I have studied numerous books and magazine articles on art, business, marketing, advertising and webmastering. I consult with both individuals and companies {World Tree Technologies, Impact Group New York, & B. K. Brown Designs} on the best wood, procedures and finishing techniques to use in the production of their wooden projects or products and how to advertise their products. For several years, I have complied facts on wood and trees. Here are 79 that I will share with you. There are 39 on this page and 40 on Wood & Facts, Facts About Wood & Trees 1. I add to and update it frequently. Some are pretty astounding. | ||
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* The world's largest living tree, and this is because of its volume is the General Sherman Giant Sequoia {Sequoia gigantea}, located in Sequoia National Park, in California. It is believed to be approximately 2,100 years old. It weighs a little over 2.7 million pounds and its largest branch is 6 foot 9 1/2 inches in diameter. At 120 foot above the ground, its trunk is still over 17 feet in diameter. It is estimated that it contains 600,000 board foot of lumber. Its trunk by itself, weighs approximately 1400 tons. Its champion tree score is 1321 points. A trees score is determined by adding 3 measurements together, circumference in inches, measured at 4 1/2 feet above ground level {1 point for each inch}, height in feet {1 point for each foot in height}, and one-fourth of the crown spread. Add together the widest crown spread {nearest foot}, and the narrowest crown spread {nearest foot}, then divide by two to get the average ground spread, then divide by 4. * The state with the most registered national champion trees {largest of a particular species} is Florida with 163. * There are 23 names of trees {below} mentioned in the Bible. The one passage, Isaiah 41:17-20 has seven trees mentioned in it. It reads I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Acacia - {Acacia confusa} - Isaiah 41:17 - 20 * There are no leaves, just thorns on the Saguaro Giant Cactus tree {Carnegiea gigantea}. The tallest one is located in the Sonoran Desert, in the Cave Creek Complex, Maricopa County, Arizona. It is approximately 45 foot 3 inches tall and 3 foot 3 inches in diameter. On June 21, 2005 it was injured in a fire started by lightning. It takes almost 10 years for this species of tree to reach 1 inch in height and approximately 75 years to begin to grow branches {limbs}. It produces dark red colored egg shaped fruit and it blooms in May and June, producing approximately 3 inch in diameter whitetish flowers with yellowish centers. In one out of approximately 200,000 Saguaro Giant Cactus trees, the top produces a mutation, making a crest called a cristate. * The definition {below} of the word tree varies among experts. Actually, the exact number of tree species worldwide is unknown. If we go with definition # 5, there are approximately 2,600. I f we go with definition # 1, there are at least 21,000 and if we go with definition #6, there would be 50,000 to as many as 100,000. 1 A woody plant growing on a single stem usually to a height of over two meters {approximately 6 foot 6 3/4 inches}. 2 A tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown includes both gymnosperms {conifers} and angiosperms {flowering}. 3 A perennial woody plant having a main trunk and usually a distinct crown usually over 10 foot tall. 4 In arboricultural terminology, the definition of tree is a woody plant with one main trunk and a rather distinct and elevated head {crown}. If not altered through human intervention, true trees (such as elm trees) will, by definition, generally reach a height of 15 feet or more. 5 Any perennial woody plant of considerable size (usually over twenty feet high) and growing with a single trunk. 6 A woody perennial plant having a single usually elongate main stem generally with few or no branches on its lower part. 7 A woody plant at least 5 meters {16 foot 4 3/4 inches} high with a main stem the lower part of which is usually unbranched. 8 A very tall plant that is mostly wood, except for its leaves. 9 A tree is a woody plant with a single erect perennial trunk at least 3 inches in diameter at breast height {DBH). Most trees have definitely formed crowns of foliage and attain heights in excess of 13 feet. 10 A tree can be defined as a large, perennial woody plant. * The Longleaf Pine {Pinus palustris}, native to the southern part of the United States, does not have heartwood until it is 18 or so years old. * The town of Flagstaff Arizona was named when On July 4th 1876 lumberjacks stripped the limbs from the tallest Ponderosa Pine {Pinus ponderosa} tree and then flew the American flag from it. * One acre of full-grown medium sized trees removes approximately 6 tons of pollution from the air each year. | ||
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* One acre of average sized trees creates enough oxygen yearly to sustain 18 people. * The Oak {Quercus spp.} as of November 2004, is the official National tree of the USA as it is Germany's and Great Britain's. It is also the species of tree that is struck by lightning the most. * The tree that has traveled the farthest distance to be transplanted to date is a London Plane {Platanus acerifolia}, nicknamed Plane Ace. It was moved from Belgium and was replanted in the United Kingdom in January 2001. At the time, it was approximately 60 years old and almost 58 foot tall. * The tallest tree to date to be transplanted was the 30 year old Silver Birch {Betula pendula}, which was moved from William Garfit's nursery in Cambridge and was replanted at a lifestyle housing development in the south London suburb of Deptford. At the time, it was almost 64 foot tall. * The Copaiba {Copaifera langsdorfii} nicknamed the Diesel Tree, grows in the Amazon of South America particularly in Brazil, and produces oleoresin called copaiba that is so much like diesel fuel, that it can be used as fuel for diesel engines. On average a mature tree can produce approximately 14 gallons of diesel per year. * If you burn Ceylon Satinwood {Chloroxylon swietenia}, the fumes will put humans to sleep and kill canaries. * Purpleheart {Peltogyne pubescens} wood can be made to become a darker shade of purple in two ways. One is by placing it in direct sunlight, and this will only darken the color superficially, it can be sanded off very easily. The second way, is by heating it, at say 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 - 12 minutes. This will darken the color, not only on the surface but also throughout the whole piece. * A Balsa tree {Ochroma pyramidale}, will start rotting after only 7 years, if not cut. | ||
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* For every 10,000 acorns that an Oak tree {Quercus spp.} produces, only one will become a tree! * The world's rarest tree is the lone Paarijat located in the Barolia village close to Ramnagar in the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is 45 foot tall and approximately 27 foot in diameter and during the month of August blooms white flowers. * The largest known Alpine Ponderosa Pine {Pinus ponderosa} forest in the world is located on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. * In a 25 acre plot of rain forest on the island of Borneo, approximately 700 different species of trees can be found. * Approximately 1,182 different species of trees can be found in the United States. * The only species of wood that can be used for holding liquids {other than acids} is White Oak {Quercus alba}. This is because the pores are filled with tyloses. This substance does not allow liquids to penetrate it. It is used to make barrels for Whiskey, Sherry and in general for ageing fine wines. Hence, one of its names is Stave Oak. * The world's most massive tree trunk size ever recorded was the Lindsey Creek Coast Redwood {Sequoia sempervirens), in California. It was blown down in a storm in 1905. It had a total trunk volume of 90,000 cubic foot and a total mass weight of 3,248 tons, a little short of 6.5 million pounds. * Since the early 1940's, the United States has been planting more trees than it harvests and today, has far more trees than in the 1920's. | ||
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* The wood species that has the most offensive odor {like rotten cabbage} after it is worked in any way, is Esia {Combretodendron macrocarpum}. * The Coastal Redwood tree Sequoia sempervirens}, has winged shaped seeds. On average, the number of seeds per pound is approximately 120,000. * Some African Baobab {Adansonia digitata} trees can store more than 25,000 gallons {in weight, approximately 100 tons} of water in their trunks. Also, some with age have become hollow and have been used as homes. One was even used as a bus stop and could shelter up to 30 people. * Empress {Paulownia spp.} trees produce 3 to 4 times more oxygen than any other known tree. * Cork trees {Quercus suber}, are stripped of their bark every 10 years or so and will continue to grow for 150 years or more. * The Manchineel tree {Hippomane mancinella}, native to the Caribbean coast and the Florida Everglades, is the most dangerous tree specie on earth. It has had an evil reputation since the Spanish explorers first found it in the early 16th century. The tree exudes an extremely poisonous and caustic sap that was once used on the tips of arrows for poison. Contact with skin causes numerous blisters, a very small amount gets in an eye, it can blind a person permanently, and one bite of the fruit can make one deathly sick. * In the Wasatch Mountains located in Utah, there exists a tree network of Quaking Aspen, (Populus tremuloides), growing from a single root system. It is genetically uniform and acts as a single life form, thus changing the color and shedding the leaves of all the trees in unison. The entire system covers approximately 106 acres and weighs about 6600 tons. * Rubber trees {Ficus populnea}, on the average yield about 4-5 pounds of rubber per year. | ||
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* A Sugar Maple tree {Acer saccharum} can produce approximately 3 gallons of sap a day. To make just one quart of maple syrup, it takes 11-13 gallons of sap. * The softest American wood is the Corkbark Fir {Abies lasiocarpa}. It's specific gravity averages .28. It is native to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. * The hardest American wood is Black Ironwood {Krugiodendron ferreum}. It's specific gravity averages 1.16. It is native to southern Florida. * A solitary Norwegian Spruce tree {Picea excelsa} on Campbell Island in the Pacific is the most isolated tree on earth. The next nearest tree to it, is located on the Auckland Islands, over 120 miles away. * Ginkgo {Ginko biloba} is the world's oldest living tree species. It has been found numerous times in sedimentary rocks of the Jurassic and Triassic Periods (135-210 million years ago) when dinosaurs roamed the earth. At one time, thought to be extinct, the species was proliferated from 7 trees that were discovered in an ancient monastery in China. Years later, there were some found growing wild in the isolated valleys of eastern China. * It is often said, that Pink Ivorywood trees {Rhammnus zeyheri} are rarer than diamonds. * To build a 2000 square foot house takes approximately 16,000 board foot of lumber {wood}. (NAHB}, National Association of Home Builders, March 2005. Revised By Harry J. Hobbs Answers To 1001 Questions |