So last week, like many of us, I was away on vacation. My wife and I took off to the wilds of Algonquin Park for some canoeing and random moose sightings. It was a chance to get away from it all, leave things like work, especially work, behind. I was quite surprised that on the third day into our week-long trip, I ran into something that smacked of my day job. At the start of a 850 m portage from Misty Lake to the Petawawa River, we found a 50″-diameter saw. I figure it was a remnant of a logging/milling operation. How about you? Any theories as to how this big blade came to intrude on my vacation bliss?
Credit: Mussels/Flickr
Are you allergic to certain species of wood? If you are, I’d like to hear about it. You see, CHW is working on an article on wood allergies, and we’d like to include your experiences.
- How do you react to certain species?
- How did you discover your allergy?
- How do you cope with it in the shop?
Please post your comments to his blog entry.
I stopped by the Exotic Woods Inc. booth today and chatted with Mel Hordyk. He had some very nice wood, from cocobolo to ziricote. I told him I was especially interested in the environmental and social ethics behind such products. For example, how do I know that the wood is harvested in such a way that it doesn’t exploit the land or the workers?
Mel mentioned that FSC certification is a place to start, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you look for. It’s best to talk to the seller about the wood and simply ask about where it came from. You can learn a lot from the responses you get.
I really identified with Mel’s philosophy. He said, “I don’t get ethically sourced wood to ease my conscience, I buy it because it’s the right thing to do.”
