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Steve, our experience with aspen/birch up here is that is definitely does not weather well. 5 years ago I bought a logging truck of aspen for firewood...... all 35 foot lengths. Latigo and Paul cut it into 24" lengths for the firebox, stacked it in the very large woodshed we have and I let it cure that year. We took some of the larger rouonds to town to cut into small planks for laminating. The second year the logs in the woodpile had begun an odd "lightening" and decomposition leaving them unsuitable for the firebox. Ok... so I lost $400 in firewood. I can live with that except we had to burn it all in the field the following year just to get rid of it. However........ A few phone calls that year told me the signs we'd made with the wood as laminates were deteriorating, cracking, checking and softening. In a word.......... Don't use it. Umm... that's 3 words.
P
-------------------- Pierre St.Marie Stmariegraphics Kalispell,Mt www.stmariegraphics.com ------------------ Plan on knowing everything before I die and time's running out! Posts: 4223 | From: Kalispell,Mt 59903 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I wonder if this is one of those woods, like alder, that need to be kiln-dried to work? I mention this because the first carved sign I ever made was kiln-dried alder. That was in 1987, and the sign was outdoors for many years without decaying.
Whether this has anything whatsoever to do with aspen, I have no idea.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Ken Henry Henry & Henry Signs London, Ontario Canada (519) 439-1881 e-mail: kjmlhenry@rogers.com
Why do I get all those on-line offers to sell me Viagara, when the only thing hardening is my arteries ? Posts: 2689 | From: London,Ontario, Canada | Registered: Feb 1999
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Follow all the rules....make sure the cup side faces the sun. Do these boards have a pronounced "flame" pattern on the face? Or is it more quarter sawn? What widths are you looking at and are you gonna buy 4/4 or 5/4?
Hmmm, that's more questions than answers...answer them and I'll give you a better idea. Get a couple out now and in july, you'll have your answer. I'm mostly concerned with stability....
Joe,
Makin Chips and Havin Fun!
-------------------- Joe Cieslowski Connecticut Woodcarvers Gallery P.O.Box 368 East Canaan CT 06024 jcieslowski@snet.net 860-824-0883 Posts: 2345 | From: East Canaan CT 06024 | Registered: Nov 2001
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Have we all missed something here?? Steve is a carver! I can't imagine he's talking about flat signage. If its for carving .......... In a word (thanks David) Itain'tgonnahappeninthislifetime.
P
-------------------- Pierre St.Marie Stmariegraphics Kalispell,Mt www.stmariegraphics.com ------------------ Plan on knowing everything before I die and time's running out! Posts: 4223 | From: Kalispell,Mt 59903 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Pierre, Yes, you are correct, i am a carver and would be using this wood only for small house signs. The western red cedar i can get is 1.75" thick (too thick for a small sign) and i don't want to resaw it or plane it down.
Joe, Thanks for the info - i waded through the forestry report and, as Pierre said, it looks like it's not good for outdoor (i admit i didn't read the entire 19 pages).
Next time i'm at Lowe's i'll check on the quality per your questions above.
in a word, ThanksagainPierreandJoe!
-------------------- Steve Racz Racz's Handcarved Signs Posts: 1078 | From: New Jersey | Registered: Jan 2004
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I have to disagree with your assement for it's use outdoors. Yes it will rot quickly. But you are making a sign with a protective coating (btw, it takes paint very well). Except for the cedars and redwood, all wood will rot in it's natural enviornment. That's why HDU took off!
I wouldn't discard it's use off hand. Ask the yard boys what the people who are buying it are using it for....that might give you a hint.
It is a stable wood once it has been properly dried....which you would expect from a difuse-porous wood. It was actually used as an early veneer core.....that stuff is all over the antique shops!
Your call. I'm sticking with pine.
Joe,
Makin Chips and Havin Fun!
[ January 18, 2007, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Joe Cieslowski ]
-------------------- Joe Cieslowski Connecticut Woodcarvers Gallery P.O.Box 368 East Canaan CT 06024 jcieslowski@snet.net 860-824-0883 Posts: 2345 | From: East Canaan CT 06024 | Registered: Nov 2001
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Aspen is for skiing, not for signs. Uh-huh I got my Peaks Pass last week!
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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