If your yard has an ash tree that appears weak, perhaps dropping leaves or developing odd holes in the bark, there’s a good bet a minuscule bug is the culprit. The insect is the emerald ash borer, which has become…
Many woodworkers remember the first time they cut into red gum wood. From the outside, the wood may look plain. But once the saw cuts through it, beautiful deep red colors appear. You may also see soft grain patterns and…
Ask most woodworkers to name a few species of wood and they can rattle off oak, walnut, or teak in short order. These types of woods are very generic and available often. However, ask anyone outside the Caribbean about blue…
Walk through the neighborhoods of Georgia, Louisiana, or Mississippi, or the Carolinas, for that matter, and you could no doubt encounter a water oak. It blends in. It grows fast. It throws generous shade. It feeds wildlife year after year.…
When you walk through an old forest in the eastern United States, you may see a tree that stands out from the rest. Its trunk is thick and strong. The bark is light gray and feels a little rough. The…
Osage orange wood is one of those materials that quietly outperforms almost everything around it. It boasts high hardness, high durability, good natural resistance to rotting, and it burns hotter than practically all other North American firewood. However, beyond fence…
There’s is a reason why sandalwood has been loved for thousands of years. This fragrance is warm, creamy, slightly sweet, and grounding. It doesn’t strike you hard like many modern-day perfumes do. Instead, it settles in slowly. It stays. Walk…
Walk through an old forest in the eastern United States and you might see a tree that looks like it’s wearing a rough, peeling coat. Long strips of bark curl away from the trunk, hanging loose like wooden ribbons. That…
If you walk through an oak-hickory forest in the eastern United States, you might be standing under a Mockernut Hickory tree and not even know it. It does not have bright flowers or bark that peels in big strips. It…
One of the most mysterious materials mentioned in the Bible is Gopher wood. It appears only once; in the story of Noah’s Ark in Genesis 6: 14. Gopher wood is one of the most mysterious materials mentioned in the Bible. It…
