This process combined with what I call tree poaching, the felling and exportation of choice trees to Japan created a problem. They sold off their wood for money. The final results of slash and burn and the exportation of trees without the insight of proper planning was a shortage of trees. No trees, no wood. No trees, no paper products. I mean they had some trees -- they kept their rubber and palm trees. They had plenty of bamboo, but their best trees were gone. Maybe not all of them, but most. In a society where supply and demand makes the world go around, the local communities could not afford to buy wood. The ripple effect was that nothing was made of wood anymore. I have never seen a wooden residential house in Thailand. They are all concrete. Tables, beds, telephone poles, fences, benches and anything that use to be made of wood is now concrete!
Paper, a bi-product of wood, was also in short supply if available at all. I recall eating out at a neighborhood restaurant where there was only one menu. It was a paper menu that was passed from table to table. Instead of paper napkins there was a roll of toilet paper on each table. It was what it was. Acceptable behavior under these conditions. Paper could be had, I'm sure, but the price was too high to pay.
Here in Connecticut we have our own situation with trees. As I look around we seem to have plenty of trees, but we have been losing them. I live in a house built in 1779. The floors are all wide-board chestnut and white pine, even in the attic. These trees were overharvested to the point where you can't get them anymore. They were old growth -- big, tall and really old trees. Blight killed off the chestnut trees in the early 1960s. No one seems to know what happened to the white pine trees that used to grow down around the bogs in North Windham. The white birch, which needed cold weather to thrive, was wiped out in the 1970s by too many years of warm weather. It all adds up.
The woods that we are left to build with are mostly pine, Douglas fir, spruce and hemlock. That's it. If we want yellow pine we need to have it brought up from the South. The red cedars used to be plentiful, but if you want it now it's going to cost you, because it comes from the West Coast.
During World War II, in an effort to be resourceful, the common 2" by 4" was shaved down to 1-1/2" by 3-1/2". Sizes stayed the same after the War but prices continued to rise. As recently as 10 years ago all our 1" by's were shaved down. Example: A 1" by 10" board was trimmed down to a 3/4" by 9-1/4". So, we are getting less wood and it's costing us more money. The concept of supply and demand is alive and doing well.
Getting back to the woods that are no longer available or too expensive, we're left with the process of elimination. What are we using? Have you considered putting in new wood flooring lately? If so, how do you like your choices? All kinds of materials are available that simulate wood. Most people go for the laminate. If you want a real wood floor, get ready for the pieces that look like scraps. You will have to settle for short lengths. Back in the day you could go 24" wide and 24' in length if you chose to do so. All we are left here with are remnants and memories...
My neighbor Henry, a home builder and woodworker all of his life, suggested that when a tree is taken down a sapling be planted in its place. That'll help but won't solve the problem by itself. What I would like to see are some salvage yards where a fellow can be paid for bringing in his used wood and wood products for resale instead of paying a fee at the dump to have the wood destroyed.
We are using our wood faster than we can grow it. I don't think we will ever be faced with what Thailand experienced, but with our wood becoming scarce and the prices going through the roof, the handwriting is on the wall and to me it looks like graffiti...
Jimmy Halloran is Co-Owner of ConnecticutHandiworks.com, an online retailer featuring handcrafted items made in Connecticut
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