My old computer coughed and choked on Google and so I abandoned 2 bogs I started here.  Couldn't ever get the old box to cooperate, so after way too much time I got a new box.  I have returned to the old Google account to see that some folks posted on those blogs and are most likely wondering what happened too the owner (me).  I also see that Google has this new format mostly inspired by the work of Zuckerman, who's ideas I find very inspiring, so I'll jump in.

In my absence from Google I have published lots of info on Facebook, which I will refer to as FB from here on.  You can follow my projects there on several pages.  Personal page is "Larry Dee Church".  See also "Technician Larry" and Oregon Territory Tree Parts" (on FB).

Rail and post stock - Douglas Fir

Some of the third growth Douglas Fir forests planted in our area had better than expected survival rate of the seedlings. The resulting dense stand of young conifers compete for a space in the top of the canopy where the the direct sunlight promotes rapid growth of the strongest trees. The losers of this race die a slow death and then remain standing while the wood drys and seasons. Eventually nature knocks these trees to the forest floor where the rot and decay process accelerates radically, but for the first couple of years the seasoning process sometimes produces very interesting results.

Since these trees died from losing the race for sunlight, the last few years of their life resulted in very slow to extremely slow growth. As shown in the photo, this 22 year old, 5" diameter Doug Fir tree produced only 1/16" of radius growth in its last three years of life, and the late wood to early wood ratio is greater than one (>1). Consequently this wood is very dense and stable, and when left dead standing in the forest, shaded from direct sunlight, with the bark intact; conditions can be optimized for those interesting results.

Update

My old computer coughed and choked on Google and so I abandoned 2 bogs I started here.  Couldn't ever get the old box to cooperate, so after way too much time I got a new box.  I have returned to the old Google account to see that some folks posted on those blogs and are most likely wondering what happened too the owner (me).  I also see that Google has this new format mostly inspired by the work of Zuckerman, who's ideas I find very inspiring, so I'll jump in.

In my absence from Google I have published lots of info on Facebook, which I will refer to as FB from here on.  You can follow my projects there on several pages.  Personal page is "Larry Dee Church".  See also "Technician Larry" and Oregon Territory Tree Parts" (on FB).