A bygone era of redwood

By Jerry Guin

rTIWENTY-FIVE years ago doesn't

I. seem like such a long time, but the changes during that period in the redwood industry have been phenomenal. I remember my first job behind the sales desk, mesmerized by the knowledge required to present the product. They didn't teach that in school; it was on-the-job training, requiring fast learning and lots ofnote taking.

How could something so simple as a 2x6 be so complicated? But we were talking about redwood, old growth redwood. Size, grade, length and weight are important to any species, but for old growth redwood these factors arejust the beginning.

Let's look at a shipment of 2x6 clear back then, full cut, circle sawn, average length, water content, all factors considered, before the purchase order number was issued. Some mills called full cut 1-718", others net 2". If it was circle sawn (for example, the Dimmick mill at Piercy, Ca.), would there be a saw kerf where the saws met to effect remanufacture? Generally accepted was 5Vo 6',2OVo maximum 10', with 3OVo to 35Vo being 16' to 20', per Redwood Inspection Service rules. Average length was about ll-ll2', despite the exporters pleading for l2-ll2'or more.

The mills devised the water content to determine how long the stock would have to remain on sticks before it could be placed in a dry kiln. The bluish-colored heartwood pieces were considered heavy because they were dense in ring count and loaded with water. They could take as long as two years on sticks before being considered for kiln drying.

Much of the heavy stock was resawn to 1" in order to cut the drying time or sold to an insistent buyer. Medium stock was placed on sticks and could be placed in the kiln within the first year. Light stock was likewise on sticks and could be placed in the kiln, if necessary, after 45 to 60 days air time.

All of the material required wax end sealing to prevent splitting and checking while awaiting kiln drying or shipment.

It was a grand product and interesting, but frenzied procedures were sometimes required to present the product for sale. Slowly, changes began to take place. Someone came up with 1||l16" thickness for green stock. I remember the rhetoric and the added sales pitch when promoting the product.

A nasty name showed up, too: "Second Growth." Very few could really see what was to come. The material was once backed away from like the plague and considered useful only for fencing or deckine on a tem- porary basis.

Look how things have changed. Today old growth is truly a prized product, manufactured with care, much the same as before. Not manyif any - green clears are sold, opting for a finish product instead.

Second growth is not mentioned much, with the emphasis on variety of product line. Redwood is redwood. No need to indicate light, medium or heavy. To cut freight cost, the focus is on volume per load. Producing long lengths is not a problem. In fact, quite often shorts are had only by

Story at a Glance

Redwood veteran recounts vast changes in the business in the last 25 years.

trimming up longs. A saw kerf is referred to only when gauging band saw thicknesses.

End waxing is still used by truly old growth manufacturers, but others have resorted to paint dressing instead. Partial kiln drying (to lSVo) can be done in a short period of time, more or less treated like the light product of the old growth. Due to thicknesses and ease of drying, truckload shipments are double what an old growth product shipped green were. $40 commons and $100 clears are certainly dinosaurs. The biggest manufacturers still guide the prices, but the technology is amazing... headsets, computers, fax machines, handheld computers, cordless phones and an array of other products.

Call me a romantic, but I still like to reminisce of yesteryear. I recall the old mills like Twin Parks, Van de Nor, Archie Smith, Dimmick, Carlotta Lumber, Halvorsen, Morrison and Jackson, not to mention the tiny Gus Peterson and Morgan mud stops. Others like Miller, Simonson, Cal Pacific and Simpson Klamath, not so small, but not so long ago either.

The men who ran them, those who produced the product, those who sold the product are worthy of memory. After all, in 25 years others may look back on today in wonderment.

- Guin is the former sales mgr. of James Redwood Sales, Arcata, Ca.; v.p. and sales mgr., Bracut International, Arcata, and pres., J.L. Guin, Inc., Salyer, Ca.