SEVENTH IN A SERIES ON HARDWOODS Developing California hardwoods

By Jock tl. Higgins

fornia. Only a few, however, are suitable for commercial use. The same hardwoods that produce fine lumber in other parts of the country, not'mally, do not develop a good product here. Soil and climate conditions in most areas of the state restrict the growth of hardwood trees, making them impractical for use as saw-logs.

Until recently, the big softwood operators regarded hardwoods as a nuisance and the Forest Service used to spend money to poison young black oak trees, thus encouraging the growth of cedar, pine, and fir on lands that were being used in re-forestation.

Attempts to harvest the various California hardwoods were not profitable on a largescale until about 1965. The large firms tried to handle it the same as they did softwoods and ended up with too much low grade, and a high percehtage of fall down from.the drying process. Through the years some small operators have been successful with limited quantities of hardwoods, such as, madrone. laurel, white oak, alder, walnut, maple, buckeye and sycamore, that could be used for mill work, furniture or novelty items. However, most of.

' About the Author

I*k Higgins is a third generation Calilornian with 25 years, experience . with I. E. Higgins Lumber Co. ol

San Franchco. The firm is currently celebrating its 90th year in business.

Story dI s Glonce

Recent yeors hove seen much progress in profitoble utilizotion of Colifornio hordwoods . . . block ook hos become o voluqble ond versqtile oddition to the morkelploce . now, oiher species ore on the woy.

During the last few years great progress has been made toward the profitable utilization of several hardwood species. Mainly through the efforts of forester Guy Hall and'sawmill operator John Holland, the first California hardwood that has been produced properly into fine lumber in large quantities is black oak (Quercus Kelloggi).

This specie grows best between 2500' & 4500' elevation in the Sierras, but good trees are also found in the foothills all around the northern perimeter of the Sacramento Valley.

Black oak is an extremely versatile wood. The low grade makes excellent pallet stock, strong and durable. The clears that develop go into architectural mill work, cabinets, and furniture. It is very similar in appearance and workability to Appalachian white oak, the finest and most expensive of our domestic oaks.

Tan oak, which seems to do best along the coast range, although not a true oak in the botanical sense, has great possibilities. The name comes from the use of its bark, which was used for tanning leather many years ago. It is a dense, strong wood used mostly in the past for industrial purposes, such as truck body flooring. The Arcata Redwood Co. has been experimenting for many years with Tan oak and will soon have some on the market that they hope will be suitable for various interior as well as exterior uses.

It appears as if California walnut cannot be made into good lumber. However, walnut logs are being shipped out of state to veneer mills in increasing quantities. Comparatively small amounts of white oak cut along the coast range have been manufactured successfully into baseball bats, for use in the big leagues.

A highly specialized firm in Santa Rosa, Calico Hardwood Inc., turns out beautiful gun-stocks using several species of California hardwoods as raw material.

,VIONEY TO BE MADE

It is the writer's opinion that money can be made from California hardwoods only if they are treated right from the start as hardwoods. Too many western operators, large and small, with softwood backgrounds, have not done the proper research bef,ore cutting the various hardwood species into lumber. The sawing, gradingo marketing, drying, tallying and logging is difierent from softwoods.

Hopefully, the success of black oak will pave the way for more profitable utilization of other California hard. woods. Tan oak and alder appear to be the best prospects at this time to become accepted in the market, but only if they are produced properly by dependable shippers.