A closer look at the gums

I lthough they may grow side by llside in many swampy, lowland areas of the southern and eastern U.S.. the gums are very different trees, and each produces two different types of wood.

Story at a Glance

American red gum's heartwood and sapwood marketed separately under different names, as are tupelo gum and black gum.

While most of the commercial production of American red gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) centers in the lower Mississippi Valley, the hardwood is found throughout the South and East. as well as in Mexico and Central America.

The tree grows from medium size to large, 80 to 100 ft. tall, with a long smooth bole of two to five feet in diameter. It grows best in low-lying land that is liable to flooding. The tree produces a vanilla-scented gum or resin, which was once used in medicine and perfume.

The heartwood and sapwood are marketed separately. The heartwood typically is sold as red gum, but also known in various areas as gum, sweet gum, southern gum, hazelwood, and in Britain, misleadingly, as satin walnut.

The well-defined heartwood is reddish-brown with a satin luster and dark streaks creating a mottled or marbled appearance. It has a fine, even, uniform texture and, in general, an irregular, interlocking grain that gives a striped figure to a quartered surface.

The heartwood is moderately heavy, about the same as soft maple, and, while not exceedingly strong, is often selected for its attractive figure. After seasoning, its average density is about 35 lbs. per ft. The wood has a very low steam bending rating and dries quickly with a strong tendency to warp and twist, so it requires great care in drying to avoid degradation. It is especially susceptible to atmospheric changes when in use and tends to shrink, swell, twist or split, often exceedingly, but quarter sawn boards are less liable to distort in service.

The wood works easily with both hand and machine tools, offering only slight resistance to cutting edges. It nails, screws, glues and stains well, and can be brought to a smooth, superb finish.

Non-durable, it is subject to insect attack. The heartwood is somewhat resistant to preservative treatment, but the sapwood is permeable.

Red gum is used both inside and outside the home, for less expensive furniture, doors, interior trim, joinery, cabinets, plus wooden dishes and fruit boxes. Supplies of veneer (sliced, rotary) are plentiful, with lumber available.

The sapwood is marketed as sap gum, but also identified in the United Kingdom as hazel pine. It is wide and creamy or pinkish white in color, often blued by sap stains. The pattern is weak, usually watery. Although similar to the heartwood in characteristics. it is not as durable.

It is used for interior plywood, furniture, including tv cabinets, and architectural woodwork. It is among the nation's most widely used species for veneer and is available in abundant quantities for both rotary veneer and lumber.

In the form of lumber, veneer and plywood this species is useful for a wide range of purposes, notably for furniture and interior woodwork, boxes, crates and pallets and dry cooperage. It is also used for pulp.

Tupelo, the other southern and eastern swamp tree, comes as tupelo gum (Nyssa aquatica), also called bay poplar or water tupelo, and black gum (Nyssa sylvatica), or black tupelo. Both are tall, growing up to about 100 ft., with a straight bole, a little larger than 2 ft. in diameter, but buttressed at the base.

Yellow to pale brown in color, the wood frequently has darker patches but is generally somewhat featureless. With a fine, even texture, it has indistinct annual rings and an irregular and often interlocked grain, which is tough and not inclined to split.

Years ago, the wood was troublesome due to its interlocking grain creating a tendency to warp or twist. But modern drying techniques and extra care have minimized these objections, and the species' workability rates good to excellent.

The wood is moderately light in weight, particularly tupelo gum, which tends to be softer and more open in texture than black gum. When swollen, wood from the tree's base may be exceptionally light.

Tupelo dries readily with a marked tendency to distort. It is not a strong wood, but black gum is noted for its resistance to splitting. Although soft and light, it is difficult to work and because of the irregular grain it takes care to produce a good finish. Durability is low in conditions favoring decay.

A general purpose wood used in the solid, it is often rotary-peeled for veneer and plywood. The better grades are used extensively by the furniture industry, while the lower grades end up in wirebound boxes and other shipping containers.

Other uses include interior joinery, fixtures, moulding, novelties, hardwearing flooring and pressure treated railway ties. It also is used as a plywood core veneer.

Support

Support is an area where Dimensions excels! With the highest ratio of support people to customers in the industry, Dimensions is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! IBM on-site support is always included and is the most cost effective on the market.

Training

Bruce Hiller TRAINING MANAGER

Lumber

Dimensions' employee for 5 years

. MBA

We want to see you get the most out of your Dimensions system and the best way to do that is through training. We provide local advanced training classes throughout the United States, classroom training monthly and a national Users' Conference every year.

Retaifers

Ace Hardware is opening a lurnber & building materials office this summer in Phoenix, Az ...

Bay Central Lumber Co., Torrance, Ca., has closed after 36 years in business

Ziegler Lumber Co. will add storc#M in July in Ontario, Or. ...

Arcadia Lamber Co. hasclosed its La Verne, Ca.,location and will shutter its main yard in Arcadia, Ca., at the end of May after 58 years in business

Serra Building Materials, Capistrano Beach, Ca., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize ...

Tualatin Valley Builders Sunply has begun converting three rirbri of its stores to the HWI Do-it Express format: Salem, Lake Oswego and Astoria, Or. ...

Coast to Coast Hardware, Healdsburg, Ca., has closed after 30+ years due to warehouse competition ...

Parr Lumber, Portland, Or., purchased a site in Newbere. Or.. for its 12th store

La Mesa Lumber Co.,LaMesa, Ca., is enlarging its hardware department by reducing office space, doubling its inventory

Grossmanb will close its 60 stores in the Northeast over the next six months, but will continue operating its "15 Contraetors' Warehouse outlets in the West ...

Home Depotopened a 103,000sq. ft. store with 28,0ffi-sq. ft. garden center in Bothell, Wa., and a relocation in Mesa, Az.; is building a 130,000-sq. ft.unit in south Fverett, Wa.; agreed to a 2&year lease on 10.2 acres to relocate its Huntington Beach, Ca., store, and is buying nearly 20 acres in

ffil.gfl,ri?,ihtJli:H: den center...

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Home Depot abandoned olans for a store iri north Spgkang, Wa., rather than provide required road improvements, and was denied its request for an expedited planning process for a proposed store in northern Santa Rosa, Ca.; last fall Home Depot dropped plans to oust 200 senior citizens from a local mobile home park, while the city council granted Yardbirds a speedy processing of plans to replace its local store with a new 70,ffi0-sq. ft. unit ...

Wholesalers & Manufacturers feld-Wen, Klamath Falls, Or., has agreed to acquire Norco Windows, Boise, Id., from Trrs Joist MacMillan, Boisei a bindine contract is expected in mid-Ma! for an early July close ...

Oregon Strand Board Co., Brownsville, Or., a Jeld-Wen slbsidiary, has changed its name to Advanced Wood Resources ...

South Bay Forest Prod"ucts, Orange, Ca., is seeking a joint venture pafiner or to sell the company outright; the mill facility may be sold/leased ils a separate entity ...

Agate Scles has been sold by Randy Blakemore to Pacific Crest Door Co., owned by his brother, Rick Blakemore; both companies are on a 10-acre site in Grass Valley, Ca. ...

T.M. Cobb has relocated its Irvine, Ca., facility to larger quarters in Santa Ana, Ca.

C e rtainTe e d Co rp. has acquired the assets of vinyl door and window producer Insulate Industries, 12c., Auburn, 'Wa., to be operated as a joint venture by co-f6unders Annette Edwards, now pres., and Garry Wamsley v.p.-operations ...

('ntn'tt

1^'.r'nrirrrcrrtly close its Albeni Falls, ld., srrwrni[[ ftrne 30 and place the facility up for sale due to inefficient equip- rneit.;.

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Summit .Hardwoods, Inc.Pomona, Ca.i is the new narne foi J ohnston Hardwood Lumb er& PtXwood Inc. ,..

Hoouer Treatqd Wood Products now has a World Wide Web site at http:/ ilww.hooverfrtw,com

Central l-ane Building Supply is ;f;

Columbia Forest Products, Portland, Or., agreed to Durchase the assets of daiville irlvwood Corp., with two plants in Danville, Va., and a mill in DeQueen, Ar.

Chozen Trucking moved frorn Garden4 Ca., to Carson, Ca.

ChemRex will add a 150,000sq. ft. polyurethane mfg. plant nearDenver, Co., by mid-l997

B oral Conc ret e P roduc ts, Newport Beach, Ca., has changed its name to Boral Lifetile Inc. ...

James Hardie fiber cement siding is now canied at all 49 Weyerhaeuser DCs in North America ...

GAF and Bird Corp.were questioned in the U.S. Jristice Deianment's investigation of posiible anticompetitive practices in the asphalt shingle roofing industry

Housing starts in IVIarch (latest figs.) slipped 3.9Vo to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.45 million, the steepest decline in a year, due to a double-disit drop in multi-family statts.

Louisiana-Pacific Settles Glass Action Suit

The U.S. District Court in Portland, Or., has approved the settlement of a class action suit concerning Louisiana-Pacific's OSB siding, replacing L-P's limited warranty with an enhanced seven-year claims procedure managed by an independent claims administrator.

L-P will pay $215 million, with the option of adding up to $50 million more in each of the sixth and seventh years, ifnecessary. After seven years, if unfunded claims remain, L-P may pay the claims over the following two years or allow the claimants to seek further legal action.

According to the agreement, class members with damaged L-P siding can have their homes inspected by an independent third-party adjuster. Based on the findings, the fund will disburse a cash settlement covering the replacement cost plus labor, adjusted by a factor determined by the age of the damaged boards. The settlement applies to all L-P siding installed before Jan. l,1996.

L-P's OSB siding has been installed on more than 800,000 homes. To date, about 215,000 people have re- quested information on joining the class action suit. Many of the 1,300 people who decided not to join the group will likely pursue individual settlements.

"We're pleased that the court has approved this settlement," said L-P chairman and c.e.o. Mark A. Suwyn. "It provides homeowners with a fair resolution if their L-P siding is damaged and keeps them from being bogged down in a litigation battle that could have lasted for vears."

Home Depot To Add 90 ln '96

Home Depot plans to open 90 stores during fiscal 1996, including 29 stores in the Northeast, 25 in the Southeast, 14 in the West, 17 in the Midwest and five in Canada, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

In the fiscal year ending Jan.28, the company added 83 stores, including 2O in the Northeast, 22 in the Southeast, 16 in the Midwest and 16 in the West. Since 1990. it has increased its store count by an average of 24Vo annually.

Home Depot currently operates 423 stores in 31 states, with about half of its units in California, Georgia, Texas and Florida. Despite adding the greatest number of stores this year in the Northeast, spokesman Jerry Shields says long-term expansion will concentrate in the Midwest.

"The United States has more trees, more total acres of forest, and more total standing volume now than it had 70 years ago."

New Denver Area HomeBase

HomeBase has opened its fifth Denver area warehouse, a 109,505-sq. ft. store with 22,880-sq. ft. nursery in Highlands Ranch, Co,

The grand opening was held April 13. Wayne Adams is manager.