Ilene wonders, "If someone could now tell me why I used conventional, 
off-the-shelf white pine six years ago to my replace rotted column bases 
that were originally old-growth Michigan white pine, I'd like to know. 
Bad decision...I knew better, but I went with what seemed logical and 
convenient at the time.<<

I have been trying to figure this out too, and simply specifying or 
selecting mahogany is not the answer. In this past year I have seen two 
cases where mahogany column plinths have rotted out, one they were 
installed in the 1970s, and the other in the late 1990s. So, like with 
most other exterior wood, long service life depends on the knowledge of 
the woodworker to select the good piece of wood, and not on the simple 
specification of a species.

Unfortunately, as we now know, you used an "off-the-shelf" product that 
was not actually a piece of wood. It was labeled wood, it looked like 
wood, a judge and jury would think it was wood, but it was not actually 
wood. It WAS a wood-like product, designed for just one purpose: to sell 
and get your money. The corporation that made and sold that product does 
not give one whit about your columns or your fine old house. During the 
last ten or twenty years the corporations have changed the definition of 
the word wood, so that the definition does not included anything about 
the durability or suitability of their wood-like products for any 
specific purpose, or in fact, any purpose at all. How do they get us to 
buy their wood-like product? You state the answer to this in your story: 
it is by making it "convenient."

This past few months I have been trying to figure out the "convenience" 
thing. Convenience seems to be a big part of the wool that the 
corporations pull over our eyes to hoodwink us into buying their 
disposable products, whether it is a kleenex, a replacement window or a 
wood-like product.

So, how do you get a piece of real wood? For starters don't try to buy 
it "off-the-shelf" and don't expect to do it conveniently. You will have 
to go out of the way, and around the barn three times to get it. I get 
my real wood by visiting the people I know at the sawmill, and at the 
specialty hardwood dealer. Occasionally I can find a piece of real wood 
at my local lumber yard, but I may have to go there three times and go 
through two stacks of lumber to get it--not convenient, but highly 
effective. How do I know real wood when I see it? It has 15 to 20 or 
more growth rings per inch, it has more heartwood than sapwood, it has 
vertical-grain, or at least rift-grain along the edges of the plank, it 
has more heft (weighs more) that the other boards in the pile. Even 
then, the board or plank is not perfect. As I layout my parts and cut 
them out of the board I eliminate imperfections that would reduce the 
performance of my parts, such as knots, flat-grain, pitch pockets, 
splits and sapwood. In this way I improve the quality the wood every 
time I handle and cut it.

Here is a link to my article, Mr. Baseman, on fabricating column bases 
in the 9/1996 issue of Old-House Journal:
http://tinyurl.com/3qwxk68

Check out pages 2-8 of my publication Exterior Woodwork Details for more 
on wood selection. Also, my Wooden Columns and Wood-Epoxy Repairs 
publications could be useful.
http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/reports/reports.htm

John
by hammer and hand

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