Randy Stribling wouldn't dream of making furniture out of endangered teak or Brazilian rosewood - but he doesn't mind if it looks like it.
The longtime Bellingham woodworker recently tested a new product called Alowood, developed by the Whatcom County-based company Chemco. The wood has the grain, color and strength of the hands-off hardwoods, but it's made from soft, farmed trees that grow like weeds.
"It was really nice to work with. It cuts nicely and cleanly," Stribling said. "A big part of why I like it is it's plantation grown. ... In the future, if we can get enough people using it, we can stop tearing down forests."
The product is manufactured by pumping soft, radiata pine full of a corn-starch-based hardener. Chemco uses the same technique and equipment to treat wood with nontoxic fire retardant, the company's primary business, said General Manager Jim Brydon.
Chemco only uses wood that is certified as meeting the environmental standards of the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council.
Inside a large warehouse structure at the plant on Grandview Road, tidy stacks of bright 1-inch by 6-inch boards sat in a row waiting for treatment.
The stacks would be rolled into a large steel tube resembling the boiler of a steam locomotive. Workers would close the hatch to seal the tube and create a vacuum to open the wood's pores.
Then they flood the tube with the hardening agent and a water-based dye under high pressure. That forces the hardener and color into the wood. The process takes a few hours, depending on the dimensions of the wood.
Forcing the dye through the wood prevents scuffs and gouges from showing, Brydon said.
GOING GREEN
Alowood may be new, but Chemco isn't. The company has been in business since 1979 and employs about 73 people.
Until 1999, the company treated wood with a highly toxic preservative that contained arsenic, said David Plenkovich, director of sales and marketing.
Recognizing the environmentally hazardous nature of the preservative, managers changed the operation to treating wood with nontoxic fire retardant, Plenkovich said.
The wood is sold in places that have high wildfire danger such as California, Eastern Washington, Montana and Idaho. It sells a large amount of the product in Japan.
The company started selling Alowood commercially about a year ago, mostly in Japan where it already has business ties. Alowood recently became available at Windsor Plywood in Bellingham.
Windsor employee Matt Campbell said a number of people have expressed interest in the new product, but it's new enough that not much has sold.
An 8-foot 1-by-6 board sells for $28, a little less than cherry or oak, Campbell said.
It is available in varying degrees of hardness and a number of colors.
WOODWORKER'S PRAISE
Stribling, who has been working with wood for 33 years, said the appearance of Alowood mimics expensive and rare hardwoods.
"It has a lot of depth and a three-dimensional quality, which you don't find with wood that's just stained," he said. "It has variations of colors like natural wood."
And he likes that he can breathe while he's working with it.
"I have worked with pressure-treated lumber that's really toxic. It's really hard to work with because of the skin and throat irritants," he said. "I'm glad that with this stuff, they're thinking about the end user. ... I'm really impressed, and I've worked with a lot of different kinds of wood in my life."The Bellingham Herald
