Well, here's one of my (seemingly) three-times-a-year Blogs....having noticed that I hadn't done one for about 6 months - last August, I believe! But things should be better now: our IT department have "simplified" the process of my getting onto the Blog page (because in the past, I've had a tendency to forget the process and then the password - so even if I get 5 minutes to write a Blog, I use the time up trying to remember how to even get started!)
Having got that little admission out of the way, I'd better write something that has some meaningful content to it: so perhaps the upcoming revision of EN 14081-1 (which is the European Structural Timber Grading Standard) may interest a few of you out there?
I have recently been co-opted onto a thing called TC-124, which is the Committee tasked with making recommendations on the UK's behalf for amendments to certain structural timber standards in Europe: and we also have to resist changes being made by other European countries, where we deem those not to be in our interest. And a good example of this is the marking of Strength Graded Timber.
For over 35 years, the UK has insisted every piece of structural timber (floor joists, beams, posts, etc) should be stamped with its grade or Strength Class mark; but certain European countries, who shall be nameless (but one of them has a famous but fictitious detective with a waddling gait and a small waxed moustache: and another has its occupants cycling around in stripy tee shirts with onions hanging off their bikes...), have decided that they do not wish to mark every piece of timber and just want to mark the packaging. That's all very well; but when the pack is opened and the timber distributed and used, who is to say whether an unmarked joist was then ever graded or not?
So we have tried - but failed, I'm afraid - to ban package marking altogether: but we have at least managed to restrict it to packages only ever intended to be delivered to one specific project for one customer: and not for general distribution and resale. So that should prevent unmarked graded timber generally from finding its way into our market and thus into our timber and building industries, here in the UK. One small step for wood, but a moderate leap for woodkind...
Friday 7 March 2014
Thursday 29 August 2013
2 for 1!
Already August - and only the second Blog of 2013...where has the year gone? Well for a start, we've been overseas - both with Certification work and consultancy on Joinery (that was in Grenada, of all places!) And there has been a steady flow of technical work in most of the areas we deal with: flooring, fencing, plywood; with quite an emphasis this year on windows - it's odd how certain things predominate in particular years... for example, a couple of years ago it was scaffold boards.
But the really BIG news of 2013 is the change of Company title and a "split" in our areas of work.
TFT Woodexperts is now a fully-fledged Limited Company in its own right - carrying on with technical site investigations and training work. And Technology For Timber Limited is now exclusively a Certification Body, issuing its Registered Diamond Mark against products which meets exacting Quality Standards and that have been audited by TFT's inspectors.
So from now on, whatever your particular needs, remember:
WOOD TECHNICAL PROBLEMS & TRAINING COURSES
contact "TFT Woodexperts Limited" - telephone +44 (0)1765 601010
TIMBER PRODUCT CERTIFICATION
contact "Technology For Timber Limited" - telephone +44 (0)1765 601551
We look forward to working with you in the years to come.
Jim Coulson, Director
But the really BIG news of 2013 is the change of Company title and a "split" in our areas of work.
TFT Woodexperts is now a fully-fledged Limited Company in its own right - carrying on with technical site investigations and training work. And Technology For Timber Limited is now exclusively a Certification Body, issuing its Registered Diamond Mark against products which meets exacting Quality Standards and that have been audited by TFT's inspectors.
So from now on, whatever your particular needs, remember:
WOOD TECHNICAL PROBLEMS & TRAINING COURSES
contact "TFT Woodexperts Limited" - telephone +44 (0)1765 601010
TIMBER PRODUCT CERTIFICATION
contact "Technology For Timber Limited" - telephone +44 (0)1765 601551
We look forward to working with you in the years to come.
Jim Coulson, Director
Wednesday 13 February 2013
February Already! Whatever happened to a quiet January?
I noticed that I hadn't managed to do a Blog since just before Christmas...it's not that I haven't anything to write about - just that I haven't had time!
The New Year started off with a bang: three consultancy jobs in as many days: and all of them concerning plywood - just as I was saying at the end of 2012: it's been the "Year of the Plywood" and that is still going on. Most of it has concerned flooring: although one case was about so-called "Marine Plywood" which had been used for a shopfitting project externally; and it fell apart, through not being what it claimed to be.
Flooring has also featured in other ways: I have had the third in a series of articles published in the Contract Flooring Journal; and I have just finished an inspection on a badly-laid parquet floor. To say that monkeys could have done a better job is putting it mildly!
February has progressed well so far: the weather notwithstanding; and snow has not stopped our consultants from TFT Woodexperts from investigating many timber problems, in places as far afield as Hampshire, Kent, Hull, Hawick (in the Scottish Borders) and Wensleydale. And we're off to Estonia in just over a week....
Keep the problems coming - and we'll get you the answers!
Jim Coulson
Director, TFT Woodexperts
Sunday 16 December 2012
PLYWOOD - Taking up all my Blogging time!
December already: what a lot's happened since I last posted a Blog! And plywood has been the flavour of the month for at least the past five months...
I've been out to audit a plywood mill in Indonesia: and TFT Woodexperts has now extended its Diamond Marking Scheme to SP 101 Plywood from Indonesia (see our website for an update on that). At home, we've investigated three or four cases of "rubbish" plywood purporting to be either "WBP" or "Marine Ply": and - surprise surprise! - they were not anywhere near the specfication needed to do the job.
I have also given a presentation to the Contract Flooring Association about plywood and what to look for as being a good "model specification" for plywood used as an overlayment on old wood floors. (If you'd like to know more, contact the CFA.)
I haven't much time to write more: but watch out for my articles on plywood in the upcoming issues of the Contract Flooring Journal. And if you need to know more about plywood, or wood in general: don't forget my new book "Wood in Construction: How to avoid costly mistakes" - it makes an ideal Christmas Present!
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our TFT Woodexperts readers!
Jim Coulson
Director
I've been out to audit a plywood mill in Indonesia: and TFT Woodexperts has now extended its Diamond Marking Scheme to SP 101 Plywood from Indonesia (see our website for an update on that). At home, we've investigated three or four cases of "rubbish" plywood purporting to be either "WBP" or "Marine Ply": and - surprise surprise! - they were not anywhere near the specfication needed to do the job.
I have also given a presentation to the Contract Flooring Association about plywood and what to look for as being a good "model specification" for plywood used as an overlayment on old wood floors. (If you'd like to know more, contact the CFA.)
I haven't much time to write more: but watch out for my articles on plywood in the upcoming issues of the Contract Flooring Journal. And if you need to know more about plywood, or wood in general: don't forget my new book "Wood in Construction: How to avoid costly mistakes" - it makes an ideal Christmas Present!
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our TFT Woodexperts readers!
Jim Coulson
Director
Friday 3 August 2012
Catching up and Naming Names
It's August now - time for at least a "monthly" Blog...since July seems to have disappeared without trace!
Some interesting stuff has been dealt with by TFT in the past few weeks: some of it is rather "hush hush" and Confidential stuff, relating to Expert Witness matters that I can't go into here (otherwise I'd have to shoot all of you!); but some of it involved a lot of very good Wood Science and Timber Technology.
Here's question which has come out of our recent work: has anyone heard of a timber called "VEHO"?
We've had a sample sent here for analysis (working properties, etc), which we've done all the tests on; but we can't find any mention of it anywhere under that name - not even on the Web, which is most unusual. The Timber Trade, of course, has a long-established reputation for making up names to help them to sell unusual timbers: but why "Veho"? It doesn't sound like anything else that is already well-known: so why not call it by the name it is usually known by, where it comes from? - which we are told is West Africa. (If it were known by that name in Africa, then SOMEBODY would have written something about it, and posted it onto the Web by now....)
You are probably aware of some names of timbers as used by the Trade in the past, to help promote a wood that was "new" at the time - and which was not what it appeared to be, judging by its "given" Trade Name. "Parana Pine", for example, is not a true Pine at all. Or "Western Red Cedar", which is not related to Cedar (but at least it's a softwood); and "South American Cedar" - which not only isn't a true Cedar, it's also a hardwood! Then there's "Tasmanian Oak" (really a Eucalyptus) and "Douglas Fir" (not a true Fir)...I could go on!
Which is why - to return to my original question - I firmly believe that "Veho" is a made-up name...so if anyone out there in the Blogosphere can help to find out what it REALLY is, I'd be very grateful. Thanks!
Jim Coulson, Director, TFT Woodexperts
Some interesting stuff has been dealt with by TFT in the past few weeks: some of it is rather "hush hush" and Confidential stuff, relating to Expert Witness matters that I can't go into here (otherwise I'd have to shoot all of you!); but some of it involved a lot of very good Wood Science and Timber Technology.
Here's question which has come out of our recent work: has anyone heard of a timber called "VEHO"?
We've had a sample sent here for analysis (working properties, etc), which we've done all the tests on; but we can't find any mention of it anywhere under that name - not even on the Web, which is most unusual. The Timber Trade, of course, has a long-established reputation for making up names to help them to sell unusual timbers: but why "Veho"? It doesn't sound like anything else that is already well-known: so why not call it by the name it is usually known by, where it comes from? - which we are told is West Africa. (If it were known by that name in Africa, then SOMEBODY would have written something about it, and posted it onto the Web by now....)
You are probably aware of some names of timbers as used by the Trade in the past, to help promote a wood that was "new" at the time - and which was not what it appeared to be, judging by its "given" Trade Name. "Parana Pine", for example, is not a true Pine at all. Or "Western Red Cedar", which is not related to Cedar (but at least it's a softwood); and "South American Cedar" - which not only isn't a true Cedar, it's also a hardwood! Then there's "Tasmanian Oak" (really a Eucalyptus) and "Douglas Fir" (not a true Fir)...I could go on!
Which is why - to return to my original question - I firmly believe that "Veho" is a made-up name...so if anyone out there in the Blogosphere can help to find out what it REALLY is, I'd be very grateful. Thanks!
Jim Coulson, Director, TFT Woodexperts
Friday 15 June 2012
Musings on Wood Problems and the Lack of Good Advice
Here at TFT Woodexperts, an incredible variety of topics find their way to us, for our consultants to give their Expert views on, in relation to wood and wood-based products. In the past few months alone, we've been asked to inspect and report on the following range of very different things to do with wood:
Laminate flooring in a restaurant; hoardings and signage used at a construction site; roofing battens imported from Estonia; a cracked butcher's block (made from Beech); decaying oak decking in a forest garden walkway; problems with plywood used for concrete formwork; keruing boards for lorry trailers; the quality of a consignment of Siberian Larch; and graded softwood components destined for a cooling tower in the Middle East. And that doesn't include the work we do on the ongoing Quality Schemes that we've set up in the UK, Latvia & Estonia.
It is perhaps surprising (though not to us at Woodexperts!) just how many different uses there are which wood gets put to: and of course, each of those hundreds of uses has the potential to go wrong at some point...which is why it pays to get the right advice FIRST - before you start doing the job!
Jim Coulson
Director, TFT Woodexperts
Laminate flooring in a restaurant; hoardings and signage used at a construction site; roofing battens imported from Estonia; a cracked butcher's block (made from Beech); decaying oak decking in a forest garden walkway; problems with plywood used for concrete formwork; keruing boards for lorry trailers; the quality of a consignment of Siberian Larch; and graded softwood components destined for a cooling tower in the Middle East. And that doesn't include the work we do on the ongoing Quality Schemes that we've set up in the UK, Latvia & Estonia.
It is perhaps surprising (though not to us at Woodexperts!) just how many different uses there are which wood gets put to: and of course, each of those hundreds of uses has the potential to go wrong at some point...which is why it pays to get the right advice FIRST - before you start doing the job!
Jim Coulson
Director, TFT Woodexperts
Thursday 31 May 2012
Open Day - New Book - 21 Years of TFT!
It's managed to get to the end of May - and I still haven't posted anything about our Open Day, held at the end of April! We had a good number of visitors: both friends/colleagues and professional contacts; and sold about 20 copies of my new Book (signed by me!) - "Wood in Construction - How to Avoid Costly Mistakes".
The reason for the Open Day was mainly to celebrate 21 years of trading as Technology For Timber (now trading under the slightly altered name of "TFT Woodexperts" - which better reflects our Web Domain Name).
In that time, TFT has dealt with just about everything you can think of, made from Wood, Timber or Wood-Based Materials: Joinery, Fitted Kitchens, Internal Doors, External Doors, Windows, Hardwood Floors, Softwood Flooring, Laminate Floors, Veneers, Engineered Timber, Glulam, Old Beams, New Floor Joists, Roofs in Swimming Pools, Roofs in Cathedrals, Plywood - both indoors and out, MDF in shopfitting, Chipboard in Floors and Flat Roofs, Potato Boxes, Pallets: you name it - we've inspected it and reported on it!
I hope we'll still be here in another 21 years: still helping Builders and Building Professionals to get the best out of Wood: or finding out why things have gone wrong...but as I say in my Book: "It's never the fault of the wood!"
The reason for the Open Day was mainly to celebrate 21 years of trading as Technology For Timber (now trading under the slightly altered name of "TFT Woodexperts" - which better reflects our Web Domain Name).
In that time, TFT has dealt with just about everything you can think of, made from Wood, Timber or Wood-Based Materials: Joinery, Fitted Kitchens, Internal Doors, External Doors, Windows, Hardwood Floors, Softwood Flooring, Laminate Floors, Veneers, Engineered Timber, Glulam, Old Beams, New Floor Joists, Roofs in Swimming Pools, Roofs in Cathedrals, Plywood - both indoors and out, MDF in shopfitting, Chipboard in Floors and Flat Roofs, Potato Boxes, Pallets: you name it - we've inspected it and reported on it!
I hope we'll still be here in another 21 years: still helping Builders and Building Professionals to get the best out of Wood: or finding out why things have gone wrong...but as I say in my Book: "It's never the fault of the wood!"
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