Steve Doyle’s Blog

What is your favorite wood? James asked me this question, and as surprising as it may seem, it is a complicated question.

In the business of building homes, Brookfield Homes has the opportunity to select from many types of wood. Douglas Fir, White Oak, Hickory and Maple are a few of the woods we use that come to mind quickly. But, when given a chance to think about it, I must admit, for building homes, my favorite woods are more from the EWP, OSB, LVL and SFI families. What kind of woods are these? Let me explain.

Engineered Wood Products

Engineered wood products (EWP’s) are structurally stronger, straighter, and warp much less than studs or timbers used for beams. Brookfield may use EWP studs for balloon framed walls because the material is so much straighter than 2×4 material. The EWP manufacturing process is a fairly green process. The products are largely made from wood chips and they end up with virtually zero waste.

Oriented Strand Board (OSB) “…is an engineered, mat-formed panel product made of strands, flakes or wafers sliced from small diameter, round wood logs and bonded with an exterior-type binder under heat and pressure.

OSB panels consist of layered mats. Exterior or surface layers are composed of strands aligned in the long panel direction; inner-layers consist of cross- or randomly-aligned strands. These large mats are then subjected to intense heat and pressure to become a “master” panel and are cut to size.” OSB is often used in place of plywood.

OSB and LVL Joist

LVL (laminated veneer lumber) “…has consistent dimensions and density and is stronger and straighter than traditional lumber. Pound-for- pound, LVL has more load-carrying capacity than common grades of sawn lumber, making it ideal for beams, headers and other primary load carrying members.”

The Roseburg Forest Products plant in Siskiyou County, California makes the I-joists we use on several projects. They use oriented stand board (OSB) and laminated veneer lumber (LVL) to manufacture the I-joists. They use the scrap from their EWP plant to make particle board, and anything left is burned to make their own electricity to power their manufacturing plants. Now that is a GREEN wood plant!

These wood products are stronger, straighter and warp less. They allow Brookfield Homes to provide a better product and a “Greener” product. The manufacturing processes generates less waste and in some cases, no waste at all!

When we use studs, beams and posts, cut for directly from harvested logs, we focus on SFI lumber. Sustainable Forest Initiative lumber products are from well-managed forests, backed by a rigorous, third-party certification audit. Standards adhered to by SFI producers include “,,,new provisions to conserve old-growth forests and imperiled/critically imperiled species; to strengthen procurement from jurisdictions outside of North America and supply chain monitoring; and to address invasive exotic species. It also introduced new performance measures and indicators related to the certification of public forestlands, including requirements to confer with affected indigenous peoples.”

SFI lumber products is another way that Brookfield Homes uses to bring you more “Greener” homes, constructed from sustainable practices.

Outside of building homes, my tastes in wood turn to the more exotic. Have you ever heard of Koa wood? Koa wood is an exotic tropical hardwood found exclusively on the Hawaiian Islands. Koa trees can reach a height of 100 feet with a diameter of 6 feet. These magnificent trees grow in heavy rainfall from 3,000 – 6,000 feet in elevation, however they are adaptable to a variety of climates & elevations. Koa is a fast growth tree, reaching over 20 feet in 5 years, but generally requires 50 years or more to reach the size required for most uses. Commercially, Koa is a premier timber and currently one of the most expensive woods in the world. For example, a set (2 book matched pieces) of master grade Koa with the dimensions of 9”x 20”x 3/16” could easily cost $500.

Koa Wood

Koa is appreciated as an exceptionally fine wood and considered one of the most valuable of the native woods. Koa’s curly (figured) grain, exceptional coloring (dark variegated lines) and excellent working properties made it very popular with both the ancient natives as well as current craftsman. “Acacia Koa” (scientific name) was used by the ancient Hawaiians to build dugout canoes using the tree truck, as many of the “war canoes” were over 50 feet in length. Koa was also used for surfboards, paddles and structure framing. In Hawaii, many of the historic building structures were built using Koa which was plentiful in times past, and not unusual to see Koa paneling in many current building, churches and other structures.

Koa - Taylor Guitars

Today’s usage is more limited to high end cabinetry in homes & boats, furniture, gunstocks, face veneers & musical instruments. Koa is excellent for musical instruments due to its high resonant (tone wood) properties. Hawaiian ukuleles and many high end guitars, like Taylor Guitars, my personal favorite, are made with Koa wood.

The Koa population has suffered from cattle grazing, poor logging techniques & disease. Much of the Koa on state lands and forests are now protected by the State of Hawaii. Current trade comes largely from dead or dying trees, farms on private lands or from old loggers that have kept Koa in storage. Efforts to save the Koa and to re-introduce the Koa, are gaining in popularity and progress.

My thanks to Jase Prewett, Director of Purchasing for his insights into structural wood products and to Gary Correia, CFO of Taylor Guitars, for his factual material on the Koa wood.