3 ms·
If they are using softwoods likes pine then it is mostly all grown on tree farms industrial style and doesn't take that long to grow. Hardwoods can and sometime
by AngryData 8y ago
If they are using softwoods likes pine then it is mostly all grown on tree farms industrial style and doesn't take that long to grow. Hardwoods can and sometimes are grown on tree farms but the 60+ year harvest makes it an unattractive investment.
There is no problem making things out of faster farm grown hardwood(and not all hardwoods take a long time to grow either) but due to the fairly easy availability for natural grown hardwood, atleast around me in the US and Canada, you don't see many hardwood farms. While farm grown hardwoods might be a little less dense, it isn't anything that can't be solved by using slightly thicker pieces. And on top of that, farm grown trees are better pruned and maintained, meaning better quality controlled logs with less significant knots and crazy changes in wood grain. You will get far more consistent and reliable beams and boards from farm grown wood, especially at long lengths.
The slower grown old growth trees have slightly better figure due to thinner rings but in any application where you aren't paying a huge premium for looks, it isn't that different, and 99/100 people couldn't tell the difference.
The one object you really do need the really slow grown old shit is for musical instruments where even relatively small increases in wood density can significantly improve the tone of an instrument.