Thermally modified wood?

[kooshball]

It has been a while since I have seen or heard anything about thermally modified lumber. Is this product still available or did it fail? I am going to be building some outdoor furniture soon and don't want to use pressure treated lumber and thought about using thermally modified lumber instead...but if it is no longer available then I have to go another route.

 

[Weekendworrior]

What do you have in mind to build? I've never used treated or modified lumber to build outdoor furniture just FYI.

 

[Jim Hancock]

Capitol City lumber has it, but only sized for decking, but you could probably make it work for outdoor furniture.

 

[kooshball]

Decking sizes could work, I am making very simple picnic tables and adirondack chairs.

 

[Jeff]

That's new to me and I'm curious about it (a detailed overview is attached below). There is a slide about halfway through the presentation titled "Conclusion of this study". In a nutshell the wood is not weather resistant and it will crack just like most exterior wood but the durability can be increased by painting.

So why not save a few $ and use cypress in readily available dimensions?

Marketing hype? :dontknow:

http://arborwoodco.com/#home

http://www.ecovantagewood.com/ecoprem-products.aspx/ecoprem-products

 

[SubGuy]

Isn't there Ammonia treated wood that does the same?

 

[mlzettl]

Jeff,

Thanks for those references. The PDF file summarizing the research from the University of Toronto seems to be an objective, well documented summary of the different processes used for thermally modifiying wood. Although it gets pretty technical, the summary and conclusions in each section are pretty easy to understand. The bottom line seems to be that the heat modification process is not the be all end all solution. It does not turn wood into some type of super material. One of the most interesting findings to me was the negative effects on the mechanical properties of wood. Of course with outdoor furniture, one is really not too concerned about structural failure of the wood itself. Also, as you noted they concluded that surface coating with paint for outdoor applications is required for durability. I don't know how much these products cost, but I'm not sure that for most of us, and for most applications, there is any huge advantage over other options. I would like to hear from someone who has direct experience with using it.

Matt

That's new to me and I'm curious about it (a detailed overview is attached below). There is a slide about halfway through the presentation titled "Conclusion of this study". In a nutshell the wood is not weather resistant and it will crack just like most exterior wood but the durability can be increased by painting.

So why not save a few $ and use cypress in readily available dimensions?

Marketing hype? :dontknow:

http://arborwoodco.com/#home

http://www.ecovantagewood.com/ecoprem-products.aspx/ecoprem-products