HELP & INFORMATION

EMAIL

MAILING ADDRESS

PHONE

help@mountainhomewoods.com

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1038 North Eisenhower Drive PMB 161
Beckley, WV  ​25801

681.459.0244

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

WHAT WOODS DO YOU OFFER?​

MHW has most domestic commercially available hardwoods native to North America, and in Appalachia specifically. These include Oak, Cherry, Walnut, Ash, Maple, Chestnut, Beech, Locust, Holly, (Tulip) Poplar, Basswood, Ironwood, and Osage Orange. Other species are available as well, including some exotic species, though these are on a much more limited basis.​

​WHAT WOOD SIZES DO YOU OFFER?

Supply board stock is in standard nominal sizes (4/4,8/4,12/4,etc). Turning blanks are standard for the application (pen blanks usually around 3/4" square x 5" long), pepper-mill blanks, duck call blanks, etc. are all in standard sizing for those projects. Mantles and custom pieces can be a wide variety of sizes and are based more on your preference and project, ranging from normal stock sizes up to full sized logs. Custom work, custom sizing.

WHAT IS YOUR POLICY ON WOOD DIMENSIONS?

Most wood commercially sold is in a nominal size, not milled size. We try to ensure that pieces are within 1/16" of their nominal size. Kiln dried pieces are listed at their size after drying.

WHAT IS GREEN WOOD?

Green wood is the condition of the wood in close to its living state, in particular having a moisture content above 30-35% moisture content. Trees often are 80-100% (or more) moisture content in their living state, but will only start physically shrinking in size once they have dropped below the FSP at 28-30% moisture content.

WHAT IS SEALED WOOD?

Sealing wood means that it has been covered on at least its end-grain surfaces with a moisture retarding coating like Anchorseal. The coating slows the drying process, but does not stop it. Pieces will still acclimate to their environment. 

WHAT IS AIR-DRIED WOOD?

Air-dried wood has been set aside to allow ambient airflow to dry moisture from a load of wood in a partially controlled way. Air-drying typically reduces the wood moisture content down to 15-20%, and speed depends on the thickness of the wood and proper stacking and location.

WHAT IS KILN-DRIED WOOD? 

A lumber kiln is a chamber that is designed to dry wood efficiently in a controlled environment to maintain high quality, based on guidelines and schedules developed over decades of study and testing at the USDA and FPL.

WHY CHOOSE KILN-DRIED WOOD?

Wood gains and loses moisture with its environment, so kiln drying changes the wood to a level of dryness close to its future location (like inside your house), to minimize future movement (which causes cracking/degrade)

WHAT IS PARTIAL KILN-DRIED WOOD?

Wood that has been dried in the kiln for its first 2/3 of drying, usually ending up with a moisture content of 25%-35%. This level is advantageous to people who turn because higher moisture content in wood is easier on tools to turn, but since much of the water has already been removed in the kiln, it drastically reduces the drying time for their turning pieces.

IS KILN-DRIED WOOD STERILIZED FROM INSECTS?

Probably not. There are some kiln schedules that include a stage at the end that is hot enough for long enough to effectively sterilize the wood. However, normal kiln drying does not destroy all stages of insect infestation. It needs heat sterilization.

WHAT IS WOOD STERILIZATION?

Wood infestations by fungi or insects are a natural part of the life cycle of wood. Due to the long gestational period of many species of wood infesting insects (years), you often cannot tell whether or not a piece has an infestation by looking at a single piece. In an effort to stop the spread of infestations across the country and the world, the government established a protocol for treating it with heat to sterilize it from insect infestation. Pieces sold as heat treated at Mountain Home Woods have been sterilized to the accepted government standards for quality assurance.