Totally Bonkers

Before I start ranting on about plywood I just wanted to let readers know that I still owe a story on installing a fuel polisher. I promised that a couple of weeks back and I will get that story to you just as soon as I can. The blog has taken a bit of a back seat of late as I have been very busy trying to organize a move into a new house and workshop, but just a soon as that is complete the fuel polishing step be step story is sure to follow.

Anyway back to the main point of todays blog and that is on the subject of the origins of plywood and other associated lumber products. I was in the local DIY store picking up some plywood and was shocked to find that almost half the plywood in the store had a made in China sticker on it. Nothing so unusual in that these day I suppose but it's just that the plywood was advertised as North American red oak which is just what it appeared to be. Just as I was wondering if the raw material was felled here in the USA shipped to the China made into plywood and then shipped back I noticed a banded pallet of 2x4's which had come from Germany. Now I may be no economist but I do wonder how the wood can come from so far away and still be sold at a profit. We have a plentiful supply of raw material in the continental USA and I cannot for the life of me understand why or how we are buying common or garden lumber from China and Europe. The lumber was proudly stamped with the FSC logo which incidentally stands for Forest Stewardship Council meaning that the lumber is certified to come from properly managed sources. I am all for that, but come on just think of all the fossil fuels that must have been burned bringing that 2x4 from Germany. That can't be environmentally friendly can it?

Comments

[David Dickson]

Here on the west coast of Canada, we ship a lot of raw logs to China, so it isn't surprising to see them resold back to us as plywood, or furniture. Our unions have been fighting for years to try to change it, but if we stop sending our logs, many more forestry jobs will be lost (so we're told). I try not to buy goods from China if at all possible, but it's getting more difficult every day.

[Peter]

I am not sure about plywood but other industries have had a hard time dealing with EPA and other US regulatory issues in the past few years. Now to build a boat you almost have to treat it as a toxic waste process. Don't be surprised when you see these coming from China on boats as well.

I have often thought it might make a good business to refurb old boats over in China or surrounding area. Ship them over (ships are just about empty going that way), use low cost supplies, low or no interference from governmental types, favorable tax treatment, and affordable labor to make them like new, and then ship them back to their owners. There are getting to be a lot of very serviceable old high end boats around.

I saw where Shannon was actually doing this with their older hulls using labor in the US.