Timber
The wood is soft, white when first cut, turning to pale red; the knots are beautifully mottled. Under water the wood is very durable, and it is therefore used for deep foundations of buildings. The supports of the Rialto in Venice, and many buildings in Amsterdam, are of alder wood. Furniture is sometimes made from the wood, as were clogs.
As the wood is soft, flexible, somewhat light, it can be easily worked on as well as split. It is also valued furniture making, wood cuttings, clogs, pencils and bowls. In fact, cabinet makers value this wood very much.
Read more about this topic: Alnus Glutinosa
Famous quotes containing the word timber:
“Green springs the tree, hemp grows, the wag is wild,
But when they meet, it makes the timber rot;
It frets the halter, and it chokes the child.”
—Sir Walter Raleigh (1552?–1618)
“Here commences what was called, twenty years ago, the best timber land in the State. This very spot was described as “covered with the greatest abundance of pine,” but now this appeared to me, comparatively, an uncommon tree there,—and yet you did not see where any more could have stood, amid the dense growth of cedar, fir, etc.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The primitive wood is always and everywhere damp and mossy, so that I traveled constantly with the impression that I was in a swamp; and only when it was remarked that this or that tract, judging from the quality of the timber on it, would make a profitable clearing, was I reminded, that if the sun were let in it would make a dry field, like the few I had seen, at once.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)