Advantages and disadvantages of beech wood

Beechwood is a very solid wood that can even surpass oak. In furniture construction, the wood is mainly used for the production of chairs. In Europe beech is one of the most important deciduous trees and in German forests it accounts for a large proportion of the tree population. Beechwood is a very important raw material for the local wood industry. The wood is widespread throughout Europe. In addition, the wood also occurs in North America and Northeast Asia and is of importance there for the local timber industry.

The look

For beech wood is a pink-brown to light-yellowish color characteristic and when exposed to light, this color can darken a bit. In the grain of the wood broad rays are found, forming the so-called veins in a diagonal cut to the trunk. By the way, a flap is a tongue-shaped grain. The pores in the beech wood are evenly distributed and small. If the trees are older, then the color of the wood is a bit darker. The coloration then tends to brown-red and this coloration can be intensified by damping. If the tree is older than 100 years, there is a red-brown core in the beech wood. This core can be cloudy and irregular. These trees are called Rotkernbuchen.

The properties

Just the great strength characterizes the beech wood. Beechwood works hard and therefore the shrinkage is also larger than average and it is fast. The beechwood can easily crack. Weather resistant, the wood is not unprotected. If it comes with wood preservative at the surface for processing, then the beech wood can survive even in the outdoor area for a long time in extreme weather conditions. The beech wood is stable, elastic, very tough and heavy. If the wood is steamed, then the elastic property can increase and it can easily bend. In bentwood technology in the furniture industry, beech wood is used very often and this technique was introduced at the beginning of the 19th century by the manufacturer Thonet for the bentwood furniture.

The usage

The bentwood process, developed by Michael Thonet in 1830, made dampened beech wood a very popular material for the production of seating furniture. The chairs are called bentwood chairs. From beech wood, the furniture industry is still the largest area of ​​use today. Beech wood is also used as a material for veneers and stairs in interior design. Good heating qualities, the beech wood as firewood.

The advantages of beech wood

• The elasticity properties are good
• The wood is durable and very firm
• The environmental balance is good as native wood

The disadvantages of beech wood

• The wood hardly darkens
• The wood is heavy
• The wood tends to crack
• The wood warps badly

Prices for beech wood

If you own a fireplace or a wood-burning stove, you are certainly familiar with Buchholz, as Buchholz is the most widely used firewood in private households. Beechwood is available in different types and qualities on the market. Differences in pricing play a decisive role here. Furthermore, you will learn here, where you can inquire about the current recommended prices and what else is there to pay attention.

Beech wood as sawn timber

The Schnittholt is available among others in the timber trade or in local sawmills. For most wood suppliers, there are woodcuts in different quality levels, there are also differences in the form of processing, and these factors contribute a great deal to the price formation. In addition to the different qualities of wood, the various providers, plays the region where you want to buy the wood an important role. The wood thickness is another factor that decides on the price of lumber.

Following are the criteria that are most important in pricing

• undamped / attenuated
• Country of origin or region – Buchholz almost always comes from Germany or Central Europe
• The strength of the sawnwood
• The quality of the wood, degree of drying, age etc.
• Decrease amount, not infrequently several meters of wood have to be removed to get a good price
• Regional price differences
• Price difference provider
• target prices

If one looks more closely at the prices for steamed lumber, one can say that prices are between 500 and 750 euros per m³. It is possible to purchase the beech wood as a package, here offer some suppliers package or commission prices, the package price is on average 100 euros per m³ cheaper than the commission commodity. However, this statement is very general and prices vary considerably depending on the region and the supplier. Some vendors require a small quantity discount when purchasing small quantities.

Solid meter, room meter and bulk room meter

When buying the beech wood care must be taken in what form the quantity is given. For the stove, the wood is usually offered as a cubic meter measure, it is about a solid meter receives a smaller amount (1 cubic meter of wood (rm) entsprciht 0.65 solid meter (fm).

Cubic meters

Many suppliers prefer to offer the wood as a bulk storage room, this has the advantage that one saves the stacking of the wood, which is necessary for the determination of the correct room or solid meter value. By pouring the wood, of course, the measure changes accordingly. As a result of which it is only possible to estimate in bulk what the amount of wood is, the bulk material meter is not an officially regulated unit of measure. A very rough conversion looks as follows: A bulk room meter corresponds to approx. 0.6 to 0.7 room meters or 0.45 to 0.5 solid meters.

Impact on the price

Only if one compares the prices intensively and converts if necessary, in order to be able to compare all offer in the same measure, one is on the safe side.

More facts for the prices of beech wood

The beech trunk wood comes directly from the wood industry and moves priced approximately between 65 and 85 euros per crop solid, the wood has a particularly high quality, the price can also increase to 110 euros per harvest solid meter.