Preservation Centric-Wood Patio Furniture
When one thinks of wood patio furniture it is traditional to think of furniture with a nice smooth finish, perhaps varnished with a sealant of some form to ward off the elements. Typically you may buy it at a department store or even order it over the internet. There are typically four to six chairs and a table and sometimes the set may even include a side table and an umbrella.
Most of the standard wood patio furniture you would buy in such a way would be made out of common woods. Pine is often used, as is ash and oak. The wood used is typically nicely cut and planed and the set itself may look like an ordinary set of furniture, other than it is slightly more robust and of course it looks like wood patio furniture. However, there are some potential alternatives to this traditional style that might help us preserve some of our forests.
Unusual Woods
In the various forests of the world there are thousands of types of trees, indeed there are probably millions of tree types. It would seem most likely that with this much forestation we could still find enough fallen and dying wood that is quite durable and would make excellent source material for unusual and charming wood patio furniture. For instance, there are many hard woods in the rain forested areas that would make excellent wood patio furniture.
Mahogany is one that immediately comes to mind. Now given that mahogany is most likely too expensive, and would just increase mans' deforestation efforts worldwide, to use sawed mahogany timbers why couldn't we make furniture out of the fallen wood. With a little effort, natural looking beautiful wood patio furniture could be crafted. Now it still would most likely be too expensive for most; as it would be completely hand-made. However, this process would make for some unusual wood patio furniture, and would reduce our need to cut down trees before they have had time to contribute to the natural cycle of their environment.
Choosing Wood
Certainly one of the main drivers in the development of the demand for wood patio furniture has been the drive towards using natural materials for outside use. When one investigates this need, it is actually quite hard to find a practical need to use wood, so the vast majority of the demand is coming from the ascetic properties of wood patio furniture, or indeed wood furniture in general.
It would certainly be far more practical to use resins or plastics outside as the material is weather resistant and can be practically molded into any form desired. Of course there are already an abundance of inexpensive garden seats available and it would seem that one could make faux wood patio furniture with the same materials and save a few forests. Of course, the benefits would only be captured if the energy needed for the molded process was generated with renewable energy sources or other non-fossil plants like a nuke.
