Happy Earth Day! - Shades of Green
As you would all know now, going green in the
manufacturing industry is currently a very hot topic. It has lead some
companies to sinfully re-brand themselves as eco-friendly suddenly. This
"greenwashing" is an unjustified appropriation of environmental virtues.
Occurrences of greenwashing have spiked significantly. Instead of lying, I wish these companies would just say they're
trying, and let people know what they're doing. It's impossible to
have a zero carbon footprint, so why pretend? There are many shades of green,
and with more effort the shade will get darker, but it does take an effort and
more money is not uncommon.
So, what's Jim doing? I'm trying, and as it turns
out, I've been a pretty darn eco-friendly woodworker all along. In fact, I
wouldn't doubt it if my supplier for finishing supplies and my supplier for
sheet materials refer to me as "the pest." I'm constantly asking about and
trying out the latest and greatest water based lacquers and formaldehyde free
particleboard. I've bought some, tried some, and some work fine, while others
just are not going to make a product sellable. For example, due to basic
physics, a water based laquer is much harder to apply and on some darker woods,
just looks terrible. It can look great on blonde woods like maple, gives it sort
of a "euro-look". While it costs me much more, I've used it whenever
possible, mainly because you can drink its solvent, which is water. (The solvent
for standard laquer however would not be as refreshing.) As far as particleboard
goes, my supplier wants me to take a lift of "eco-board" which means 40 sheets
and also costs more, is only available in certain thicknesses and it's a special
order which takes longer to get. Ugh! First of all, a lift of sheets
wouldn't fit in my studio. (However, if I get a call for a large order of sheet
materials, they say they will store some in their warehouse for me for a period
of time... ) I'm still bugging them to stock it so that smaller shops like
me at least have a chance to buy one sheet at a time to try out. That doesn't
work with them I'm told, in the current economy.
In some ways, I've been scoring very well I'd
say. A lot of my work is solid wood and the majority of my lumber is domestic
with smaller accents of exotic woods from other countries. When I need some
lumber, I first check out my local suppliers. I've gotten quite a bit of
solid maple and cherry that was grown well within 100 miles. It comes from
properly managed tree lots where trees are selectively cut. Some of it has
been hauled out with horses. Also, it's all patiently air dried for at least a
year in barns instead of being taken to be kiln dried by huge ovens. (Air dried
wood also has better character since the colour hasn't dripped out in the
kiln's steaming and drying process.)
Sometimes, as I've got the go-green mantra on my
mind, I find myself doing things that are a bit silly. Like, I cut up
some sheet scraps into smaller chunks so that I could
pack them into a wall I was building upstairs in my studio. The quick
thinking was that I didn't want to see all of it go into the landfill, and the
extra mass in the wall would help with soundproofing up there where I record
music. I don't think the extra electricity to cut it up was much, so I guess it
came out on the positive side.
At least I know that I'm not producing disposable
furniture that is going to be thrown in the landfill.
If a client approaches me with a strong desire to
have an "all green" or "dark green" project, I'm all for it, bring it on. I will
be happy to discuss special material options, different processes and how
prices might be affected. In the process we'll all probably learn something else
we can do for our planet.
I'll check in again next year on this day and tell
you how green I've gotten.
