• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Finally decided to dive in after lurking for far too long

HdV

HdV

New Shoots
Joined
Dec 12, 2024
Messages
135
Reaction score
88
Location
The Netherlands / Sweden
Hi all,

I've been following this forum for quite some time now. Lots of knowledgeable people here and lots of things to be learned from. Sometimes a thread came up to which I thought I might be able to add something useful. But up to now I never created an account. Not sure why. It just didn't happen. Last week I decided it was about time to change that. So, here I am, with some help from Mark Trimble (thanks again!).

I am just a hobbyist. Never had any formal training as a woodworker (although that might change in the not too distant future, as I've been mulling about signing up for some furniture making classes). But I've been doing this for years now and I'd like to think I have managed to become at least a passable woodworker by now. I am both a hand tools and a power tools user. I just use what I feel is either the most efficient or most enjoyable tool for the job at hand. I am blessed to be able to afford some nice machines (mostly Felder stuff) and a great workshop that allow me to tackle larger projects. The last ten years most of my time (apart from my job) has been spent on my Finnish log home. But that is about done now, so it is time to get serious about building furniture.

My favorite wood species are probably not the same as most other people's. I like working with birch and Zirben, even though they are on the softer side. This can make some things harder, but as long as I take care to keep my tools sharp it's not a problem. I am just a fan of how they look. I do use more traditional species like maple and American Walnut, but not very often. I almost never use exotic species like purplehart etc. I do have some pieces of wenge in my wood store (hate the splinters though!), but that's about it.

As you can see from my avatar, I am a dog lover. Especially the breeds from the lifestock guard dog group. The drawing is from a Leonberger I had 10 years ago. Currently we have Maremma sheepdogs.

Thanks for having me.

Oh, and to all of you: enjoy Christmas and have a great 2025!
 
Welcome from elsewhere in Continental Europe, Normandie, France.
We love to see photos of current projects or past so don’t be shy.
 
Welcome, HdV The "dV" part of your name suggests Dutch or German to me.......but the Finnish log house, and the preference for Nordic timbers suggests otherwise! So, I'm none the wiser.
 
It's Dutch. But I do love the Nordics indeed. So much so that I am thinking of buying a house there. Probably Sweden.


By the way, Zirben is a species found in the Alps. It is a species of pinus (Pinus cembra). I think it is called stone pine in English speaking countries? It grows just under the tree line, which makes it a very slow growing wood that is harder than normal pine. The property it is most well-known for though is that it contains pinosylvin, which is said to kill fungi and has health-benefits. The fist I can confirm. The second I don't really know about. I do know I really like the smell of it. Just like the smell of Libanon cedar. In the Alps this wood is often used for beds.

P.S. I edited my profile. It now shows where I am from. My natural tendency is to not publish these things. Call it an occupational deformation. That's what you get from working in IT security for more than 3 decades.
 
You’re very welcome, always interesting to get a perspective from another country.
Do you have another name for that timber you like? - Zirben isn’t coming up in the wood database.
Cheers Ian
 
@Cabinetman : the Latin name is Pinus cembra. I think the English call it stone pine? Not sure about that.

@Blackswanwood : yeah, Maremmas are from Italy. There are reasons to presume they were introduced there from Persia, but that must have been a very long time ago. We adopted them through a German organisation though, so there's no geographical link to where I am. :)
 
Zirben is pine, but not "normal" pine. Other pinus species do not contain pinosylvin and (most) do not thrive at the heights where the Zirbelkiefer grows. It really is a distinct species of pine. Maybe some of you have been to the Alps and have slept in a room with a smell most of us typically associate with traditional Austrian and Swiss furniture, specifically beds? That smell is pinosylvin. I haven't been able to verify it for a fact, but it seems NASA uses/used it to help astronauts sleep better when they are in space.
 
HdV said:
Zirben is pine, but not "normal" pine. Other pinus species do not contain pinosylvin and (most) do not thrive at the heights where the Zirbelkiefer grows. It really is a distinct species of pine. Maybe some of you have been to the Alps and have slept in a room with a smell most of us typically associate with traditional Austrian and Swiss furniture, specifically beds? That smell is pinosylvin. I haven't been able to verify it for a fact, but it seems NASA uses/used it to help astronauts sleep better when they are in space.
Click to expand...
Is it available in a bottle? I could do with a jar or two of that.
 
Hi HdV,

I live a few miles from MikeG but am in Suffolk.
As you are probably aware, we like pictures.
 
@Malc2098 : Nah, sadly not. I have, or should I say had, almost absolute hearing. But tinitus has reduced my ability to hear when something's off. The thing is, I can't hold a rhythm for longer than 10 seconds. I tried playing the guitar, but my teacher told me after a few lessons I would never be able to become proficient.

@Steve Maskery : I wish! But there's a good alternative: in the Alps they put either the buds or young cones in a bottle of Schnapps and let it marinate for at least 1 year. It is an acquired taste, but it really is good! Don't be surprised when the Schnapps turns red though.
 
Hej du @sweols , great to see some Swedish influence here. I've started learning the language, but it will take some time before I am good enough to converse in Swedish. I should put in more time. Reading is OK, but understanding spoken Swedish is still quite hard for me.
 
Hi HdV

Welcome aboard and sorry for the initial hiccups, but if you've an IT Security background then I know you understand the reasons.

Good to have you onboard and look forward to seeing some pics...

A Merry Christmas to you too!
 
Welcome HdV, from sunless, cloudy Northumberland (a bit north of NuuKassel - as it is pronounced).

RogerS said:
A belated warm welcome to you and Merry Christmas..I’m a ferry crossing away from you to the West.

And confession time. Mea culpa…mea maxima culpa:eek:
Click to expand...
Now, I'm not sure exactly what Roger's conscience is pricking him about, but I'll be passing close by his place in a few days time and I could call in and 'sort him out' for you? In exchange for a few bits of "Stone Pine" paerhaps? I'm fascinated by your description of it...:cool::sneaky:
 
Ha! No "sorting out" needed.

As far as I know nobody on this forum has done anything to offend me. Mark just helped me out when my initial request for an account raised some brows due to the very generic e-mail address I use. I fully understand why that may have caused some spam-related doubts. Other than that the forum has been quite welcoming.

Whenever you are in the neighbourhood you are welcome to a few pieces of Zirben. Just PM me. You'll definitely like the smell of it. Most people do. Sadly, it is getting harder to come by.
 
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