Fastening Timbers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31677, 13 May 1968, Page 12

Fastening Timbers

Sir,—lf by "softer modern timbers” the New Zealand Standards Association adviser, Mr E. H. Hitchcock, means Pinus radiata, then the regulations needed are ones prohibiting its use except in-

doors for flooring and finishing. This'timber, which saws and nails like hot butter, has the strength and toughness of a wine biscuit, and it is murderous to use it for rafters, purlins, sarking, or studs. More adequate fastenings, as suggested by Mr Hitchcock, would only result in its breaking where nailed when the crunch comes. I have seen a paddock littered with pieces of Pinus radiata 4x2, all about 18 inches long, where a shed built about three years previously by a good carpenter, blew to bits in a gale less severe than the recent one. The Forest Service should at once investigate other exotics for timber. I suggest cupressus macrocarpa. which saws and nails almost as easily as Pinus radiata but is tougher, ground-durable, and grows fairly quickly.— Yours, etc., PULP THE LOT. May 2. 1968. [The chief technical adviser of the Standards Association of New Zealand (Mr E. H. Hitchcock) replies: “We can make little comment except to express great admiration of the picturesque language and note that even in Wellington’s ‘h urr i c a n.e’ adequately-fastened structures of radiata pine stood up wdll."] ,