Eleven obscure facts about wood

Why not "Ten obscure facts?" instead of eleven? Why ask why?


While doing some research on a piece of furniture I am designing, I found myself "doing the Google" well into the night.  I'm convinced of this: there is no limit to the amount of obscure woodworking minutia out there on the web. 

Here are some of the coolest facts I found. Don't ask me to cite my sources, I can barely remember finding some of these. It was late, and I should have been sleeping!

1.)  In Pennsylvania the Hardwood Timber is growing 2.44 times faster than it is being harvested.

2.) Square drive screws were invented by P. L. Robertson in 1908 and were originally supposed to be used on Ford's Model T. There were referred to as Robertsons, as in - buying a box of "Robertson screws." 

 3.) The bark of a Redwood tree can be up to 24 inches thick.

 4.) Louisville Slugger makes 1.6 million wood bats a year. 

 5.) A single tree produces approximately 260 pounds of oxygen per year. That means two mature trees can supply enough oxygen annually to support a family of four!

 6.) It was rumored that because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood. This is, in fact, false. Only one wooden Oscar was ever given out - to ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, who received a wooden Oscar for his work with his wooden dummy, Charlie McCarthy. 

7.) Contrary to later legend, none of Washington's false teeth were made of wood. 

 8.) The Milton Bradley company uses only Vermont Maple for Scrabble tiles.

 9.) Trees can send out warning signals to other trees about insect attacks. 

10.)  In 1813 a Shaker-Sister by the name of Sister Tabitha Babbitt invented what was later to become the TableSaw.  Sister Tabitha is also credited with inventing the cut nail.

And finally.....

 11.) One in ten European babies is conceived in an IKEA bed.