As others have said the blue stain is a beetle carried fungus that kills the tree. I harvested some wood in northern Arizona for some projects for my wedding, and it seemed like every other tree was blue stained. My permit allowed me to only harvest dead/dying trees, and more often than not, blue stain was the cause of death. I made it work but it was frustrating. This beetle problem isn't going away, so I am glad they are finding ways to turn a negative into a positive here, selling the blue stain as an aesthetic feature instead of a detriment. With the right finish and in the right location, I think it looks really good.
Yes, I built a horizontal fence around my gazebo and hot tub, twenty feet long and eight feet high, make sure you treat it first, including the tongue and grooves. water just runs off it.
Yes, it can be. We have it in our bedroom and love it. It should be laid in the winter. This way you avoid the problems with expanding and shrinking. We also put it on one Wallin our bedroom. Use a water based poly to finish it.Very attractive.
With dimensional lumber sizes are nominal dimensions. Numbers are rounded upwards ie: a 2"x4" is actually 1.5"x3.5" so in this case a 1"x6" is actually 3/4"x5.5" in thickness and width. The length holds true to the number listed eg: 96" is actually 96" or 8' in length.
I Believe it is, We used it to build a set of barn doors for our side room, the grain is beautiful, and we haven't seen any shrinkage or warping.
It will satin because it's wood.
Definitely these can be used to build a interior barn door. Just allow for wood expansion along the width of the boards where you attach them to a frame.
Yes.
You can use a variety of wood sealers for outdoor use. This is raw lumber, so I would recommend Thompson's WaterSeal! Make sure to heavily coat the ends of the planks. This will help keep it from splitting. People tend to forget the ends when they paint or seal a fence. This will have to be redone every 5 years or so, depending on your climate.
These beetle kill boards all have varying hues of blue no two are a like.