White oak is a highly durable wood choice for exterior projects due to its strength, density, straight grain structure, and natural resistance to moisture. It is ideal for outdoor use due to its weather-resistant properties, which make it resistant to rot and decay. However, exposure to UV rays can lead to discoloration, while rain and moisture can cause warping, cracking, or rotting over time.
White oak produces fine lumber and exquisite veneer, and its cellular structure makes it impermeable to liquids and resistant to decay. This makes it suitable for outdoor projects, a rare feat for a North American hardwood. White oak lumber is harder, denser, and much better than red oak when used for exterior applications. It is also insect-resistant and quite weather-proof.
White oak is often confused with red oak based on its appearance, but it is actually harder, denser, and much better than red oak when used for exterior applications. It ranks right up there with cypress in terms of strength and performance in outdoor environments. The rough rule of thumb for drying white oak is a year per inch of thickness.
White oak is traditionally a preferred boat-building material and applications that require tight cooperation, making it an excellent choice for outdoor projects. When finishing white oak, select a high-quality finish with UV protection to prevent fading and fading. Overall, white oak is a stable and strong choice for outdoor projects due to its excellent properties, insect resistance, and weather-resistant properties.
📹 the Best Wood for Outdoor Projects is..
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Can white oak be used outside?
Oak is a versatile wood suitable for outdoor projects like furniture, handrails, and front doors. It comes in various treatment and finish options, including penetrating and film-forming finishes. Preparation is crucial, including sanding and removing sawdust. Wood species like acacia, black locust, cedar, cypress, Douglas-fir, ipe, and redwood are suitable for outdoor use. White oak is more weather-resistant than red oak and is often preferred for outdoor applications. Proper treatment and finishes ensure the wood’s durability and longevity.
What are the pros and cons of white oak?
White oak is a popular choice for reclaimed hardwood floors due to its rot-resistant properties and durability. It is less porous than red oak and is easier to work with. However, it is harder to find and less stains. Red oak can be a great alternative for a similar look and characteristics. White oak, a species of trees found in the Eastern United States and Canada, is more expensive and less abundant. Common uses include hardwood floors, trim, furniture, cabinetry, boats, and wine and whiskey barrels.
Oak is a solid choice for most home projects due to its hardness, measuring 1, 350 on the Janka hardness scale. Understanding the differences between red oak and white oak can help you choose the best wood for your project or space.
How do you seal white oak for outdoor use?
Marine varnish is a popular type of clear varnish that protects wood from outdoor environmental exposure. Traditional marine varnishes, made from phenolic resins, tung oil, biocides, and ultraviolet inhibitors, are used to protect wood from sun, wind, and water. Newer versions, formulated from Uralkyds or oil-modified urethanes, offer greater water resistance, durability, and less cost. However, they require more effort to apply and require more maintenance.
Applying clear varnishes and polyurethanes requires patience and skill. The process involves sanding the oak wood with varying grits of sandpaper and cleaning it with mineral spirits. The first coat should be evenly spread and no bubbles form. The second coat should be lightly sanded with a fine grit of sandpaper, followed by removing particulates with steel wool and damp cloth. After the second coat has dried, the finish should be checked for smoothness. If the hand glides over without sticking, the third and final coat can be applied.
How long will white oak last outdoors?
White oak is a popular choice for furniture due to its strength, durability, and ease of use. It is abundant, comes in various widths and thicknesses, and is rot-resistant. White oak furniture can last for decades with regular staining and proper maintenance. It is widely used in cabinet and furniture making, flooring, boat building, barrels, interior trim, and veneer.
White oak does not have the oil content of teak or ipe and should be painted or protected with a water-resistant sealer or topcoat. Teak can cost five times as much as a good grade of white oak, but it has a long history of use in boat-making and barrel-making due to its water-proof characteristics. Red oak is porous and not as enduring outdoors as white oak. However, it has a unique property – the presence of tyloses, a type of cellular growth that fills the pores of the wood, which prevents water from penetrating the wood.
Reclaimed wood, such as ipe and teak, is preferred by modern boat builders due to its water-proof properties. They are more durable and can last decades with minimal maintenance. Ken Tomita prefers natural oil finishes that can be replenished, as plastic clear coats will eventually yellow and peel off. To protect wood furniture from the elements, leave it out of the elements as much as possible.
To maintain wooden outdoor furniture, clean it with soapy water at the start of spring, apply a couple of coats of wood stain or paint, and stain once per year. Bruce Lemler recommends applying an all-weather varnish like BEHR Premium Transparent Weatherproofing All-In-One Wood Finish, applied immediately upon purchase or finishing outdoor pieces, with a repeat application every 2-3 years. Each application should involve two coats of a regular coating and a second, thinner coating for better protection.
Is white oak naturally rot resistant?
In comparison to hickory, white oak exhibits the greatest degree of shrinkage. Nevertheless, when subjected to the drying process and subsequently placed in a stable environment, it should exhibit minimal movement and be rated as resistant, very resistant, or moderately resistant to decay.
Is white oak water proof?
White Oak is a highly water-resistant hardwood due to its closed-grain structure and Tyloses-filled pores. This makes it ideal for whiskey barrels and boat building, and has been used in America’s first wooden warships since the late 1700s. The hardwood’s rich grain and light tones make it suitable for distressed wood floors, adding character and heritage. The brushed wood texture, which resembles a living floorboard, is gaining popularity. Another in-style texture is the footworn surface, which is more wear-resistant and won’t ding or dent like Pine floors.
This flooring technique creates soft undulating waves through the boards, creating a worn look that is perfect for those who want a slightly worn look. However, it’s important to minimize water and moisture to maintain the floor’s performance.
How long will untreated oak last outside?
Treated wood can last up to 40 years with proper care, while untreated wood can last forever if properly maintained. Untreated timber can survive outdoors, but requires regular maintenance to maintain its integrity and prevent pest damage. Treated lumber can last up to twice as long as untreated wood due to its enhanced resistance against rotting and insect infestation, making it a more durable option for outdoor use.
Does white oak dent easily?
White oak floors are a dense hardwood with a Janka Hardness rating of only surpassed by Hard Maple and Hickory. They are the most popular species for hardwood flooring in North America, with their reputation stemming from forests and fields in the eastern third of the United States. White oak is officially America’s national tree and the state tree of Maryland, Illinois, and Connecticut. It grows straight and tall within the forest canopy, and when out in the open, it spreads its limbs broadly, sometimes producing a wider crown than the tree’s height.
Can white oak get wet?
White oak is a closed grain hardwood with tyloses in its heartwood, making it nearly impervious to water. This makes it ideal for the boat industry and outdoor furniture construction. White oak is straight-grained and is available in quarter sawn with a striking ray flake pattern. Its coloring varies, with boards appearing dark brown, light brown, or brown with yellow tones. Stain and wood sealer can enhance the appearance of white oak, making it a popular choice for fine furniture and boat construction.
Can you leave oak untreated outside?
Oak is a natural product that can be left outside without any treatment due to its dimensional stability and resistance to moisture and rot. However, after 12 months of outdoor exposure, it will undergo a natural silvery-grey color change, mold buildup, black spots, and cracking due to moisture-related effects. To minimize moisture and insect-related damage, oak can be treated with various stains, treatments, and finishes.
Popular treatment options include transparent, semi-transparent, and solid color. These treatments help showcase the grain pattern and retain the original color of the oak, while minimizing the chance of moisture and insect-related damage.
Can you leave white oak unfinished?
Hardwood floors are typically coated with a sealant to protect them from wear and tear, but leaving them unfinished is not typically recommended. Unfinished floors are more susceptible to scratches, scuffs, stains, and water damage, and tend to age more quickly. Some homeowners prefer the natural look of unfinished wood and appreciate the character and worn patina that develops over time.
Finished hardwood flooring is a type of floor that has been sanded, stained, and sealed with a protective coating like polyurethane, hard wax oil, or aluminum oxide. The finish is intended to extend the floor’s life and appearance by protecting it from water damage and wear and tear. To learn more about unfinished wood flooring, contact Carlisle or call 800-595-9663.
📹 You’re using the wrong wood for outdoor projects!
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If it’s of any use, a traditional English building technique of putting wood with the grain going horizontally underneath wood with the grain going vertically means that moisure cannot rise up through your piece very well. There are surviving oak timbers that are hundreds of years old above more sacrificial horizontal layers of wood. It’s much like putting metal legs/feet on a chair. Break the flow of water iyto the piece and it’ll last longer.
I’ve used construction lumber (often fir) for outdoor apps. The first key is: no plywood. Second: mechanical fasteners only. Third: paint. Fourth: paint it again, especially the grain ends, and even MORE specially, the grain ends. Paint everything before assembly because rot will intrude at joints unless they are painted before assembly. With pocket holes, I have a small paint brush to get into the bore. It’s worth it. I’ve got some exterior project wood exposed over a decade and still looking good. If you think on it, a house usually has a lot of exposed lumber surfaces, which work fine as long as they’re protected.
I hear you with the idea of letting wood weather on it’s own but I’ve also experimented and used many outdoor finishes on many projects. The best results I’ve gotten are from an “old-fashioned” mix of Linseed Oil, Thompsons water seal, and Paint Thinner. This mix soaks into the wood nicely, it’s easy to re-apply without sanding and so far I haven’t found any wood that it doesn’t work well with. The only thing is that you need to let it sit a while for the finish to really set into the wood before you let your wife sit on it to test it out LOL😅
Great advice as always, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I’ve always used white oak as I like the look of it compared to other woods, good to know that I was doing something right with my wood choices. I mentioned in another comment below that I really don’t like the natural patina of any of these woods, a light epoxy coat and a matte lacquer will keep it looking fresh for years on end (but will need refinishing at some point which might be a pain for some).
Always good to consider your options. Redwood is certainly more expensive than construction pine or fir but some of the other options like White oak aren’t exactly cheap. I have a redwood picnic table that I built almost 3 years ago here in Colorado with absolutely no finish on it and it has stood up to the elements. It was maybe 50% more to build than using construction lumber.
There is a deck and fence product called “Flood” that lasts really well, and looks really nice that a friend of mine put me on to. i like to use the cedar colored one, because it is applied to an already aged wood, it tends to look almost like worn in leather, has a good rustic chic look. I’ve used it on outdoor benches and chairs and it has lasted really well.
White oak is used by boat builders because the capillary tubes of the heart wood has blockages which restrict the flow of water. You can take a piece of red oak and dip it in pool of water and blow bubbles from the other end; not so with white oak. There isnt significant chemical difference between different oak species for rot resistance.
I think we as woodworkers have a weird thing about paint, as if we’re not REAL woodworkers unless we leave all the grain exposed to wow everyone who sees our master craftsmanship. I just made a bench for a family member, and the legs and entire frame of it were made from 2x4s, including a few pieces of old pressure-treated that had been in my garage for year (thus appropriately dry). I’m new to turning so I decided this would be my first major turning project, with four big legs turned on the lathe. Lots of tearout issues with the carbide tools since I’m a newbie. First time doing real mortise and tenons too, and they were slightly gappy. None of that mattered thanks to wood filler + paint. A high-quality white paint + a simple bench top of clear-coated curly maple, and the family member was stunned that it looked so good. They don’t have the same ideas about paint not being for REAL woodworkers.
I built an outdoor 2-story playhouse for my daughter last summer. I used southern yellow pine (SYP) for the floor joists and other horizontal members. I used Douglas Fir 4x4s for the vertical posts. I used stainless steel carriage bolts to connect horizontal SYP beams to the notched DF posts. I used western red cedar for the floor boards. I connected floor joists to the beams with Simpson joist hangers and simpson screws. I predrilled pilot holes for every connection that I made with outdoor deck screws. When working with douglas fir or cedar, I predrill my holes a bit smaller (maybe 1/32″ smaller) than recommended predrilling bore sizes, but I’ll still predrill. I predrill to the recommended pilot hole size in SYP because, in my experience, it can split if you don’t. I went a little nuts with the 4×4 posts. They had some natural checks and knots, and I filled all of them with a penetrating epoxy. I used too much epoxy and spent a lot of time planing and sanding the excess. The structure sits on top of concrete pavers, and I mounted structural plastic 4×4 standoffs under the posts so the end grain would not have contact with ground moisture. I sealed all the wood with Seal-Once Marine Wood Sealer. I think that stuff is awesome. I would recommend it to anyone building something with wood outdoors. Before I finished building a roof structure on the playhouse, it rained a couple times, and I could see how water would bead on top of horizontal boards and beams. The sealer really penetrates into the wood.
I’ve heard that the tighter the grain, the longer the wood will last. True? Also, you didn’t dig into the badness of treated lumber enough – modern processes don’t really impregnate the wood very thoroughly. If you cut it, the cut end needs to be treated, because otherwise it’s just bare wood. And the sawdust is all kinds of nasty.
Thank you for this, I’ll try to remember this about white oak regarding trade offs. Saw Mike Holmes of HGTV fame disparage cedar’s durability as if it was pine. Ticked me off because he is considered a guru of ‘building it right.’ Also wouldn’t go to Mike Holmes for psychiatric analysis. He ran down a teacher because he figured her a horder. She wasn’t. She had a wall’s worth of books, that were part of her profession, and she had some duplicates of cooking utensils. If you cook much at all, you need some duplicates because that is how cooking works. Neither collection was extreme, or unreasonable. The house was in otherwise good condition…
What oil-based applications do you recommend for “unfinished” outdoor projects? I’m guessing that an annual or biannual application to some of these woods will help prolong their life, without the worry of flaking or other paint-like finishes. As a beekeeper, we dunk new beehives in ting oil or boiled linseed oil… some go as far as to heat the oil in large cats and submerge the hive boxes for a minute or two so it really soaks in. Obviously this isn’t realistic for a lot of outdoor projects… but the protection the oils provide seem logical.
Late last year I build an Adarondack chair out of Western Cedar… yeah it was around $400 in materials just for the 3 or 4 boards I needed. Works very well, but holy hell is it expensive. I want to try White Oak next since it has pretty reasonable prices as the local lumber yard buys in bulk shipments. Probably won’t be that fun to work with though. One wood we have in the northern part of our province (Saskatchewan) is Tamarack (or Larch) which apparently is nearly as good as Cedar for outdoor furniture water/weather resistance and similar to Douglas Fir for hardness/workability. It has been used for Telephone poles and dog-sleds in the past. Unfortunately it isn’t used much commercially for timber these days so it is hard to find as boards, but I will have to make a trip to find some and try out as I would love to use local materials for local project.
I got my hands on a lot of junk white oak all twisted etc. Not furniture grade but for planter boxes and bird houses been working great. You cant buy pine 2×4 for what I paid for it . I have 3 different finishes on different ones perusal my guess in another year wont be able to see the difference lol
One thing to keep in mind also: some people, like me, are allergic to some types of (natural) wood. I can literally feel my eyes and sinuses cry out if I spend more than a minute or two in the close up presence of cedar! A few years back I wandered into a wood speciality store and as I passed this one rack of some exotic and expensive wood I felt like a hand reached out and tried to choke me. I kept walking and it went away. Turned back and passed a second time and the same thing happened! It wasn’t cedar and I don’t know what it was, but the point is: make sure you and your family and friends are not at risk going into an allergic shock when they approach your beautiful garden table 😉 It’s not good for your reputation as a woodworker 🙂
White oak is $$$. I have a lot of yellow pine here and it is amazing for outdoor furniture. I’m wondering about laminate bamboo because I am starting to run into that a lot. Last 2 benches I overhauled the hardware cleaned up the hardwood and used a Brazilian oil stain and they are doing VERY good in the hot Texas sun and rain.
Hi James, I have been a subscriber to your website for sometime and will continue to watch your content as I have always enjoyed it and learned from it. I’m just wondering if you are going to post all your future articles by calling your subscribers idiots 🙂. As you can probably tell, I’m not found of title that tell me I’m doing it wrong when the person making the article has no idea how I do it in the first place. If they knew me, they would probably know that I generally do things they way I learned from perusal your articles. Okay, I’ll stop….. Thanks for all your work. 😁
Cypress! I started using this about 15 years ago, after a set of pine Adirondack chairs rotted away. Taking the advice of Norm Abram, I used cypress. Today, those projects are still perfect and have been outside on a pier since then. The only downside? They turn an ugly splotchy gray, just like cedar. Just have to embrace it. A pressure wash will restore the color for a bit. It’s easy to work with, and reasonably inexpensive, the last time I bought some.
Ten or so years ago I built an oversized porch swing for an exposed location. I used white oak, Titebond III, and splurged on bronze screws from McFeely’s. Finished with Sherwin-Williams opaque stain. The finish has held up pretty well. All the joints are still tight. I did not glue the slats in place so that they could be easily replaced if one broke. Not needed to date. 2″ bronze screws were applied generously to all the joints. The slats were done with 1″ screws.
Having seen what happens to softwood pine decks, I would never ever specify pine as a decking material. It is functionally useless for the task in my estimation. Even if it is H4 treated, it never stands the test of time. And as my dead buddy used to say, “If you don’t have enough money to do the job right, how do you have enough money to do it twice?” I have only ever built decks using tropical Quila hardwood. It is at least twice the price of pine, but it lasts about 5 times longer, and looks, and feels far superior to any pine product. On top of this, it does not need to be coated in anything, and it adopts a beautiful grey colour over time. When your Quila decking finally gives up the ghost, after many decades, you have the added bonus of being able to chop it up and burn the old deck in your wood stove without guilt: it’s not filling the atmosphere with arsenic and other harmful wood treating chemicals. This is one reason I specify wet Macrocarpa for in-soil use: It’s ground stable for at least 15 years, and doesn’t leach anything into the soil.
Regarding stainless steel fasteners, specifically nuts, bolts and screws – it has been my experience, both as a homeowner and boat owner, that big box store “stainless steel” fasteners are of a lower grade than marine grade stainless steel and will thus rust/corrode at some point in time. There are 50-year-old 316 stainless fasteners on my boat, and they look “good as new” compared to what I’ve used from the big box stores. 316 (sometimes referred to as 316L or A4) stainless steel will cost more, but you’ll get a longer service life out of them.
I really appreciate your realistic advice. I’m a renovation/finish carpenter in costal New England. I often recommend my customers to let their hardwood decks naturally gray with time. When I first meet them, they want gray trex to start with. Lots of old structures and wood bridges here are white oak. It can last many decades if you don’t let anything grow on it, keep it clear of leaves, dirt, mold and moss. If I do put any protective top coat on something I’ve had a lot of luck with F and P.
We have what is marketed as protective stain. It is absorbed by the wood and it stays there for a very long time (5+ years) and prevents rot almost completely. I have 10 year old pieces of scrap pine lying around in the garden that are still good to be used. I have a few points about fastening too. Glue doesn’t last in hot summers, so does poly based finishes. Screws other than stainless steel varieties do not last long if they get wet. I think the best ones are IKEA style fasteners, I have wooden IKEA furniture in my garden for the past 14 years, I painted them 3-4 times, they are still in good condition. The problem with them is they are hard to source where I live. Finally, never trust metal corner brackets, I learnt it the hard way. Do proper joinery, 2×2 is far stronger than 2-3mm mystery metal. Finally, make sure your projects have no location that the water would collect, design it in a way so that the water will drain or it should have large enough opening so that it would dry.
Iroko is a lovely hardwood if you want a bench that’ll really last, & it’s surprisingly cheap in the UK (not sure about US). Unlike oak, it holds up very well even without oiling & I think it ends up looking better over time & exposure to the elements. I’d always keep oak oiled & preferably burnish it to keep it in good shape. Those parts that do have to stand on the ground & soak up water can be made from treated softwood too, sort of like horseshoes but for your outdoor furniture.
Has anyone ever heard about outdoor projects made with wood stabilized with Cactus Juice? I stabilize woods for knife scales, but never considered bird houses, benches, chairs etc. White oak is getting the Adirondack treatment with stabilized wood this summer. Thanks for the heads up on the wood selection. 👍
Humid Southeast Texas here. I’ve been building benches, swings and tables from treated #1 pine for years. Always planed and sanded smooth. Haven’t had any issues yet. Still smooth and easy to sit on. I have an octagonal table with seats which has been out in the weather for 30 years. Still in excellent condition. Works for me here. Right now, most other woods here are way too expensive.
Some areas of the Midwestern US (Wisconsin)are blessed and cursed with black locust trees. The blessed part comes from the fact that black locust lumber will withstand outdoor weather for at least 20 years. Even untreated black locust posts will not rot in the ground for 20 years. The cursed side comes from the fact that it is a very hard wood to work with, literally being very hard. Much harder that hard maple and very close to Hickory. Also, the smaller branches bear thorns that are needle sharp and are about 2″ long. I source mine from some Amish sawmills. If I want it to last it’s right up there with treated wood with no dangerous chemicals.
Nice article. However, you start by mentioning redwood and teak, and as a guy who has owned a lot of sailboats, I would say that anyone who thinks teak will last well outdoors without looking and feeling bad may be in for an unpleasant surprise. All of the teak on our sailboats needed to be stripped and re-coated (with a UV resistant “spar” varnish) every 2-3 years, when it was on the outside of our boats. Yes, a little of that may have been from being around salt water, but all of the inside teak, exposed to the same “vapors”, did fine…it was the sun that did in the teak coatings and then the teak itself.
What about shou sugi ban, the Japanese technique of charting the outside layer of wood? I’ve heard differing claims about effectiveness, but i understand that it greatly prolongs the life of wood by creating a water and bug resistant surface. That said, it can cause warping and burned down workshops.
Alaska yellow cedar is da stuff. But good luck finding any and the species is threatened with extinction. We’ve used it for many, many years for foundation pilings for its excellent rot-resistant qualities even in muskeg and in saltwater pilings because of its natural oils which are resistant to marine borers. My own sailing vessel is built with yellow cedar on white oak frames and it’s 59 years old, all original planking intact.
Cedar doesn’t work well in Houston. It’s blistering hot all summer (which lasts 5 months) and rots in our heavy heavy rainfall and high humidity the rest of the year. I’m interested in solutions from others who live here. I usually paint for exterior use but that’s always been siding. And that blisters on the west side of the house. So I’ve never built outdoor furniture.
I live in California where redwood is the goto lumber for outdoor projects. Unfortunately, the lumber yards only stock sap wood and try to pass it off as though it has properties similar to heart wood. I have a photo of a 4×4 redwood post, removed from my house, with termite damage. It’s half sap wood and half heart wood. The damage is limited to the sap wood. If you would like the photo, let know how to send it. Roger
If you are in the right area, hemlock, a soft wood pine tree – not the bush that makes a poison tea, is very rot resistant. I’m fortunate to be in the Catskills with a lot of hemlock on my property. I have a small sawmill and many others do in areas like this. Look and you can find wood cheaper than a big box store.
yes cedar stands up well to mother nature but, but is splits easy and because it is soft, it will require more support that even white pine or even fir. If I am going to use a coating then I will use a high solids stain or I will take a good oil based paint and thin it with linseed and mineral spirits, to get it to sink in deep. if at all possible I will coat the wood before I put the project together and then make sure to treat the cut ends with the same product I coated the wood with. stay away from box store products as they have a limited use, some products look good but just do not stand up to the elements, I had one oil base paint that chalk up before I even finished putting the product on, I was working in direct sunlight and it just did not like it. I ended up scrapping it off, allowed it to dry completely and then sanded and applied a new coat once it got a bit cooler. Don’t skimp on paints or stains, this is especially true outdoors. Paint store make their products to be used in your location and box store paints sell to stores all over the country so they may not have taken your location into consideration. What works good in Arizona may not work well in Pennsylvania.
If you are more adventurous, some companies are starting to sell recycled plastic turned into ‘lumber’. I am considering it for an outdoor table after seeing how it turned out at the local park. The issue is there is not a wide distribution and obviously not everyone is into the plastic look and feel.
Alaskan Yellow Cedar (actually Cypress). Super easy to use with hand or power tools and awesome for things like decking and boats because it doesn’t splinter. It’s also more rot and insect resistant than Western Red Cedar and treated lumber. Common uses: carving, boatbuilding, siding, flooring, decking, outdoor furniture, musical instruments (flutes, soundboards on guitars), boxes and chests, and more. My only criticism is it has a unique odor but only when cutting and working with it.
Tyloses are what make white oak better than red oak for outdoor use, as well as for liquid-tight barrels. The problem with outdoor finishes is not the finish, it’s the mindset of people who think “one and done” will suffice, and not even think about upkeep until it’s too late. It’s outdoor, people! It’s gonna take a beating, no matter what, so plan on having to do more maintenance. And get to it before it gets too bad. Great article, Stumpy!
CATALPA. light; strong; lasts forever outdoors with no treatment. look into small businesses with wood-mizers and contact local tree companies for sourcing raw logs. for something absolutely indestructible that will last a century or more, there is always osage orange. this wood cannot be nailed nor screwed into without pre-drilling. mulberry is a similar but softer alternative, with rot resistant characteristics. these woods will reward those intrepid craftsfolk who seek them out and rescue them from the chippers.