The story of Carmo poles ( Production 2/6)

How can it be that there is a 20-year full warranty on wooden posts?

When you need the warranty, the company no longer exists and no one is home. These are comments we often hear. In the coming period we will be focusing on the 20-year full guarantee on wooden posts. These are not wooden poles, but Carmo poles.

In the previous article we wrote about the 20 year warranty given on Carmo wooden posts. In a series of articles we will look at how it is possible to give a 20 year warranty. This article explains the production from raw soil dust, the cut down tree, to wooden post. To produce a good, strong pole is not easy. In this article we show the philosophy behind the Carmo wooden post.

Carmo wooden post production

To produce a quality, wooden post, sharp quality control is needed. The Carmo Wood quality department reviews all shipments of wood received to assess all suppliers. We analyze the following:

• Health of the wood (no insect infestations);
• Curvature;
• Cuts;
• Diameters.

If the wood does not meet the quality requirements, the supplier is given the opportunity to take his wood back. Wooden posts that meet all the criteria proceed to step 1 in the production process. This is very important for the natural strength of the wooden pole.

• Bark removal and correction - non-abrasive;
• The natural conicity (tapering) of the Pinus is used. The bark is removed and slight corrections are made to the knots (without damaging and/or changing the wood fiber from which the pole derives its resistance).

What is the difference between a Carmo wooden post and other wooden posts? A Carmo wooden post retains the outer fiber. Herein lies the strength of a wooden post.

Planed wooden post

• The outer fiber, the muscle of the wood is removed or damaged;
• Hides the crown of the knots, the weakest part of the wood;
• The wood remains cylindrical;
• The result is a great loss of the natural resistance of the trunk;
• Removes the most recent years of growth. These are the years of greatest resistance.

Milled wooden post

• Wood that is completely planed or turned lacks the bistiest fiber, making the post weaker as a unit;
• The core of the wood is not in the middle of the post;
• It is different than planed because the base will be the same diameter as the top. This results in less resistance than if the post is planed.

Carmo wooden post

• Bark removal and correction specially developed by Carmo Wood;
• Only the lower part of the tree is used for the wooden pole. Live knots do not enter the post. This is where a wooden pole often breaks;
• Only knots from dry branches that do not decrease in resistance;
• The fiber of the wood is not cut (the muscle remains intact);
• Only a slight correction of the knots takes place;
• The most recent growth rings are retained;
• The wooden pole retains the same resistance as the tree trunk;
• The wood has a greater conicity (tapering) thanks to the species Pinus Pinaster, the Mediterranean pine. Which means that the thickest part of the pole is in the ground.

To make a wooden post with a 20-year warranty requires a vision. Carmo Wood has the vision to make a wooden pole use its natural strength as much as possible.

In the next article we will talk about the drying process of the wooden pole. How important that is you will read in the next article.