Shou sugi ban

[nativewolf]

Anyone experimented with the traditional Japanese charred wood siding?

Yakisugi & Shou Sugi Ban: Preserving Wood Like the Japanese ? Underlyn

some pics but fundamentally incorrect on how they actually char the wood.  The following is much better, traditionally the siding is put together on a triangle or a square and then just torched.  

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[LeeB]

Looks pretty quick for the char. Lot of burn for just a couple of sheets of newspaper. I know ceddar is the traditional wood, but how well does it work on other woods?

[nativewolf]

Looks pretty quick for the char. Lot of burn for just a couple of sheets of newspaper. I know ceddar is the traditional wood, but how well does it work on other woods?

I suppose the juniper, when dry, is fairly heavy in combustable oils.  But yes, when they make it a tall furnace it really goes!
There are some youtubes of people experimenting with other woods.  I'd be very interested in seeing if there are actual studies of UV degradation.  Termites are a huge problem in Japan and many buildings had a foot or two of masonry on the floor.  However, they have lots of quakes so pure masonry was not great.  Now that Japan's post WWII forests plantings are coming on line I expect that Japan could actually export quite a bit of juniper siding.  If they could get employees to harvest.