Question on Woods

No, although I suppose some are less flamable than others.

Why are you asking exactly, do you live in a fire ecology area?

I seem to remember that sequoias can survive fires because of their bark... But off the top of my head can't do any better.

I've got a fairly good reference library in my house though.

I'd be glad to do a little research if you gave specifics.

Please do Lion, thank you so much. I could not find anything in google or jeeves.

ossobuco, I saw in the news where the police tried to burn a chair that had diabolical designs, and they could not burn it. It just would not burn.

I think red wood is pretty fire resistant too.

This covers more varieties of wood than any site I've found, and if something is especially fire resistant, it might be listed.

Redwood (coastal sequoia) is probably sort of wet, at least some of the time.
Ah, but I speak off the top of my head. You want fire resistant, plant an oleander.

But what is your point, Angelique, to stop flames from devouring symbols, or to keep flames from your house?

ossobuco
Maybe there is another reason why the chair did not burn, and not necessarily diabolical.

The chair was supposed to have been carved in a prison, and used by a gang leader to commit all kinds of crimes and rituals.

Thank you roger I will check it out.

I sent them an em asking if such a wood existed. Hope they answer. It could be that the chair was coated with something after making it. But what?

Er, so?
Different woods have different properties, and some of each get dry and dryer in different seasons. As I understand it, dry burns faster, but a fire expert could straighten me out on this if I'm wrong.

some woods contain some oils, and thus they are more explosive than other woods... eucalyptus, for example.

I have personally not heard of woods that don't burn.

You don't sound like you are interested re fire ecology - and if you are, you could look up sites related to that - but more towards why prison carving would be different than some other carving...

I beg your pardon if I misunderstand you.

I always heard that oaks took longer to burn, which is among the reasons we wanted to plant them.
But, a friend told me oaks in his area burned fast in a fire. But then again, he lives in a low rain place.

whatever the specifics of your interest, I suggest you look at google closely, honing down your search quest as you get closer to your area of interest.

I missed, while I was typing, that some fire repellant could have been put on a chair.

I have no idea about that, was busy thinking about trees after your question.

Do you know about google?

I tried google and jeeves already.

Ah, I see I have sounded a bit combative, and I beg your pardon. I suppose wood density matters, re burning time, as well as oil content and water content and that those may vary within types of woods and among different types.
Again, google, if people don't show up here to help.

Just be yourself ossobuco. Not to worry, I usually get answers to my questions. If not now, later, if not here, someplace else, but I do get answers. You do raise interesting points.

Thanks everyone for trying to help.

petrified wood

Petrified wood, now thats an interesting answer. But, could petrified wood be carved?

Roger I just got an answer from the link you posted.

Hi,
I would suggest the Brazilian Redwood(Massaranduba).

Thanks,
Scarlette
County Floors
www.countyfloors.com

Now I have to look up the information concerning Massaranduba.

Just a guess,not having seen the news item, & since woodcarving was involved, is that the wood was impregnated with PEG--polyethylene glycol--which makes the wood fibers easier to carve.

PEG, as far as I know, is noninlammable, being related to antifreeze.

Thank you for the interesting information neko.

PEG certainly is flammable. Its more like a wax that impregnates the wood.

I do some animal carving and I use a Foredom tool. I usually use limewood or poplar cause the final product is easy to paint . If youre carving , why do you want a dense wood? Non-flammability is not usually a basic choice issue for carving woods. The denser, the harder to carve and the more subject to breakout and chipping. Youll need the "Bluestone bits" cause stuff like ebony (im not sure about massaranduba).
What are you carving? inlays for floors? They have laser cutters that you can insert the pattern and itll do the hard work.

wear your dust masks

Hard or soft when you carve on wood you can still get chips. I loved my wood carving classes, but hated the chipping. That fix it putty never worked to my satisfaction, and the chipped area always showed up when I printed the image.

This is becoming an interesting thead after all.