Reaction And Tension Wood (Timberbee)

From the Quicksilver Metaweb.

We see Trees as Still, Gentle Giants, waving in the Winds. Yet, in Truth, they are poised in Eternal Combat, One with the other, Frozen in moments of Intense Battles for the Light, In Wars, which rage over the Eons, as these Lumbering Armies Reach Forever Upward, Strive Forever Outwards, Rising to the Heavens, Marching towards the Poles, and are, Forever Beat back, further and further Inwards, to the Equatorial Regions, by the Relentless, Advance of the Frozen Monoliths, we call, Glaciers.

Reaction and Tension Wood seem to exist to Aid the Tree in it's reaching, in seeking an equilibrium. In a Tree, upon the banks of a bit of open water, seeking to claim more light than it's neighbor, Leaning further out, bending Upward, striving to climb further, faster, reaction wood, on the outside of the bend, seen as Tubes filled with Liquid under extreme pressure -- Pushed, not differently than as with Hydralics. Guyed, on the Inside of the Bend, Strong Tension Wood, seen as Bundles of Steel Cables, under enormous Tension, pulling, acnoring, working hand in hand, with the Reaction Wood.

To those Shaping the Fallen, Butchered Carcases of these Great Beings, Tension and Reaction Woods play important roles. Though it is hard, if not impossible to tell before hand, whether these types of wood are playing important roles in the logs underfoot, for, Logs, like all things, seek balance, and the Body before us, does not strike nearly the same poise it did whilst alive, nor even as it did before being bucked to it's present length.

As the Log moved to find this present form, so it will as we begin hewing it. Cutting into either Tension, or Reaction Wood will weaken one side, and strengthen the other.

Sawyers have little choice but to take multiple passes, allowing each log to "React" as it will.

While it is not feasible for Hewers to take this approach, They have an option not realistic for Sawyers; To Work Two sides of a Log at once, or, a bit on each side if there be but One Hewer. In this way, it is possible to Hew a Very Reactive Piece into a Much Straighter Timber than if it were Sawn.