PAGE 4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
SATURDAY, APRIL 18, 2015
HOME & GARDEN
Sustainable, locally grown Albus wood good for fencing
BY SAM BARBEE
HERMISTON HERALD
In recent years, Mike
McKamey of All That
Wood in Hermiston was
having trouble acquiring
enough old-growth Western
red cedar to provide enough
fence board for his custom-
ers.
Two years ago, Lee Jam-
erson, a salesman from the
Collins Companies, a forest
product company based in
Portland, asked McKamey
if he was interested in a new
type of lumber, know as Pa-
cific Albus wood. Jamerson
brought it, McKamey liked
it and he kept some in his
yard.
Pacific Albus is a hybrid
poplar hardwood almost
perfect for building. It is
also a local product — bred,
grown and harvested at the
Boardman Tree Farm.
McKamey sat on the
new Albus wood for about
a year to see how it would
weather. Like all wood that
is untreated with stain or
paint, it grays with mois-
ture, a side-effect of rot.
But, the wood keep its in-
tegrity as it grays and re-
mains strong and sturdy.
After the year was up
and he was satisfied with
how it handled the year’s
worth of sun, wind and
moisture, McKamey began
to sell the “next genera-
tion’s fenceboard,” a name
he came up with to create
interest. Since last April, he
said for every 10 customers
who come and buy fence-
board, seven buy the Albus
and that number may grow
to eight soon. He said some
still prefer the more estab-
lished Western red cedar,
but the Pacific Albus is be-
ginning to catch on.
SAM BARBEE PHOTO
These 14 boards show the difference between treated and
untreated albus. The three gray boards on the right are two
years old and have been outside that long, while the three
on the right have been treated and have been outside for two
years. The boards on the left, out for a year, have all been
treated with stain.
“Last year I just came up
with the name ‘next gener-
ation’s fenceboard’ for the
simple fact that it’s a sus-
tainable product that we’re
able to grow and harvest
(locally).
“The fact that being able
to bring something to the
public that’s a sustainable
product that’s really excit-
ing.”
A main difference be-
tween the Western red ce-
dar and the Pacific Albus
is how it takes paint. Cedar
must be primed before ap-
plying any coats of paint,
otherwise it will begin to
peel when exposed to any
levels of moisture.
That isn’t an issue with
Pacific Albus. Paint can be
applied directly to the wood
and it’ll hold, and stain
goes on easily, as well. It’s
another reason McKamey
dubbed it “the next gener-
ation of fenceboard,” and
another reason it’s been so
popular. Plus, with the way
Albus grays, it becomes an
attractive option to those
who don’t want to stain it,
who just want to put it up
and have it turn its unusual
shade of blue-gray. How-
ever, McKamey suggested
that if sprinklers are close
to the fence, it should be
treated anyway.
“Even though it’s going
to go gray, the sprinklers
are going to the fence,”
McKamey said. “My favor-
ite thing to people is — I al-
ways explain to them: think
about where you put your
fence up and where you put
your sprinklers. You can
water your fence as much
as you want, but it’s not
going to grow. You’re just
going to ruin it.”
Albus is also a stronger
grain than cedar. When cut
into narrow slats, cedar has
a tendency to split when
screws or nails are inserted.
To demonstrate Pacific Al-
bus’ grain strength, McK-
amey cut it into slats and
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