Hi Mark,
I might ask you to reconsider your last advice re spiral trees.
In general where spiral grain is encountered then the timbers cut from this type of tree should not be cut into small or thin pieces like braces since the prospect of failure due to slope of grain is high and also when cut into boards these will likely propellor and not lie flat unless recut and planed when bone dry.
There are some applications where spiral trees would be the preferred choice e.g. as in mill drive shafts. Spiral grain tends to dry with a multitide of cracks and provided the direction of rotation (torsional twist) tends to close up these cracks then this will perform much better in service than a parallel grain centre heart timber that exhibits one or two very large drying shakes.
We have discussed spiral grain at length elsewhere in the forums where reports have been received of it being frequently encountered in buildings (posts). I would certainly recommend avoiding this growth characteristic for sills and wall plates in framed structures.
Regards
Ken Hume
