Moon wood wood with special properties?

Benefits of Moonwood Use: Superstition or Scientific Facts?

11.04.2011

Moon wood is not only assumed a special stability but also a variety of positive health effects. In a comparative scientific study, the managing director of the Board of Trustees for Forestry and Forestry (KWF) in Groß-Umstadt near Darmstadt, Ute Seeling, investigated the phenomenon of moon wood.

That as well „Whole wood“ designated moon wood is beaten exclusively in certain phases of the moon and then dried in a slow and natural process. The promises promise not only higher stability, durability, fire resistance, hardness and resistance to pests but also positive effects on body and mind. In particular, the forestry scientist Ute Seeling has now analyzed the objectively verifiable criteria such as the quality of the moon wood in her comparative study. The expert was unable to establish any correlation between the quality of the wood and the different moon phases of the time of impact, but the quality of the moon's wood was particularly high for another reason.

Moon wood with positive effects on body and mind?
The merits of the moon wood are, according to the wood engineer and sawmill manager from the East Hesse Birstein, Sigmund Schuster, obvious. Not only the quality is outstanding, but the wood unfolds a particularly positive effects on body and mind, said the convinced moon wood advocate over the „South German newspaper“. Thus, according to Schuster, moon wood can help with insomnia or unfulfilled desire for children as well as with children bed wetting problems. A moon wood beam behind the head of the bed, push back the reinforced concrete ceiling and it „can calm your head“, explained the wood engineer. For the sawmill manager, the time of impact is a decisive factor. He is convinced that the wood must be ready when hit. This is the case in the last phase of the waning moon between the end of October and the beginning of January, when the tree exhales to some extent and then passes into a kind of sleep with greatly reduced biological activity. At this time was „the shock (...) not so big“, Schuster explained. In his view, consumers should often ask themselves what they would want from humans if they were a tree. What sounds slightly quirky to outsiders is, according to the wood engineer, as a serious wooing for more understanding of the essence tree thought.

Special processing creates a higher wood quality
But with the moon wood, not only the time of impact but also the subsequent processing of the trees is crucial. Thus, after felling, the moonwood logs must rest on the ground for four weeks before being worked up - ideally with the treetop downhill. This costs time and money, since normally all work steps - from felling over the knocking off of the branches to the cutting of the trunks - are done directly one behind the other. However, according to the forest scientist Ute Seeling, this is also the reason for the actual quality advantage of the moon wood. Because the water in the damp wood is led by the imbalance in the crown, needles or leaves whereby the trunk dry in a natural way, less cracks occur in the wood and the moon wood is relatively insensitive to atmospheric moisture. A high quality timber that is well worth the price. Thus, the convinced customers are happy to pay for moon wood almost twice as much as for normal timber.

Impact time is irrelevant for the wood quality
The PhD forestry scientist, Ute Seeling, had according to their own information „with a lot of optimism“ carried out a comparative study in which spruces fell in different phases of the moon and the wood was subsequently examined. According to the scientist, however, no connection could be established between the time of impact and the quality of the wood. „No investigation has proven any effect“, explained the expert. However, the quality of the moon wood is independent of the time of impact by the subsequent further processing particularly high. „Not the time of impact, but the processing is the deciding factor“, stressed the forest scientist. For in fact the moon wood is of higher quality than technically dried industrial timber. The fact that more and more people in recent years in building houses or furniture purchase on moon wood set, is in the opinion of the managing director of the KWF, however, not only due to quality advantages, but „This trend has been spurred on by the eco-wave of recent years“, explained Ute Seeling.

Moon wood offers quality advantages
The fact that a loss of quality is associated with the current practice of cost rationalization in forestry was already clear before the current study by Ute Seeling. Here, the benefits of a slow drying process have just been reaffirmed. Contrary to the widespread assumption that moon wood is merely a scientifically unjustifiable spinning mill, the forestry scientist who holds a doctorate in forestry has, however, proven that moon wood actually offers quality advantages that can justify a corresponding price markup. Due to the special processing, moon wood proves to be particularly dry, low in shrinkage and crack-free and less sensitive to rot, insect infestation or weathering. The statements on the positive properties of body and mind, however, are not yet scientifically proven and also very open-minded experts such as Ute Seeling showed here rather skeptical. However, the belief in a positive effect often causes actual effects, which - in addition to the increased quality - can then be a bonus when using the moon wood. (Fp)

Picture credits: Dietmar Grummt