Thread: importing wooden moulding planes

Originally Posted by goodvibes

Then a response of "Nah no problem" is not what we are looking for.

...which is very different, and somewhat careless or carefree connotation to what I said which was "none of that is necessary"

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I see Rob STreeper is reading this as I type. Rob has sent wooden handled hammers from Texas to me, so he might be able to comment on what he had to write on the box at USPS.

I've been watching these threads because I'm preparing to ship yet another package to Aus. This time however it will be all metal parts - saw blades for IW.

When I shipped the box of hammers, saw screws and files to Aus last year I had to fill out a very (excruciatingly) detailed customs declaration form through USPS online. I had to itemize completely and weigh each item and it all had to tally in the end. The hammers all had hickory handles, I think there were five or six in the box. I never was contacted by any of the national authorities involved and I gather that Brett wasn't either. Just make sure that the selling party fills out the online declaration form correctly.

P.S., when is the next HNT group buy?

Interesting Rob. It seems that USPS requires more detail than Shipito does. What's curious about that is that USPS is one of the available carriers to here via Shipito, and they make do with the same scant declaration that I have previously described. That declaration is filled in, and then the carrier is selected - all carriers are given the same declaration.

Do you recall if their online form said anything like "wooden items/components must be declared" or did it just say "detailed description". In other words were they prompting for wooden components pro-actively? Even if they were it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a Govt request, as can be seen by my last paragraph in this post.

Far as I recall the form asked for a description, number and weight of each item. Nothing specific about wood. There was something about liquids, flammables, batteries, atomic weapons and so forth.

Originally Posted by rob streeper

Nothing specific about wood. There was something about liquids, flammables, batteries, atomic weapons and so forth.

Yep, same as the Shipito form, although they do let nuclear weapons through.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

GV, I think you may be making this an unnecessarily bigger issue than it is, and the intentions shown in the above quote seem to be making more work than is necessary. With respect (and I mean that) it may be as a result of your "time in Govt depts" seeking to cross and dot everything in sight. I'll expand upon that last bit towards the end of this post.

.......


Coffeefro - my advice is to keep it simple, within the law, and don't put your head up unless you are required to. There is no point in trying to make this more difficult than it has to be, or than is required. Unless things have changed within the last 6 months, there will be no requirement for the sender to address the Dept of Ag, because there will be no facility for them to do that.

This all got a bit confrontational, probably my fault through careless language. And I agree with a fair bit of that long summary.

However. These are facts.

• If you bring anything into this country you ARE addressing the Department of Ag. They will have officers at the entry point, working alongside customs; and reading and acting on the very same forms. Ag are solely responsible for the issue of biocontamination, which specifically includes ALL wood products.
• All wooden, bamboo and related articles entering Australia must be declared . There is nothing ambiguous there.
• It does not matter one whit who has brought what into the country before without experiencing a problem. No more than if somebody told me they had walked blindfolded across a freeway without being hurt. Although the quantum of the risk versus consequence is a little different in that case.
• Any procedures or processes which are the policy of the sender or the carrier are irrelevant, except insomuch as they are an attempt to assist you to comply with Australian import regulations.
• The recipient of a mail package is solely and completely responsible for compliance. As a minimum, strict compliance with the letter of the regulations would require the package to be externally marked with something like "Tools including some wooden components".
• Sealed, varnished or otherwise finished wood is indeed viewed as a lower risk category. But it is not exempt, and god help you if you unlucky enough to lose the import lottery and have your undeclared wood discovered; and doubly unlucky enough to have some exotic borer or other wood eating bug in it as well.

Some people may choose to go to the trouble to pre clear; some might try to walk the fine line between complying and not drawing attention to the package; some might just play the odds and try (probably successfully) to sneak it through the system.

ME? I'd make the phone call; I'd try to get the answer followed up in an Email; and I'd do exactly what was suggested. Worse case is you draw attention to the package and increase it's chances of being one of the small percentage which are inspected.

Just a possible minor delay.

Unless the wood actually is infested. In which case you don't want to bring it in anyway, do you?

FYI to the OP, Jim Bode listed a couple of nice sets tonight, including a matched set of skewed H&Rs.

I have just been reading the following site, as well as some others:
https://bicon.agriculture.gov.au/Bic...ue&IsAEP=False

They keep on about "highly processed wooden articles" (which is apparently what a tool handle is), and "containers". That whole page reads like large scale importation, to me. In any case, point a. is the relevant one, which says no permit is required.

So hand planes can either be sent as "highly processed wooden articles" which means they will be more than likely opened for inspection, taped up and put back on the conveyor belt for delivery, or described without mentioning wood or timber which means they might be opened for inspection (as they will be X-rayed), taped up and put back on the conveyor belt for delivery.

Either way, it's a non-event, with no need for any extra work to be done.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

I have just been reading the following site, as well as some others:
https://bicon.agriculture.gov.au/Bic...ue&IsAEP=False

They keep on about "highly processed wooden articles" (which is apparently what a tool handle is), and "containers". That whole page reads like large scale importation, to me. In any case, point a. is the relevant one, which says no permit is required.

So hand planes can either be sent as "highly processed wooden articles" which means they will be more than likely opened for inspection, taped up and put back on the conveyor belt for delivery, or described without mentioning wood or timber which means they might be opened for inspection (as they will be X-rayed), taped up and put back on the conveyor belt for delivery.

Either way, it's a non-event, with no need for any extra work to be done.

I think we've arrived at more or less the same point from different directions. I agree that the pre permit is probably not an answer here (which one phone call would likely confirm without wading through pages of non-binding general advice beauracratise) I'd also be a little cautious about information that sounds like large scale importation. My skim reading found that personal use and commercial consignments are not always under the same rules.

The non declaration route has an additional hazard. If the package is contaminated, you are screwed. Not just burn or return on the package; a decent chance of fines and other sanctions. Is it worth it for a few days potential delay?

It can happen, too. Down here on the south central coast of Victoria I see contaminated wood (obviously with bugs already here, most often borers) frequently. And the evidence is not always readily visible. I have an more than one occasion brought home antique tools or collectables and ending up throwing them in the fire.

So we make sure the supplier specifies, and avoid the admittedly small risk.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

My experience (in detail) is as follows. I have brought in about 300 or more packages from various parts of the world over the last 5-6 years. The ones relevant to this debate are those that have had wooden handles or other wooden components, so that brings the number of potential packages down from 300 to perhaps 50 maybe 40.

2. The balance of the 40-50 packages containing wooden items have almost all come from the USA or Canada, and that is somewhere around 30 packages. Maybe not all of them had wooden parts, but certainly a majority would have. It is these packages that are the most revealing and relevant to this discussion, both in terms of what is required paperwork, and how things can be discovered.

Almost all of those packages were sent from my Shipito address in California, but around 10 were sent by Lee Valley from Canada. The LV packages were all the same as the other French packages, in that I didn't have to do anything at all.

Hi Brett
just to clarrify.
Lee Valley is a Canadian company, but international shipments are fulfilled from their US warehouse in Ogdensburg, New York state.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed. This thread has been a bit more contentious than I thought it would be. My original question was about fumigation, there being no question that moulding planes can be imported. It is not uncommon for moulding planes advertised in the UK to have borer holes in them, suggesting that at some time there were borers in them. That means that it is possible for moulding planes to have borers in them and thus need fumigation at the point of import (or possibly be destroyed, I don't know whether freight and parcels are treated differently in that sense). Hence my question. I never suggested that I wasn't going to declare what they are, or have the sender lie about the price or any of the other apocalyptic options canvassed here. I just wanted to know what people do about fumigation. Clearly the answer is "nothing".

What I'd like to avoid is what i experienced a few years ago with the freight of a quite different kind of antique, which I discovered needed fumigation once it arrived (it fell into a category of second hand goods that required mandatory fumigation; it hadn't crossed my mind that a coffee machine might need to be fumigated) and there was a Monty Python-like list of charges that went with the fumigation (taking goods out of store, inspection, putting goods back in store, writing letter, taking goods out of store, fumigation, putting goods back into store, hand-over to customer, misc. handling charges). I'll order some planes in the new year, have a conversation with the vendor (probably Jim Bode) about borers and see what happens. If the planes do arrive with bugs in them, they will spend some time in plastic bags in a freezer and there will be another conversation with the vendor.

The definition of "highly processed wooden articles" is actually fairly narrow, despite the appearance of the list, what you get from it is a lower likelihood if inspection. I'm not worried about that at all.

Originally Posted by coffeefro

Thank you to everyone who has contributed. This thread has been a bit more contentious than I thought it would be. .

I am going to stand up and take the bulk of the responsibility for the contentious part. Reading back my apparent tone in some posts is quite far from my intent at the time of writing.

For that, apologies to you and to FenceFurniture. My only defence is that I was having a fairly ordinary couple of days dealing with extended family problems.

Goodvibes,
No need to apologise. In my experience, extended family stuff is best for rough rip sawing and making big mortises with a big pig sticker, and less good for dovetails and paring...

Greg

Coffeefro

I think your thread has just about done it's dash and been fairly well sorted out. Rather than add too much here I would refer you to this thread:

Overseas purchases - USA.

where there is some additional and much of the same information.

I would add that I have used Shipito in the past (but no longer) and shipped primarily hand saws: Probably a dozen or more shipments. I am waiting for an overdue package (not through Shipito) and in the light of some comments regarding timber restrictions contacted the Dept of Ag. No problem with timber handled hand saws for the reasons FenceFurniture outlined above. It would be the same for any timber tools. They come under the category of "processed timber."

Regards
Paul