Thread: importing wooden moulding planes

AFAIK, they don't need to be fumigated because it is processed timber. Even better if it has been sealed with oil or similar.

However, I have to ask - why not Terry Gordon's moulding planes?

I'd like to buy locally, but... the HNT Gordon planes are AUD1780 for five pairs, Jim Bode has second hand sets for USD295 up. If I buy a set for USD400 I'm likely to still be ahead.

I see what you mean about highly processed wooden articles. The import instructions do say that the item being imported must exactly match an entry in the list of highly processed wooden articles, not be similar to an item on the list and there is no exactly matching entry, so I suspect that a wooden plane would be read as a woodworking plane and the wooden component would be assumed to be a tool handle, for which there IS an entry, but I think that there is still some risk. I may be sounding paranoid, but my last surprise of that kind cost me $1k on a piece of second hand machinery.

Hi Greg

I imported some wooden spokeshaves and block planes mid-year. Ordered from Hong Kong, but shipped directly from Shenzen, China. No problems - delivered by AusPost.

May be different rules for used stuff.


Cheers

Graeme

Originally Posted by coffeefro

I'd like to buy locally, but... the HNT Gordon planes are AUD1780 for five pairs, Jim Bode has second hand sets for USD295 up. If I buy a set for USD400 I'm likely to still be ahead.

Quarantine are likely to be most concerned with the possibility of introducing bugs so what happens at the border MIGHT depend on whether the planes are described as "used" or "antique". Either way any residual dust or shavings are likely to make life difficult.

Ian,
I agree. Its the uncertainty that goes with engaging with the judgment of a customs officer that makes me uneasy. I think I'll just have to bite the proverbial bullet in the new year and see what happens.

Greg

It's not a customs issue, it is a quarantine issue under the Department of Ag.

As well as seeking advice or clarification, you can also apply for an import permit for mail order items in advance of shipping. If the package is held at the border on suspicion of being a prohibited import you will be contacted, and need only produce the permit to have it released. Of course, if the permit is not approved, don't buy.

I've done time in various government departments and I would NEVER make a decision with financial implications based on my interpretation of website information.

Tel. 1800 900 090 GIve em a call before reaching for the credit card.

Goodvibes,
There's no question of the item being prohibited, its likely to be beech or a similar timber, not rosewood, ebony, mahogany, lignum vitae or the rest. The BICON permit will cost $120 to lodge and it appears, $60 for the decision, and seems to be inapplicable anyway. The question is about fumigation of a wooden article, which is far cheaper to arrange at source than it is in Australia. I'll give the Ag department a call, but I suspect I'll get a non-committal answer about it being the decision of the officer who inspects the parcel.

Greg

I don't foresee a problem with this. If you're concerned, contact JBT and just tell him to write "antique tools" on the customs dec and then split the package into different shipments to keep the value down. Unless you have a jealous ex or something who works for AU customs, you should be fine regardless.

I've had many moulding planes from (mostly) England (of the roughly 100+ years old variety) - it has never been raised as an issue over six or more deliveries over maybe as many years. (None for a while recently 'tho.)
Also from the UK, brass & wooden try squares in 8 or 9 sizes ... and now that I remember, a good number of wooden hand-planes that I started with, twice sent by ship to save freight costs.

There was a box (two?) from the US (Donnelly auction) that was all transitional planes ... and never had it raised in any way.

Cheers,
Paul

Originally Posted by coffeefro

Goodvibes,
There's no question of the item being prohibited, its likely to be beech or a similar timber, not rosewood, ebony, mahogany, lignum vitae or the rest. The BICON permit will cost $120 to lodge and it appears, $60 for the decision, and seems to be inapplicable anyway. The question is about fumigation of a wooden article, which is far cheaper to arrange at source than it is in Australia. I'll give the Ag department a call, but I suspect I'll get a non-committal answer about it being the decision of the officer who inspects the parcel.

Greg

None of that is necessary (inc. the phone call).

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

None of that is necessary (inc. the phone call).

A little more than those few words may be helpful.

Personally I would likely take my chances on any package NOT marked in red lettering Really Good Drugz getting through.

However.

Your thoughts on wood products not being of any concern at the border would be of use to us all.

In the light of all the other comments, particularly pmgee's response, and my own numerous experiences of bringing in tools with wooden components.....none of that is necessary. I don't recall the Dept of Ag ever being raised before in similar discussions, let alone spending a coupla hunnert dollars with them..

And I'd already said this as the first response to the thread:

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

AFAIK, they don't need to be fumigated because it is processed timber. Even better if it has been sealed with oil or similar.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

In the light of all the other comments, particularly pmgee's response, and my own numerous experiences of bringing in tools with wooden components.....none of that is necessary. I don't recall the Dept of Ag ever being raised before in similar discussions, let alone spending a coupla hunnert dollars with them..

And I'd already said this as the first response to the thread:

Well you can learn something new every day if you keep your wits about you. Department of Ag is the relevant authority, and work alongside customs at the border.

Here is the general version of the relevant regulations:​​

1. Import conditions – identify and comply

All wooden, bamboo and similar articles imported for personal use are subject to import conditions, whether imported as passenger luggage, through the mail, via a courier service or through freig​ht.

2. Declare it

All wooden, bamboo and related articles entering Australia must be declared to a departmental officer on arrival, whether or not you believe you have complied with all import conditions. How you import the item will determine how you declare it.
In your luggage

If you are bringing timber and wooden related articles with you on an international flight or ship you must declare these items on your ‘incoming passenger’ card.
Through the mail

Items being imported through mail must be clearly labelled with the contents of the parcel, box, or commercial invoice (if applicable)

Now the chances of getting busted are pretty damned slim. Unless the package smells good to the dogs, or it trips some other flag such as a dodgy point of origin, it's 99% likely to just roll on through Customs and Quarantine without even a sideways glance.

However. Given that the original question was not "Am I likely to get caught", but "Is it allowed" Then a response of "Nah no problem" is not what we are looking for.

Originally Posted by goodvibes

It's not a customs issue, it is a quarantine issue under the Department of Ag.

As well as seeking advice or clarification, you can also apply for an import permit for mail order items in advance of shipping. If the package is held at the border on suspicion of being a prohibited import you will be contacted, and need only produce the permit to have it released. Of course, if the permit is not approved, don't buy.

I've done time in various government departments and I would NEVER make a decision with financial implications based on my interpretation of website information.

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.

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.

1. Of those, there have been about 15-20 packages of rasps and files with wooden handles coming from France. It was not up to me to fill in any Customs Decs or anything else for these. The manufacturer packs them up, fills in whatever paperwork is required from his end, and they are sent by either Fedex or La Poste (originally). I am just west of Sydney but regarded as being within Sydney Metro by most authorities and companies. Fedex deliver to me (as do TNT and a whole bunch of others) and deliveries such as La Poste, Deutsch Post, USPS, DHL Paket etc are finished off by Australia Post.

None of those packages from France have ever been queried for any reason (either timber or value), or held up. All delivered within 7 days of sending. Some of them may have been opened for inspection, but I don't particularly recall seeing the evidence.

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.

However, with the Shipito packages, the Customs declaration has to be done online by me. I was accumulating packages from all over the American Continent to my address in LA, consolidating them into various larger packages, selecting a carrier (usually TNT) and having them dispatched to me. The online Customs Dec that I had to fill in was somewhat restrictive. There was only ten lines allowed for different items, even though I might have had 30-40 different items in a given box. The number of characters for each line is only something like 20 (I haven't done one for a while).

None of those packages has ever been queried for any reason (either timber or value), or held up. All delivered within 7 days of sending. Some of them may have been opened for inspection, but I don't particularly recall seeing the evidence. Some were queried by Shipito before they were sent. They are very strict about what a knife or edge tool might be, so one learns to be discrete with descriptions.

Shipito have different interpretations of various things than their actual carriers do, and this is very relevant. A while ago, TNT were bought out by Fedex, and Fedex will no longer accept consolidated boxes, (which is giant PITA). Australia Post have also become a carrier for Shipito, but according to Shipito, AP will NOT accept wooden items of any kind or size.

Now this is complete TOSH as we all know, but - AND HERE'S THE RUB - if you try to get a package sent with the AP carrier and it has the slightest hint of timber in it, then Shipito will pick that up immediately, and reject it. It goes back to the virtual mailbox and another carrier has to be selected. This is only a Shipito rejection, not an AP rejection.

The reason that is so relevant to this discussion is that Shipito clearly have some super-easy way of detecting wooden items buried inside boxes. Probably X-ray, but I don't know. Whatever system it is, it is very easy to deploy, and I have known it to pick up very small timber components that I had not accounted for. What I do know is that it is not picked up by physical inspection, because they have repacked the box perhaps a number of times, and there are boxes within boxes, sometimes within boxes. Nor do they tell me what it is - they just say "rejected" and it's up to me to determine what the offending component is. Clearly Aust Customs would have as good as or better equipment than Shipito for detection of "stuff".


So my point is:

• there is no facility to do anything about the Dept of Ag in the (electronic) paperwork.
• There is insufficient facility for adequate description on many occasions.
• All timber items/components have always been delivered, one way or another.
• None of the packages have ever been queried at this end, and nor have I EVER been asked for explanation
• I have never bent the Govt rules, nor have I tried to "get away" with anything.
• AFAIK, the onus for declaration is always on the sender (in this case Jim Bode), and I would recommend a description of "Hand Planes" which is a legitimate description. I would not invite scrutiny by having them declared as "wooden hand planes".

As a curious aside, out of those 300+ packages I have had sent, THE ONLY ONES to be queried by Customs are those from Germany with Festool products in them. Furthermore, the occurrence of query is far too high for this to be mere coincidence. I have probably had around 90 Festool packages sent, and about 30 or so of them have been queried, so that's 1 in 3, compared to none in 200+

Some (15?) of those Festool packages have had packets of wooden Dominoes in them. This was not the reason for the query by Customs. It has always been about justification of the price, which is done by providing the invoice to them online. ALL of the queried packages have been released without any GST etc, except for one lousy package. In that case the dealer put a backordered part in without telling me and the value got tipped over $1000 by $6 due to a change in the exchange rate between when I paid the dough to the dealer and when the package was sent (which is when our Customs determine the exchange rate).



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.