Thread: A Lot of Boxes

abusy and skillful man no doubt!

Had you been to Tassie before? I love the place.

Wow! that's quite a display of boxes and all look great. Last time I was at the Salamanca market was about ten years ago. Thanks for sharing with us.

Hi Artme,

I hadnt been to Tassie for about 35 yrs, so it had changed a bit! Really enjoyed the trip especially the west (Strahan). Bought a bit of wood here and there, some myrtle, sassafrass, huon pine and finally found some tiger myrtle up at Stanley. Saw some nice craft work and an interesting merger of intarsia with marquetry (dont know what else to call it) by a fellow called John Tobin, a nice guy. Picture of one of his pieces attached.

Kind regards,

Barrie

Barrie

Two questions re your first post, what were the bs box prices like and from your contact with the salesman were they selling?

I like John Tobin's bs box. Is he selling it and if so, what is the price?

What will you do with the tiger? If you can't handle it I am sure I can give it a good home!

Best wishes to everyone,

Hi Tony,

Not wishing to be critical but the bs boxes I saw (in the photo) were "made down to a price". Small ones started at $40, larger ones up to $100. One gallery owner in Strahan said that despite the quality they sold well to the tourists. The Strahan gallery had some very nice high quality craft work including the owner's stuff.

John Tobin is a different kettle of fish. He does not sell thru galleries as he doesnt like their mark-ups. He has his own showroom attached to his workshop and home and says he makes a nice living. He has some small items, souvenirs he calls them, for around $50. Typical would be a small oval box 10 x 6 cm with a lift off lid inlaid with an acorn; the box could be tassie oak, cedar lid with the acorn made up of jarrah, huon pine and sassafras.

He was offered $20,00 for the piece in the photo but decided to keep it. he is a very nice guy very approachable, willing to share what he knows and does. Full address is:

John Patrick Tobin
184 Windemere Rd
Tamar Valley
Tas. 7252
Ph 03-63281476
e-mail [email protected]


The tiger myrtle is as scarce as hen's teeth! However the Wild Wood gallery at Stanley gets it from time to time. Maybe be others, I didnt get to all the wood places. Max or Margaret are very approachable ph 03 64583264 or 0418301510; they do the Working with Woodshows so you probably know them already. I got my bits from them (no, you cant have them!). They have a web site Wild Wood Gallery

Jackson's emporium at Hamilton has some nice figured timbers and burls, they tend to be pricey (contact Roger Zanuck 03 62863232 or 0417597331).

It seems the wood places in the north are the best bet for tiger myrtle. I intend going back to check out the east side of Tassie some time. At the moment I am just looking at the tiger myrtle I brought back waiting for the "brain flash" that will tell me what to do with it.

The photos are a pair of tiger myrtle boxes I made some time ago (the small made one out of the middle of the bigger one), it is pretty stuff. My wife gave them away!

Kind regards

Barrie

Barrie

I think you are mean for wanting to keep your "bits" !

I know the dimelma you are faced with, when deciding upon a design. How about posting an image of a sawn edge, perhaps Forum members could contribute to the design and remove that burden from you?

Anyway I've got a Houn tree stump waiting for me, I've not done any Houn stump work before so I am keen to get hold of it, (more boasting) it is so large it won't fit into a car boot!!!

Tony,

Dont drop the stump on your foot. I saw some nice huon stumps and lumps; the guy at Hamilton had half a stump with a lot of bird's eye for $300, very tempting. Unless it is figured it is not very interesting stuff.

I would be interested to hear of your experience with it re finishing; I made a box out of huon and had an intriguing time getting a good finish on it with only grit and tung oil.

Nice suggestion but I like the dilemna and the buzz when the flash comes; then seeing the character of the timber emerge as the oil finish is worked up. I am only allowed to use two finishes, oil and shellac; with one the finish seems to be in the wood, with the other it seems to be on the wood. Different. Just rambling.

Regards,

Barrie

Barrie

My last Houn bs box was finished with Neil's White Shellac. It had a minimum colouring effect which I think is essential with Huon, else it's just another bit of pine!

I am hoping that the Huon stump has some interesting grain. From my red cedar experience almost all stumps have good grain, so lets hope the same rules applys with this stump.

Is John Tobin a UBeaut Forumite, yet?

Hi Tony,

I hope the stump turns out to have some figure stuff in it, stumps usually do.

Dont know about John Tobin, I'll send him an e-mail and ask him.

Best wishes,

Barrie

Just wanted to let you know that we bought a least 8 ton of dried Houn Pine (30 years in shed so well seasoned) and while you may look at a piece of Huon that looks bland it will often be full of Birds Eye once on the lathe. Though while most think Huon Pine is soft some of this timber blunts the chisels very quickly and it is very heavy to handle. Just a word of warning to be very careful of buying timber especially Huon in Tassie as a lot of wet timber is being off loaded to us Mainlanders. This can be seen with the amount of wet cheese boards and badly produced product at the Salamanca Market which is a sin. You also get told a lot of stories about the prices wood-turners have turned down that it starts to feel a little like the fish that got away.

Malcom Nash does make a lot of those boxes and you are right made to a price and as I keep getting told by many stall holders the tourist don't care about quality it is all about the cost. There is still a few stall holders that produce a good product and worthy of a gallery price but can sell that bit cheaper as the galleries put on 100-120% on to what they pay the turner/maker and most only stock your work on consignment.

Just a heads up on the Salamanca Market for any who had dreams like us of moving to Tassie and having a stall. A stall at Salamanca Market cost about $40 - 50,000 but some wood stalls holders want up to $250,000 for theirs and if it is not wood you have to keep selling the other product for 12 months and then slowly bring in you work. Most of the stalls are turners that have been with the market for 20 years or so and did not buy them but this is how it works now. Even trying to get in a casual stall holder you have to be excepted and show the quality of your work and timber is very hard so buying a stall is the only way but who has that much laying around and then you only have a 3year lease and they the council could not re-new (not happened yet but changes are on the way) and then you still have to pay your weekly site fee of around $75.

Due to the problems within the Timber Industry and having the government here in Tassie only being there due to an alliance with the Greens and their platform is everyone out of the forests within 2 years. This will then make us move to plantation timbers problem is there was no forward planning and most of us small wood makers see a bit of doom and gloom. Sassafras, Myrtle and Blackwood along with other species like Horizontal will be very hard to get and prices will have to go up. Due to the precieved worry about Huon Pine I ensure that people get told the real facts as we have enough in stock piles to last for years and years. These stockpiles are further increased with what can be gathered out of old logging coups and at the specified low tidal marks in rivers ect. All other species have not be planted in plantation form so if they the Greens, green groups ect get there way the rest will not be available or in very short supply.

Well hope I have given anyone the heads up about what is becoming a very uncertain business here in Tasmania.

Thanks for the info, Dasha, hope you are doing okay with all that huon pine.

I wasnt that impressed with the salamanca market; it seemed like only about 25% of the stalls were the make it/bake it yourself type (apart from the veges), the rest the usual food stalls and souvenir stuff you see everywhere. I reckon our local Bangalow market leaves it for dead wrt content and colour. However we did see some nice craft work and bought a very tasty Xmas pudding.

Shame about the plantation trees, I'll have to get down there and get some sassafras and figured myrtle before its all gone. Interesting what you said about the huon pine, I'll cut into some of my plain stash to see if there is any figure in it. Tony must have his hopes now!

Kind regards,

Barrie