African blackwood

[DaleBagpipes]

hello everyone,
this is my first post in the forum. i am cory dale- a bagpipe maker in brisbane.
i have recently come into contact with a large scale producer of african blackwood. i am planing a large order of musical grade wood shortly. i would like to know if there would be interest enough to bring in a good amount of turnery grade blackwood and if so, what sizes would people be interested in and for what projects. i can say that the cost of this wood would be substantialy cheaper than you would find anywhere in australia.
i looke forward to hearing everyones thoughts-
regards
cory dale

[mkypenturner]

hi cory
not sure what others would like to see in sizes but 20 x 20 x 150 for pen blanks would get alot of interest depending on the end cost ! or if you didnt want to cut down to that size some small boards suitable for the members to cut up themselves thats my thought if you do send me a pm i may be interested depends on costing

[dai sensei]

I'd be interested in some for finials, legs etc, say 50 sq. That way I can also cut it down. Larger Xsects also Ok. Lengths, what ever is easiest for import.

Price dependant of course

[tea lady]

Finial sizes I guess. But maybe bigger stuff to, that could rim a bigger bowl or platter. Or enough for a rather large bowl or platter? Maybe not. Bits for jewelry.

Would also love to see some of your possesses in making bagpipes. Recently had my curiosity piqued in making a wooden transverse flute which I haven;t got to yet. But I'm sure I'll wreck a few bits of wood trying. ), so am curious about bag pipe making too.

[China]

I would be interested in a few peices, 70x70x? I have been dabling in recorder making, I have also been asked to make a replacement pipe chanter for a friend, just because I have scottish heritage and I am a woodturner he thinks it should come naturaly. I do have the brken one to copy so we will see what evolves.

[QC Inspector]

Dang! Wrong country or I would get in on this for future ornamental turning stock (which would be for the biggest it comes in so I could cut it to suit).

Pete

[John Lucas]

I was looking for a 2 pieces1 1/2 inches thick by 8" square to make a high end box for a $100,000 pearl necklace for a jewelry maker friend. I was still searching for the wood when that project fell through. I'm not sure what he came up with as a replacement for that box. It would have been a fun project.

[Tankstand]

Welcome to the forum Cory,

Excellent first post offering us a deal like this.

You know we now all want to see pictures of your handiwork and workshop!

A work in progress wont go astray either!

[RETIRED]

Dale Bagpipes

There is a few You tube videos as well on playing them.

[artme]

G'day Dale and welcome to the shed!!

I used to play the bagpipes but it was so long ago I've forgotten how to!

You might also place this info in the Musical Instruments section.

[hughie]

Hi Dale and welcome aboard.

I guess the bottom line is the $$$. If you could give us some indicator on pricing per kg or volume or whatever.
This would assist many of us in deciding what sizes etc we can order.

[DaleBagpipes]

heres an example of cost- (moderators please forgive me if im breaking some rules by this post- but i dont have acess to a lot of wood workers and want to gauge how popular blackwood would be for turners)
a piece of 54x54x300mm musical grade blackwood would be $30, so thats going to be considerably less for turnery grade stuff. i bought a piece of blackwood smaller than this from melbourne once and it came to $90...
anyway, i realy need sizes of common projects that blackwood would be good for- ie bowl blanks , or handles etc so i can acutaly get a better idea of the cost.
since this post may be against forum rules in some way- please e-mail me at [email protected]

i will post some photos of my work in the instrument section shortly.
cheers
cory

[Durdge39]

Dale, welcome aboard. I would be interested in any pieces with a cross section of 40x40, or 10x40 and a length greater than 100mm. Also would be interested in a piece of musical grade the same as what you have specified there. I can see myself making some lovely knife handles out of this.

I would imagine getting pieces as big as economically possible would be the way to go. Then you can break it down as required and sell based on a cubic meter price perhaps? I doubt you would lose money importing any, as there is always people looking for exotic stuff like that.

Looking forward to seeing what becomes of this. Cheers, Tom.

[rsser]

Bagpipes .... strangling a turkey and calling it music ;-}

That aside, if you convert to cubic metres:

"54x54x300mm musical grade blackwood would be $30"

then we can do our own sums. I'd be interested.

[Ironwood]

I'd be interested in a few bits as well, depending on final pricing , etc.