reeves 4th March 2006, 09:22 AM heyya'all, yesterday i collected some cut timber fomr a house up the road, they was gonna burn it..mate next door says its the chinese empress tree....
my Q is has anyone had experience with this wood....?
i found a link on the net
http://www.worldtreetech.com/home.htm
and its seems to be pretty impressive stuff indeed...lots of positive properties...
just gotta turn some and dry it/.....
cheeeeeeeeeers
NewWoody 4th March 2006, 05:16 PM Hmm... don't know about turning it... I think it's a softish to medium wood. Whatever else, it's a really nice shade tree. Very fast growing, have one in my backyard... here's some pics of it.
bitingmidge 4th March 2006, 05:29 PM reeves,
there are a couple of recent threads:
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=25910&highlight=Paulownia
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=25814&highlight=Paulownia
New Woody,
Just make sure that you have plenty of room to chop it out before it gets too high eh?
P
:D
reeves 6th March 2006, 10:54 AM hey thanks guys..i have checked the uther threads too...i now know much more than i did...
derekcohen 6th March 2006, 11:59 AM Here is one more thing ..
After cutting ours down, sectioning it into logs, painting the ends, and leaving under cover to dry out .... some months later ... some of the logs have sprouted shoots are are growing again!!!
We have had quite a lot of trouble killing off the bloody tree as the roots pop up somewhere and grow. I have put my wife in charge (well, she did try once and weed the lawn with Roundup:eek: ).
Regards from Perth
Derek
Schtoo 6th March 2006, 09:54 PM I know it's light and not terribly hard. I guess very much like poplar.
It's called Kiri here, and there's a story as to why it's commonly found in furniture here.
When someone had a baby girl, they would plant one of these trees in the yard. By the time the girl had grown up and was about to be married, the tree was big enough to make most of the furniture for the newlyweds, which is what the father of the bride would do.
Nifty huh?
I only have a pair of sandals (geta) made of the stuff myself. Might be interesting to play with though.
AlexS 6th March 2006, 09:59 PM (well, she did try once and weed the lawn with Roundup:eek: ).
Is there another way?:confused:
Vasco 7th March 2006, 01:24 AM Reeves,
I have used it as linning boards under my alfresco area. Very light in colour and weight, took stain very well and can handle water without warping. Well that has been my experience with it. I have since tried to buy some however haven't had any luck sourcing it.
Kind regards
Vasco
bitingmidge 7th March 2006, 08:46 AM I have since tried to buy some however haven't had any luck sourcing it.
As Schtoo says, it's marketed under the name Kiri here as well.
I have spoken in the past to a couple of WA companies that sell it under that name, so you may have more luck chasing "Kiri" rather than "Paulownina".
Cheers,
P
graydog 8th March 2006, 10:36 PM my wife wrote a thesis on the stuff. seems pretty good although not very resistent to dings. it has a similar density and feel to balsa.
the japanese love it but only if grown in japan and fairly old. they like to make chests of drawers out of it. thier test of a good set of drawers made from paulownia is to shut one drawer and make the other pop out from the air pressure!
Greg Q 8th March 2006, 11:13 PM Nice coincidence...I was going to ask here tonight for a Melbourne source. I have been instructed to make plantation shutters for the house, and was hoping that this timber would be a good choice for the blades of the shutters, and available easily.
Schtoo 9th March 2006, 02:01 AM Graydog, I've seen that. Freaking amazing.
Especially when they pull the drawer back out, and the pushed out drawer pulls back in all by itself.
(They do sell something here they call 'file cutter' as best as I can work out. Looks awfully like rubber wood, but is also light in colour and weight, also not terribly resilient. Great for torsion boxes though.)
reeves 23rd March 2006, 08:33 AM thanks for the info all....vasco, try http://www.paulowniatrees.com.au/ (http://www.pauloniatrees.com.au)
they seem to suppliy the timber...
and the story about planting one for the daughter, thats how i got my chunks...
Ted up the road had planted it some years ago when his daughter was born...
his wife dies some years later...
sadly Ted passed away recently and Noel his sisters husband had the job of cleaning his place up and doing some repair as it is to be rented....he just cut the tree as he thought it was 'dead'. They lose leaves then regrow...so
we found it cut up and ready to burn...Noel had no idea what it was but now it gone so the daughter misses out i guess, dunno if she knew about it..
cheeeeeeeers
john
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