Thread: trade for American woods?

Agree with Seriph - that Tiger Maple - wow . Seen a plain box made of that and I mean just 5 bits of it plonked together and sprayed with stain - looked magnificent!

As for River Red Gum rough milled some a while ago that is going to make up a dining table when I get round to it! Here are a couple of photos, should have wet it before the photos doesn't do the rich red justice really...

importing small quantities fron the US is no problem at all.
as long as it is.
dry
clean
healthy
sawn on all faces
has no bark attached
and is not a baned.

need less to say no holes, mould, dirt,filth or things living in it.

And the most important thing you left out - DECLARED!

The conditions of import from the USA for non-Myrtaceae timber with dimensions under 200mm for non-commercial purposes are:

1. An Import Permit is not required.

2. A Quarantine Entry is not required.

3. Each consignment will be subject to an inspection to verify that it is free of live insects, bark and other quarantine risk material.

4. If the consignment does not meet the above conditions it will require treatment as detailed in the Commercial conditions below, re-exportation or destruction.

For full information check the AQIS website.

Steph

Of course you'd declare it.
Only a complete idiot would try and get something thru without declaring it these days.

cheers

seriph1 says "anyone who knows the material will attest to the fact that it is a bugger to photograph"
I'd like add that it's also a bugger to machine. I worked in a high school for 6 years as the wood, metal & plastic technician and I always shuddered when students brought in an old redgum post or railway tie to dress down for their next project. God that stuff is hard! Apart from the rich claret colour that gets better with age (make that another Cabinet Sauvignon please) I'm not overly impressed by it as a furniture timber. It is harder than fort knox to penetrate (turns thicknesser blades into jam), has an extremely short grain with very low lateral strength, quite often it's riddle with gum viens, due to shrikage and warpage issues it takes some expertise to season, and is it's heavier than gold ingots. It does, however, makes great bridge timber! Now I know I'm new here and I wouldn't want to upset the old timers (that love their redgum) but there are some great other Aussie timbers:
Desert Oak, Swamp Oak, River Oak - Casuarina
Blackwood - Acacia
Mahogany Gum - Eucalyptus
Huon Pine - Dacrydium
Black Pine - Callitris
Myrtle (oldest living thing in Aus) - Nothofagus
Silky Oak - Grevillea & Cardwellia
Queensland Maple - Flindersia
Red Cedar (a hardwood and not a true cedar) - Toona
Black Bean - Castanospermum
Blackheart Sassafras (for ornamental turning)- Atherosperma
White Honeysuckle (for ornamental turning) - Banksia

It's a real pity that our early settlers left us with the legacy of "old world" names for our native timbers. Some of the exotic Aboriginal names seem to fit a lotbetter - Mallee, Wilga, Wandoo, Coolibah, Currajong, Biggera-biggerra, etc.

JB
I dare say that I agree
Great for a a slab table that isn't to be (read that "doesn't want to" or "can't be") moved. but working with it I have found less than pleasant to say the least.
BTW RRG or E.camaldulensis is found over this part of the world but no one seems to talk about it (well much anyway) not even good enough for sleepers!
Their version of red gum over here is Marri because it has red gum that often seeps/pours our of it due to insect damage and it's a blonde timber ... still much nicer to work than Camaldulensis if you can avoid the biggest of the sap pockets .

I feel the only interesting redgum pieces are the burls - the large warts that are cut from old trees. In the hands of an accomplished artistic turner they can produce some fairly impressive results.
I would be extremely surprised if redgum can't be found growing in the US - maybe in California and other warm/dry zones. The only issue would possibly be the (im) maturity of the trees.

Okay folks, I would definately would be interested in some swapping. This week my platter is pretty full and wallet thin. However, I would be interested in some small swaps for inlay, pen blanks, ect. Ive some curly maple scraps and a failed clock face I haven't decided what to do with yet. Can get chuncks(apprx. 8x8cm.) of mesquite easily enough, I buy it by the bag and use it for bbq flavoring(yum yum). Also I have a source of free red oak 3 hours away (literally by the truck load: 2 meters and down by 4cm and down, various lengths and widths. An old country millwork shop and they burn their scrap every other day. My brother in law is talking of milling some local native wood (dogwood, cedar, sweet gum, ect). And one last thing, have recently have come into small amounts of piano key ivory for inlay.
If I could figure out how to get this dagblasted *%$#* computer to post some photoson this forum I would. If you want email me at [email protected] (the space underlined)and I'll send some photos that way.


"waiting for the electrician or someone like him"

I'd like some snakewood if anyone can source it for a reasonable price. Attachment 49743 The dark wood.
Cheers

IF I could please get you to have a look here
https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=58803

there might be something that you would be intereseted in (Oh and Swapping is prefered of course)
Mark
Salty72(at)tsn(dot)cc

no idea what snakewood is but that guitar is spectacular

Originally Posted by Shedhand

I'd like some snakewood if anyone can source it for a reasonable price. Attachment 49743 The dark wood.
Cheers

G'Day Shed Hand,
Have you imported any Timber into Tassie ( Legally) , I have thought about it but when I inquired the regulations and Quarantine laws made it TOO hard.
I have bought in Raspberry Canes for the farm from the Mainland and the cost and such made it unsuitablely expensive for a hobby.

Just wondreing if things have changed?
would love some Ebony and have a heap of Houn Pine root slabs full of Figure I could swap.

Cheers Andrew

Originally Posted by seriph1

no idea what snakewood is but that guitar is spectacular

terry gordon has some info on snakewood here http://www.hntgordon.com.au/newslettersold.htm go to 4 july 04

Cheers