Thread: know anything of Paulownia timber ?

Originally Posted by apricotripper

just curious what people think of it.. a local blokes got a plantation of the stuff. Trying to flog it to me for $2000/cube. 10year old

I am sure that Whitewood will be along shortly to give you his views as a grower/miller.

Shannon Rogers (The Renaissance Woodworker - http://www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog) did talk about it in one of his podcasts - with pictures. I will let you know when I find out which episode.

Shannon might be worth talking to because he builds Windsor chairs sometimes.

The episode is #26. The discussion of paulownia is the last 8 minutes

Whitewood classes it as more or less comparable to Western Red Cedar so its not really suitable for chairs. Its also very pale as well as soft.

Whitewood says he charges $2250 per cube, so the price looks good

Originally Posted by echnidna

Whitewood classes it as more or less comparable to estern Red Cedar so its not really suitable for chairs. Its also very pale as well as soft.

Eastern or Western? Michael Storer recommends paulownia as a replacement for WRC in boats

Originally Posted by apricotripper

just curious what people think of it.. a local blokes got a plantation of the stuff. Trying to flog it to me for $2000/cube. 10year old

If he is trying "to flog it to" you for that price in retail quantities then your onto a good deal. If he wants you to buy it in commercial quantities, say in lots in excess .5 of a cubic metre, then you can do a lot better else where.

An other thing to watch with Paulownia is how it is processed from log to lumber. If it is not done properly including washing and kiln drying there can be serious problems especially with timber of larger dimensions.

John

Originally Posted by apricotripper

just curious what people think of it..

Ive used a bit of the stuff for long board replicas (balsa alternative) and for blocking up big patterns, (jelutong alternative)
it's light and soft and I use it for a bunch of things, I mainly use it for (disposable) remote control combat gliders ( big fun) what do you want to use it for?

thankyou kindly everyone. john for the advice.

so its softer than pine even ? was thinking of using them in my chair seats like the pine I used in the picture.. about 45mm thick . 450 x 450. the leading edges are shaped down thinner. sounding like it may be too weak there if I used the stuff.

It origionated in china eh ?

hello ? did I say something wrong ?

Hi Jake

Paulownia is as light as balsa and as soft, if the stuff I've used is representative. Mine was a bugger to handplane (like planing a wooly jumper), the grain was boring as can be, and frankly the only reason I built some stuff out of it was that it came from a tree we took down in the garden.

In the East it is prized for boxes for knives, chisels and furniture. No accounting for taste.

The stuff grows like a weed and is like the relative that you cannot get rid of. We spent forever trying to kill the bloody tree. It had grown twice the size of the house and was still not even a teenager. It spent its time sending roots around the garden and popping up like the periscope from a submarine. At full moon we danced around it and chanted. Eventually our curses prevailed and it went. Thank God!

Plantations are grown because it is easy to grow - quick and cheap. It is quite stable. It dries quickly. It should be a cheap wood to buy. It grows on trees.

Regards from Perth

Derek

ta. I've never used it.

so you reakon it would be unsuitable for chair seat blanks around thin parts of the profile like in the picture ? pines ok for this and pines pretty soft. do you think its significantly softer than pine ?

Originally Posted by apricotripper

ta. I've never used it.

so you reakon it would be unsuitable for chair seat blanks around thin parts of the profile like in the picture ? pines ok for this and pines pretty soft. do you think its significantly softer than pine ?

No good for your chairs.Dont even think of using it for chairs

ok ok. much softer than pine then.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

ok ok. much softer than pine then.

several times softer than pine