Thread: Birds Eye Huon Pine

I can't comment on the price but I know a guy who used to work for Forestry Tasmania and he say's that Huon is rare like diamonds are rare. Diamonds are very common but De Beer's restrict supply which pushes up the price. From what I understand, this is partly the case with Huon but another factor is a bit of clever marketing to tourists which has inflated the price. Might get flamed for this but I have faith in where the information came from.

So he was asking $800 was he?
Sounds expensive but I am having difficulty finding any, and as my Old Man used to say " It`s worth what someone will pay for it".
How figured or Birdseye is it ? If it`s got lots of "eyes " and is quite figured then it`s prob reasonable.
I reckon you could get it cheaper if you could source it directly off someone who had milled it. It`s just finding that person in Tasmania?????
I might be intereted if your not but would have to see a photo.
Maybe we could go in on it??

Birds Eye is the problem.
Normal Huon should cost around $10-15/super foot
Regards
Greg

Good huon birdseye in clear timber is selling upwards of $25.00 per super foot here in Tassie. I've seen some at $40 per super foot.

Excuse my ignorance but what is a superfoot?

Originally Posted by Ed wood

Excuse my ignorance but what is a superfoot?

12" x 12" x 1"

A couple of years ago a japanese veneer maker paid $26k for a cube of birdseye huon pine but personally I wouldn't go past three or four hundred for what is basically a coffee table piece, unless you happen to have access to a veneer mill...

Originally Posted by Ed wood

Excuse my ignorance but what is a superfoot?

As DJ said, a super foot is the "old" measurement for timber.
It is 12" x 12" x 1"= 1 super foot

So a piece of timber 150mm x 25mm x 2.4m will equal approx 6" x 1" x 8' = 4 super foot this means a lot more to me than .009 m3.

with the timber priced at $21,000 m3 the above board would cost $189.00

A super foot is around 1/424 of a cubic metre so the cost per super foot of the above M3 price is a little over $49.50, this gives a value for this board of 4 x 49.50 = $198.

Conversions are approximates hence the differences between the two calculations. I can calculate the cost of a board mentally in super feet but have great difficulty in working it out mentally in cubic metres.

Originally Posted by Len McCarthy

A couple of years ago a japanese veneer maker paid $26k for a cube of birdseye huon pine but personally I wouldn't go past three or four hundred for what is basically a coffee table piece, unless you happen to have access to a veneer mill...

Len,
I went to an auction in Hobart a couple of weeks ago where a birds eye slab sold for $1400 + buyer's premium and it had some splitting, bark inclusions and holes. Certainly would not describe the slab as clean.

It's size was listed as 2.00m x 1.00m x 55mm but it was certainly smaller than that as it tapered to almost a point with numerous rot holes requiring some "work".

I understand that the veneer mills were paying in excess of $25 super foot, nearly 10 years ago for good birds-eye huon pine flitches and the supply of good large birds-eye logs/flitches has almost completely dried up now.

Er... what 's the price Spiritflutes ? all the calculations are just confusing. But come to think of it that $26k per cube would have to be a wholesale price so your coffee table slab may be worth considerably more than I thought as a one off piece. Lets face it if you can buy it at whatever price there isn't going to be anyone else in the street who has one like it. (Just laughing because we are sitting around a fire of huon chips and offcuts.)

Originally Posted by Len McCarthy

Er... what 's the price Spiritflutes ? all the calculations are just confusing. But come to think of it that $26k per cube would have to be a wholesale price so your coffee table slab may be worth considerably more than I thought as a one off piece. Lets face it if you can buy it at whatever price there isn't going to be anyone else in the street who has one like it. (Just laughing because we are sitting around a fire of huon chips and offcuts.)

I think from what I gather, and this has helped me gague the suverity of the scarcity of this wood, that it is a opportunity that will come round possibly not all that often if ever again, I'll see if theres any room for bargaining, but it has been in an old woodies collection for donkeys years, described as faultless and top shelf so if it looks like described then it will be comming home in the back of the waggon and will be the dearest piece of wood I have ever bought.

It may disturb some of you when I say I will cut this slab up into many blanks. It had occured to me that it was a coffee table size slab but untill I had read a previous post I hadn't considered what it would look like as I was too busy imagining the flutes it could make. I make flutes for a living.

If someone could please explain the different variations within Birdseye as I have never seen this before and I'd love a pic of some finished if anyone has a coffee table or other piece in Birds Eye Huon Pine.

Many many thanks to all who replied

C`mon Spirit Flutes let me have it so I can veneer it and make some nice coffee tables or panels for a dining table.
It`s illegal to cut birdseye Huon into pen blanks.

I have only seen a dozen or so pieces and the "eye`s" seem relatively far apart and random with grain going every which way .Will take a picture on Tue to show you how birdseye Huon "should" be used.
You lucky bugger.
Cheers

Here's one I posted 2 years ago in another thread. Check out the eye on the rails.

Very very nice Kev - Now thats what I call birdseye huon.(rails)