Thread: Light timber that is highly figured

Regular Vic Ash can have figure that rivals Blackwood, but you gotta find someone who'll let you pick through a pack to find what you want.

Maybe "Mountain Timbers" in Kilsyth? Worth a try.

Its probably not going to help your much but WA Marri occasionally has some really nice figure.

This is an example from a Marri I milled some 10 years ago.
Still have the slabs around the side of the house. Sorry not for sale.
fiddle.jpg

There's a local church that has most of its pews made out of figured Marri - look pretty specky - it's almost too much in those sorts of quantity.

Ive come across fiddleback in vic ash but I sort of want to be able to walk into a store or miller with lots of stock and be able to grab a board when needed.

I'll give mountain timbers a call.

I havent really seen much Marri for sale.

Whats queensland maple like? Its something which is listed on the Mathews timber site.

Whelan the warehouse has quite a bit of huon pine which is an option.

QLD Silver Ash, Jacaranda, Scaly Ash are worth a look at.

Originally Posted by Mobyturns

QLD Silver Ash, Jacaranda, Scaly Ash are worth a look at.

Must be a different cultivar of Jacarandas up your way, MT. I scrounge every bit of Jacaranda I can around here (it's a great wood for Windsor chair seats!), but the best I've seen for figure is an occasional swirl. Rather irregular grain due to their growth habit (another tree that grows in the dark!) but I've not seen one I'd call highly figured yet. It's a good wood to work with but has a high movement with moisture. Our Jacaranda-topped kitchen table shrinks & expands about 10mm every year.

Qld Maple (Flindersia brayleyana) is often highly figured, almost overwhelming at times: Desk1.jpg

It comes in the widest range of figure of any wood I know - everything from fiddleback to 'storm at sea' patterns. One of the best cabinet timbers in the world, too, imo, lovely stuff to work with. But make sure you get enough of the same batch to complete your project - it can be hard to find a close match in the next lot. I made that mistake with my desk, & couldn't find the extra I needed. The figured wood I found was too obviously different. Ended up using much plainer stuff for the sides because it stood out less.

Although the percentage that is highly figured seems to be very high with Qld.Maple, it still makes plenty of straight-grained stuff, so as for any figured wood, you've got to be able to search through the pile to get patterns & amount you want. The sellers used to not mind too much, many years ago, because most people preferred the plainer wood, and they were happy to have someone take the 'wild' stuff away. In Nth America, the demand for figured woods is high, so millers & dealers tend to sort it out & sell it as such (at a premium). The small millers & boutique sellers do that in Oz, and will try to supply what you want if they have it. Good wood is like gold, though, you may stumble on a nugget, but mostly you have to do a lot of searching & digging to find it....

Cheers,

What are the chances of Britton timber's Qld maple or silver ash having some figure if I was to order from them. They dont have racks for you to sort through. Not worth it?

You can ask them if you can choose your pieces of wood, because you're looking for figure. They will drop a load of timber from the racks and you can look through that. Or, you could ask them if they have figured QLD maple in it's own bin. I do this when I want fiddleback Blackwood. They are really a good company to buy from.

Regards,

Rob