Thread: Pacific Jarrah.... What the?

you could always tell them what you've got is "pacific" jarrah

Pacific Jarrah

I always thought this is a 1970's generic name for any dark wood. It worked two ways - you could flog any dark wood to people wanted jarrah, AND where it was plentiful you could sell just jarrah to people who didn't want just jarrah! Clever market ploy I thought.

Actually just looked up daves ref and can see why it is called Jarrah, almost every physical property is within a couple of % of regular jarrah.

And must see

And Another from http://generation-4.co.nz/.

"Timber Report :Attached is our timber report which details the species available with the main changes having been the removal of Jarrah as a guaranteed species from our range. This is due to quality and stability issues. Good substitutes are Stained Saligna, Kwila and Sapele Mahogany. Pacific Jarrah has proved to be an unyielding dense timber and is not a suitable substitute. "

The more I looked the more of a rat I smelt. The values shown in the lists of physical properties from different source on the web show values that vary by up to 50%. This suggests that most of these values are just made up. I still haven't found where it comes from although one place did say south America. Botanical names also vary. I reckon - the suppliers just get a shipment of something mahogany in and call it PJ and match the timber physical values to suit their shipment.

Well if "Pacific Prawns" come from the Indian Ocean and not the Pacific (and you thought you were buying aussie!!!), then maybe Pacific Jarrah comes from the same region? ie. Far East Asia. Just a thought.

hummmm....

Illigealy logged....
Random Country of Origin....
Varring physical propertys....
"Sapotaceae" - a group of trees numbering 800... mostly evergreen and tropical


THIS IS NOT JARRAH AND SHOULD NOT EVEN CARRY THE SAME NAME!!!!



Thanks for the info guys I'll be getting this info back to my clinet.

Cheers

red mahoghany, E. resinifera, used to be sold, many years ago, as pacific jarrah, not a bad substitute either, when you look at the end product, and rough sawn sometimes hard to pick in the slab form, cos both vary quite considerably, colour wise, both are beautiful hardwoods in their own right and if colour is the only issue then ??certainly a marketing ploy, no better or worse I think, than Tassie Oak, or Rose gum.

It is a rip off, from what I can determine.

Came across the term some time ago when an Australian Hi-Fi speaker company was flogging 'solid pacific jarrah' finish. Upon inspection, it did not look like real Jarrah and when pushed on the timber species they became very evasive. I left them in the shop.

Real Jarrah has a reputation in the Eastern states and America, from what I have read so it looks like a typical disguise for tropical rain forest timber. Just another quality Aussie product being ripped off by scammers by the look.

Cheers
Pops

While I agree that there is probably some 'sharp' marketing going on here, let's not assume that Aussies are innocent of it. What about the native timbers we call 'oak' (Tassie Oak, silky oak, etc) and all the different "Cypress Pines'?

Unless we are going to be really puritanical and only use the correct botanical names for each kind of timber, we are stuck with names which say "this is a bit like....". Pacific Jarrah, is just another in this category (like all the different names for meranti).

Just checked out google and there's a really detailed description of PACIFIC JARRAH (Sapotaceae) on this website: www.nicks.net.nz/products/view/21/12
Best of luck!

Originally Posted by jmk89

.............. Pacific Jarrah, is just another in this category (like all the different names for meranti).

What, like "pacific maple" for meranti?

Mick

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

What, like "pacific maple" for meranti?

Mick

Precisely what I had in mind. I reckon most pacific jarrah is probably just meranti.

David G's link in post #5 links to an ABC report. that is interesting and mentions a NZ based company trying to flog it to cabinet shops in WA and they were reported to the industry watchdogs... Dodgy kiwis

Stay away people, stay away