Thread: Source of sustainably harvested Tasmanian timber

Originally Posted by mikm

Hi all
I'll be doing a driving trip around Tassie soon and would like bring some furniture timber home, while avoiding old-growth. I wonder if there is anyone down there along the lines of Bowerbird?

Any suggestions?

Nothing similar. The state labor and liberal parties and the forestry department all think that substainability is just advertising hype. For many years they have been squeezing the smaller operators out of the industry in favour of you-know-who.

In Tas one basically avoids the large retailers - they generally have crap timber at exorbitant prices. As you drive around you might look at, in no particular order:

* Britton Brothers, Smithton.
* Morrissons sawmill, just out of Queenstown (far better than their Strahan site).
* Island Specialty Timbers, near Geeveston.
* Roger Linnel sawmill, Craddock.
* Tasmanian Craftswoods, Leslie Vale.
* Musketts sawmill, out of Richmond.

Small operators are conrinually setting up then going broke due to unreliable log supplies and political skullduggery. If you see a small mill, just drive in - they are usually best.

Enjoy your tour.

Cheers

Graeme

Hi,Im one of those small operators.Minor species timber,in N-E corner of Tas.Ph 03 63546294. m/b 0439018987. Hope to see you. Steve Barry Branxholm.7261

Thanks for the heads up, lads. I don't think the missus was planning on checking out the NE corner this time Steve, but it's pretty hard to pass up an invitation so I might convince her that some more time at the Bay of Fires is in order for an excuse to swing by.

Any more suggestions of sustainable operators?

Another one you could look at is " L.K.Davis Craft Timbers "( very reasonable ). The mill site address is Mawbanna Rd, Mawbanna, which is also in the N.E. First time we went down we had a 1 ton tray top ute and an 18ft. caravan and came back with the ute full and every hole in the caravan filled up with timber and slabs, was not allowed to take the ute the next time but the caravan came in very handy.

Originally Posted by mikm

Hi all
I'll be doing a driving trip around Tassie soon and would like bring some furniture timber home, while avoiding old-growth. I wonder if there is anyone down there along the lines of Bowerbird?

mikm,
There isn't a lot of Tasmania's special species which don't come from old growth forests.

Originally Posted by sawmiller

Another one you could look at is " L.K.Davis Craft Timbers "( very reasonable ). The mill site address is Mawbanna Rd, Mawbanna, which is also in the N.E.

More Northwest Coast see map

For a while there i was buying plantation hardwood - a type of tas oak. It was very pale timber, almost white & wide grained as you would expect from fast grown plantation timber. Wasn't bad timber but i havn't seen any round in a good 18mths. I prefer to use plantation timber but these days that appears to only leave me with pine. As Grahame mentioned, there is a serious lack of forward thinking in this state & a whole lot of political & financial bullying to keep small millers out of the market.
These days i've resigned myself to the simple fact that old growth trees are going to come down by the truck load every day weather i like it or not so i might as well use it. But i will always keep my eye out for the plantation hardwoods as my first choice.

Originally Posted by Rattrap

For a while there i was buying plantation hardwood - a type of tas oak. It was very pale timber, almost white & wide grained as you would expect from fast grown plantation timber. Wasn't bad timber but i havn't seen any round in a good 18mths.

There is heaps of plantation grown hardwood in the south of the state - great for construction work, but the blandness and ultra-wide grain does not make it a furniture prospect. I will not plug the commercial name but it is Eucalyptus Nitens (aka shining gum), not a Tasmanian native although widely grown. Have a look at:
www.mtg.unimelb.edu.au/publications/riparian BAF conference paper.pdf

Although a hardwood it is actually very soft, and IMHO make radiata pine look classy.

The sawmills in the NE corner are well worth thinking about. This is a very little known part of the state, very mountainous, rich dairy country, rainforest, abandoned mines, and narrow, windy roads. Great people. Most Tasmanians have never/rarely been there!

Cheers

Graeme

I'll only have a tradies rack on the station wagon, Sawmiller (much lower max weight than a ute) , so I shouldn't get into quite as much trouble with the wifey. Thanks for the tip. I wouldn't mind visiting Stanley again, so I should get a chance to check them out.

Originally Posted by KevM

There isn't a lot of Tasmania's special species which don't come from old growth forests.

Hmmm. That's what I was afraid of, Kev.

Bummer about the plantation stuff. Bland looking wide grain is about what I would have expected.

I couldn't get your link to work, Graeme, but it gave me enough detail to search for it. I'll read it later this arvo. Try this instead:
http://www.mtg.unimelb.edu.au/public...ce%20paper.pdf

Originally Posted by mikm

Bummer about the plantation stuff. Bland looking wide grain is about what I would have expected.

I couldn't get your link to work, Graeme, but it gave me enough detail to search for it. I'll read it later this arvo. Try this instead:
http://www.mtg.unimelb.edu.au/public...ce%20paper.pdf

Thanks Mick, the link got jinxed in the copying process. The study states that they got an average breast height diameter of 39.3 cms after 10 years. This means that the growth rings, on average, are 19.7 mms apart - bland and soft.

I'd would express a stronger view than Kev - all minor species timber comes from old growth forest, some of which has been selectively logged for 150+ years, and is now being clear felled.

Cheers

Graeme

Its a pitty because plantation timber doesn't have to be rubbish timber, it just needs more forsight than 10 years. Good hardwoods need 40+ years, that means thinking more about future generations & less about ourselves, something we're not so good at these days.
As long as its cheaper to clear fell old growth nobody is even think about sustainable quality hardwoods.