Thread: Timber Sample Collection

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Olive
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Blackheart Sassafrass
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Queensland Red Cedar
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Radiata Pine
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American Oak
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Jarrah
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Blackwood
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Blackbutt
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Red Pine
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Meranti
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Utile
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Oregon
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Cypress Pine
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Baltic Pine
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Kauri Pine
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Black Locust
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Deodar Cedar
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Atlantic Cedar
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Figured European Ash

I have my own list with 158 species I have, but with yours I'd suggest TTIT's list would help. See here http://www.ttit.id.au/eggpage/alleggs.htm (at the top there is a Click here to get list for the spreadsheet)

Originally Posted by Sambo1111

................... Is anyone a member of the IWCS? Is it worth joining? If anyone is interested in swapping samples i have access to anything in the first list.

I'm a member of the IWCS (#9473) and would recommend it if you want to buy or trade standard samples with people anywhere on the planet. If you're really into 'tree spotting', they have some good meetings in places all over the country to have a look at all things wood related in the area (mills, galleries, forests etc). Probably suits retired folk better as I can never seem to get time off work at the right times for the gatherings. Once you become a member you get a listing of all the other members worldwide so you can contact them for trading and so on plus a quarterly magazine with some interesting stuff in it.
Oddly enough most of my trading is initiated through my website by others who collect pieces other than the standard samples - you wouldn't believe how many others turn eggs like me!

Thanks TTIT, I think i'm going to join. I like the challenge of finding the local species myself, cutting them up, sanding and polishing. I can see the value in trading/buying in timbers from other countries though. What do you finish the eggs with? I'm assuming that you are finding new wood species harder to come by now? For my standard samples i leave a section at the top unfinished and then finish the rest with a satin lacquer.

Recently polished:

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Deodar Cedar
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Black Locust
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Figured European Ash
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Atlantic Cedar

Originally Posted by Sambo1111

.................What do you finish the eggs with? ............

Up until about egg# 590 I was using our hosts Shellawax but I got sick of trying to reduce the glare/reflections when photographing them for the website so I'm using a traditional wax now that doesn't change the colour too much and doesn't put a high gloss on them.

If you've got an extra piece of that Utile we could make your first trade!!! - one I don't have in the collection!

Sounds good TTIT, what size do you need for your eggs?

50x50x75 is a good size but 150 would be better I'll PM you some details.

Originally Posted by TTIT

50x50x75 is a good size but 150 would be better I'll PM you some details.

Thanks TTIT,I just replied to your PM but im unsure if it was sent or not. Let me know if it wasn't.

After a trade with TTIT and another donation i have a few more to add to the collection.

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Gundabluie
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Arid Peach
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Bonewood
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Highlands Wattle
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Celery Top Pine
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Canarium
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Taun
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Australian Rosewood
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Wau Beech

These sample photos are great! What would be REALLY good would be to have some way to add comments to each one, so we can get info on each species about real world properties based on people's experiences (like ease of working, planing, finishing, glueing, tear out, properties when turning, allergic reactions, need for pore filling, brittleness, dulling tools etc etc) With these great photos & this sort of info it's would be a fantastic resource for selecting timber for projects. Don't know how easy it would be to do via the forums maybe a thread for each species? I find the existing databases & references a bit lacking in this sort of detailed info, and it would be so good to have a place where people could keep adding their experiences & observations. Thoughts?

Thanks Ross,

That would be a great idea. Maybe a new sub title under the timber section called species guide or something similar and then people can add comments.

OK! We now have a new sub-forum under "Timber" to act as species guide!

Thanks to ubeaut for setting it up.

See here - https://www.woodworkforums.com/f283-t...pecies-guides/

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Red Gum

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Papua New Guinea White Oak

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Golden Parrot

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Surian Cedar

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American Rock Maple

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Silkwood

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New Zealand Silver Beech

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Papua New Guinea Oak

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Papua New Guinea Red Oak

The photos are looking good and could be helpful for others trying to identify their pieces of wood. You are getting some nice looking samples together.

I have a small collection myself that I have been getting together – almost 150 different species. With some species I have two or more pieces where the colours, grains, etc can vary a lot. One thing I would suggest is get into checking and including the botanic name asap. It does get very confusing if you rely solely on the common name. I made this mistake early on and am now only fixing it which is very time consuming. Neil's list was very helpful. I refer to TTiT's website often!

You will also find this one helpful:
http://www.wood-database.com

This is a great database for finding the botanic name from the common name (sometimes TOO many options):
http://www.anbg.gov.au/common.names

Finally, I live in Adelaide as well – would you like to meet and make some exchanges? (PM if interested)

Cheers