Thread: australias wood

Do a search Harold; there's a bunch of posts on this forum and on the timber forum.

we got heaps of Monterey Pine

Tasmanian Oak - Eucalyptus delegatensis, E. obliqua& E. regnans,
Blackwood - Acacia melanoxylon,
Myrtle - Nothofagus cunninghamii, nothofagus gunii
Sassafras - Atherosperma moschatum. The black-heart sassy is really beautiful.
Silver Wattle - Acacia dealbata,
Huon Pine - Lagarostrobos franklinii (formerly Dacrydium franklinii), very slow growing, we
are talking about 4000 years slow here. Yes, that's right, 4,000 and more. Endangered. Trees
mature at 1000 years. They have very special habitat requirements. No-one seems to want to
invest in a huon pine plantation as the returns would take a little while to appear.
Tasmanian Bluegum - Eucalyptus globulus subsp.globulus,
Celery Top Pine - Phyllocladus asplenifolius.
Leatherwood - Eucryphia lucida
King Billy Pine - Athrotaxis selaginoides


http://www.tasmanian-timber.com.au/timber.htm
http://www.tastimber.tas.gov.au/species.aspx
http://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/
http://www.tasmaniantimberframes.com.au/home.html
http://www.huonpiner.com/
http://www.colonialwoodturning.com.au/woodsamples.html
http://www.discover-tasmania.com/timber-festival/
http://www.drive-tasmania.com/

Tas: Myrtle - Nothofagus cunninghamii, nothofagus gunii

Hey, Tas, is either of those two Myrtles called Tasmanian Rose Myrtle? That's about the greatest turning wood I've ever turned.
I was in the Woodcraft store in Dallas last week, and the Australian wood was Super expensive... but I can dream, can't I....

Al .
you can get it shipped direct to you.
from Tasmania.

Originally Posted by OGYT

I was in the Woodcraft store in Dallas last week, and the Australian wood was Super expensive... but I can dream, can't I....

So what do you call Super expensive?

Al

there are several good supplyers from tas , i used www.aussieburls.com for my myrtle (figgered and burl ),he has timber from all over ozz and exports to the USA ,on his web page he say's he shipped a heap of "musk burl "to "Burl Source " in salt lake city http://www.aussieburls.com/new.htm

he do's good deals on 1 cubic meter boxes(4foot x 4foot x 2&1/2 foot high ) ,you might find 5 mates to pich in -US$500? each and import it your self ( same price as your supplers )

OGYT - yes, we have had that query before. Apparently rose is used as a descriptor overseas. Not sure of the mainland.

There are many so-called "minor" species of wood in Tassy in addition to the ones i listed. One presumes they are called minor because there aren't enough to exploit.

A big problem, and this is no matter on which side of the wood chipping debate you might be, is that plantation forestry is bad news for multiple species. It is rather like monoculture agriculture where everything other than the economic crop is considered a weed and undesirable. This means that we lose out. The small turner and woodie gets squeezed out and that makes a craft licence hardly worthwhile.

The practice of clearfelling and burning means that hundreds of tons of good timber is destroyed.

In the future you might see all those poor old wood turners at the side of the road with begging caps out asking for a blank or two for an old turner only to be offered dusty bits of homogenized wood dust (mdf).

I know this is off the track but really imagine crunching up real wood to make artificial wood that forever breathes noxious gas. Something is quite wrong there. And the fake wood isn't very good anyway.

When folks live too far from nature they become unnatural and unreal as to their expectations.

Amen.


P.S. Why not have an unoffical Swap program where folks can swap their native timbers with folks in other countries? Maybe a thread called Timber or Wood Swappers?

Originally Posted by ozwinner

So what do you call Super expensive? Al

To me, super expensive is anything over about 10 USD for a chunk of wood that's 3"X6"X6". If I remember right, it was about 30bucks for that chunk I saw in Woodcraft. That's a lot of money for a small peanut bowl.
I live on a fixed income (cept for a few craft shows a year), and jus about anything I buy takes a while to pay for. I have to plan it ahead of time. (Especially anything like the new lathe!! )

Originally Posted by tashammer

Why not have an unoffical Swap program where folks can swap their native timbers with folks in other countries? Maybe a thread called Timber or Wood Swappers?

It would be nice to have the opportunity. I'd have to save up to do woodswaps, but I've done it before.

Originally Posted by SawDustSniffer

you might find 5 mates to pich in -US$500? each and import it your self

See above. The Myrtle I turned was a gift from a friend. Wanna be my friend?

Originally Posted by ptc

Al . you can get it shipped direct to you. from Tasmania.

Just curious enough to ask... what would it cost to ship a 15cmX15cmX15cm cube of it to the good ole state of Texas?

Here on the 8 acres that we share with the natural inhabitants (kangaroos, possums etc) we have Jarrah (eucalypt), Tuart (eucalypt), banksia, red gum (eucalypt), snoddy gobble, woody pear and peppermint! In Western Australia the list is very extensive due to the huge range of climates from almost rain forrest to desert. Some of the desert timbers are very beautiful due to their slow growing habit.
Jarrah is a hard red timber.
Tuart is a very hard wood, traditionally used in boat building, now restricted to a small area of the south west of WA.
There are many types of bansias, a soft wood, you would probably know the banksia nut as they seem to be exported for craft work.
What we call red gum is also called Marri - called red gum as it secretes a (yes you guessed it)a red gum/sap when damaged.
Snoddy gobble - small native tree, as is wood pear.
Peppermint is a coastal tree, weeping in nature.

JD

Originally Posted by OGYT

Just curious enough to ask... what would it cost to ship a 15cmX15cmX15cm cube of it to the good ole state of Texas?

Check out the postage calculator from Oz Post


Al

Wood swapping happens in turning clubs already of course, and some has been facilitated by these forums but perhaps more could be done.

Question is 'what would be the business model?' ... virtual and free swap meet? toy library? Dutch auction?

Originally Posted by rsser

Wood swapping happens in turning clubs already of course, and some has been facilitated by these forums but perhaps more could be done.

Question is 'what would be the business model?' ... virtual and free swap meet? toy library? Dutch auction?

If you get to participate in this swapping thing, the fairest thing would be weight for weight, and the shipper pays postage.

That way, all the swapper is paying for is postage, (and the timber of course somewhere along the line) and will receive a fair package in return.

Al

the insigator puts a good blank up for bid , and swappers post a pic of there blank(s) / tool , and the insigator chuses witch is the best deal

postage could be a problem , a 300x300x120mm mahogany blank weighs 14kg and cost AU$50 from Darwin to Melbourne , i used that calculator and its AU$120 from Australia to the USA via boat ( 3 months )AU$220 express ( 1 week )
via trucking companys might be better 100kg min cost , $50 to sydney ,just have to drop them off and pick them up from the transport companys

any one want to swap something for Mahogany (blanks up to 500x500x200) or "strange pink figgerd ecalupt" ?