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Thread: The end of Victorian Ash?
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23rd April 2024, 10:55 AM #1Senior Member
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The end of Victorian Ash?
Hi all
Apologies if this has been posted elsewhere
I have become very fond of using Victorian Ash for my carcase construction for my projects.
It has been readily available, affordable and best of all relatively easy to find quartersawn boards that have perfectly straight grain and no defects. It's an absolute beauty to work, it planes easily and consistently. However, it can be prone to tear out.
Well we have all seen what is happening in the Victorian forests, and the result has been the closure of certain forest for wood extraction. Obviously closure of forests means a reduction of supply from public forestry estate.
The reduction in supply means that Victorian Ash means two things. First the availability will decrease - an art supplier/wholesaler sent an email recently about them liquidating all their Vic Ash framing supplies because they are deleting the line. While I have been able to get some Vic Ash at my local timber yard very cheaply, I have preferred to go to a specialist timber dealer to get better quality and more variety of Vic Ash boards. I foresee that I will be entirely reliant on the specialist timber dealer for Vic Ash in future.
Second, cost - scarcity means higher prices (Economics 101). My recent purchase of Vic Ash went from $28/lm to $31/lm and its still readily available (from what I can tell). Timber prices haven't (noticably) gone down from the COVID price surge. So it will soon become an uneconomical to use Vic Ash for projects, so I will be going back to 'Tasmanian Oak' (and the various species falling under that label).
Is there something I am missing about Victorian Ash?
Are there plantations about to come into production that will restore Vic Ash supply (but probably not at the quality we are used to seeing).
Are there large areas of private native forestry where select trees will maintain the supply of Vic Ash over the short to medium terms?
(and yes this question kept me up last night...)
Anthony
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23rd April 2024 10:55 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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23rd April 2024, 11:26 AM #2
Anthony
I don't think I would be concerned about using Tasmanian Oak instead of Victorian Ash. My understanding is that Tas Oak comprises three species and adds one to the mix compared to Victorian Ash. Tas Oak is Mountain Ash, Alpine Ash and Messmate Stringybark. Victorian Ash does not have Messmate in the mix.
Of course, as you probably already know, none of them are Oaks or even Oak lookalikes.
Regards
PaulBushmiller;
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely!"
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23rd April 2024, 11:43 AM #3
Don't you love common names, and then "trade names" that permit the sale of a number of species with similar properties under a single name.
Even though wood / timber is a renewable resource in theory, we simply do not have the resources in old growth forests or private and public owned (leased???) plantations or suitable available land for new large scale plantations to satisfy current demands. Any push to expand the use of timber to replace other building materials i.e. steel will place the existing resources under further pressure.
Victoria and WA are facing similar issues to the closure of the timber industry in Far North Queensland in the 1980's with the World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics rain forests. Compensation is practically nonexistent, with plant and machinery worth a mere fraction of their worth pre closure.
Now, rain forest species are difficult to obtain in small quantities with a very few small scale saw mills about, however legacy stocks of sawn timber becomes available at times. Large commercial volumes are a pipe dream.Mobyturns
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23rd April 2024, 01:45 PM #4Senior Member
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My issue with 'Tasmanian Oak' is the quality can be quite variable, given it's from a loose assortment of similar looking woods - including one called Messmate, it's there in the name. Vic Ash has been more consistent and more appealing timber.
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23rd April 2024, 02:07 PM #5Member
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This, IMO is superb timber for fine furniture work.
Eucalyptus delegatensis, commonly known as alpine ash, gum-topped stringybark, white-top and in Victoria as woollybutt,
Is that available to you.
One problem is when a retailer doesn't know their timbers and you can't talk the language with them.
About as useful as lumping any meat off a steer as steak
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23rd April 2024, 03:09 PM #6Senior Member
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Alpine Ash is 'Victoria Ash' (along with its relative Mountain Ash). Knowing timbers is one thing, knowing whether or not I will still be able to source quality stock at a reasonable price is another.
That goes to the heart of my question, if Vic Ash becomes not longer available what are the alternatives (beyond Tasmanian Oak). Or for small wood projects will there always be some stock around from private forestry (or plantations), reclaimed and recycled timber, hidden stockpiles in people's garages? Or is there a chance that the Victorian Government will allow forestry on a smaller less intensive basis in forest to supply the furniture industry?
I ask these questions because I am genuinely interested (my first job was in forest policy) and worried about future supplies.
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23rd April 2024, 07:19 PM #7Member
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Anthony I was naming a specific species that if you ask a quality miller here would know just what your dilemma is.
To say "Tasmanin oak" lumps in a whole range of eucalyptus timbers to the ignorant reseller who probably has no idea of the attributes other than its all the same despite it coming from different tree variety and location. It's very poor marketing IMO.
I'm with you 100% on your concerns and have been for yonks as I see our forestry practises reduced to a mere morsel of what we once had.
Having worked in and around trees all my very long working life I'm so acutely aware of what we have lost in opportunities to supply quality saw logs for furniture on into the future.
300mm doesn't cut it for me and yet thats touted as a good log today.
So I can't address your query but do know, at the moment, Victorian trucks are leaving Tasmania loaded with our quality saw logs.
Such has been in the media.
That's still not addressing your dilemma other than someone over there is still milling top quality timber
On a side note, I was tasked with informing the powers to be of any suitable bridge building trees I found when traipsing the bush.
Not sure that'd be even a possibility these days.
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24th April 2024, 08:07 AM #8GOLD MEMBER
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