rare /or becoming rare wood

marekz

marekz

Joined
Jun 16, 2008
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what wood would you name/think of that are becoming rare or will become rarer. i think
1.desert ironwood
2.amboyna burl
3.african blackwood
4.Kauri -from new zealand

anyone agree with mine/ disagree?what do you think--marekz/--what about mammoth ivory or stag--i think these will always be around--stag shed, and the ruskies are fulll of mammoth
 
marekz said:
what wood would you name/think of that are becoming rare or will become rarer. i think
1.desert ironwood
2.amboyna burl
3.african blackwood
4.Kauri -from new zealand

anyone agree with mine/ disagree?what do you think--marekz/--what about mammoth ivory or stag--i think these will always be around--stag shed, and the ruskies are fulll of mammoth
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Kauri and ironwood are already rare because you can't really cut down live trees. I think that the issue with blackwood is increased demand, especially for the jet black heartwood. It has pretty much become the wood of choice for woodwind musical instruments. As far as amboyna goes, you always have the chance of the more "civilized" countries getting mad about the harvesting of the trees and putting the stuff on the "restricted" list much like ironwood.
 
Brazillian rosewood (D. Nigra) - The guitar industry really did a number on this tree. Harvest and import are now illegal (like elephant ivory). Quality guitar billets fetch extremely high prices.

Pernambucco (Guilandina Echinata) - This tree almost went extinct for the dye it produces. Now it is harvested predominantly for violin bows. It seems that the violin industry needs this tree enough that it will do all it can to keep it off the endangered species list (replanting and self-controlled harvest).
 
Get your scuba licence go someplace wher they use to do logging and go down and get some antic wood for your handles. Have to do it somewhere cooler though and in deep water, so the wood is still in good shape. I went down for a cabinit make north of Ottawa and got hime a few logs. he milled them up am made some beautiful desks out of them. Made enough on them that he was able to pay me $600 for something I was willing to do for free.
 
Pau-Brasil, AKA Brazilwood, is great stuff. Dense, sturdy, with twisty interconnected fibers that make it very strong. Great red color, sort of like vermilion wood, but strong enough to use for a striking weapon. I scored some years ago and made it into a Jo, a Bokan, and a Jo disguised as a walking staff.

Alas, centuries of high demand has pushed the tree near to extinction. Brazil forbade the export of Pau-Brazil wood. I can’t and won’t argue against that. So I switched to purple heart as an acceptable alternative.
 
everytime i read something about amboyna burl it always says how rare it is.:jerkit: afzeli xylia-- for anything of real value ( better than good) is already more expensive than top notch ironwood. It is nice but cheeze the price. I know that some coutries are putting export bans / or limit the quantity dramitically. ---atleast plan to. Brazilian rosewood--man if you could find a nice billet of that stuff---realluy nice----you would be very,very lucky. As far as desert ironwood- i hear that it will get worse before it gets better. The development down in the desert has gone a bit looney add that to the poachers--and there will be more restrictions. supposedly the conservationist need to truly assess the ironwood before more will be avialable. --Then there is Mexico--im not sure if its by legal or illegal means (---anyone know of a wood distributer south of the border???) but some ironwood can be bought from there. i have paid for a couple-and to be honest--the quality was not that great. anyway--blah--thankz for listening--marekz
 
Good list. All still available, but the quality declining compared to what was available ten years ago.

Add Thuya Burl to the list for sure. Getting pretty tough to get the densely figured stuff these days.

Rob!
 
Phillip Dobson said:
Brazillian rosewood (D. Nigra) - The guitar industry really did a number on this tree. Harvest and import are now illegal (like elephant ivory). Quality guitar billets fetch extremely high prices.
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What a shame that is. It is really hard to match Brazilian rosewood for beauty.
 
I have aquired some rare and hard to get overall types of wood in the past year. Nick has a valid point and i agree if this thread is about scales in general then mastadon and mammoth tooth would be the most rare as mother of pearl is harvested alot. Ivory like Nick said has been stoped being produced about 10 thousnad years ago. I just got some in a knife deal and it really does nothing for me as far as looks . The bark is a different story but all I have is white and really quite plain . I would have to say BUBINGA is one of the more rare woods as the prices are through the roof.
 
I wouldn't have thought of bubinga as being rare. Mill run boards are only $6.00/BF, that's cheaper than a lot of domestic hardwoods.

Another I thought of is cocuswood (brya ebenus). Supply is pretty spotty, and never in large sizes. Demand doesn't seem too high, though. Which is good because I love the stuff.

Anybody know about the supply of figured Koa? I'm having a hell of a time getting any pieces I like.
 
Phil its not the Koa thats the problem its the guy cutting to get the best out of his wood. Cutting the wood is nearly an art initself,one miss cut and the piece is common. I should have been a little more precise wavy bubbinga or waterfall as some people say is very hard to come by and is very expensive good bubbinga lots of waves and compresion is worth as much as ivory. I only have a few high grade pieces as its too much money common bubbinga meaning no in my own words no waves or nice pattern is 10 bucks maybee 15 bucks a set of scales. Same goes in most woods if you have some amboyna burl lots of eyes versus plain . I am still learning wood and what to look for even after spending several G on the stock I have on hand. I wish I knew more.
 
I think that's the case with any highly-figured woods. Just look at high-grade walnut or sequoia compared to un-figured material.

Woods like bubinga are available in huge boards (even very high quality). I find that when making small objects like handles and boxes, it is worth looking for scraps that the furniture/instrument industries don't want. A flawless knife blank might cost the same as a checked turning blank (of the same quality) that yields two flawless knife handles. People don't like the idea of buying flaws, even if they'll be cut out of the finished product.

Don't limit yourself to the knifemaking industry when buying lumber. The bubinga pictured here was priced at about $30/BF. That's a lot of handles for the money.

06-03-09w19284.jpg
 
Phillip Dobson said:
I think that's the case with any highly-figured woods. Just look at high-grade walnut or sequoia compared to un-figured material.

Woods like bubinga are available in huge boards (even very high quality). I find that when making small objects like handles and boxes, it is worth looking for scraps that the furniture/instrument industries don't want. A flawless knife blank might cost the same as a checked turning blank (of the same quality) that yields two flawless knife handles. People don't like the idea of buying flaws, even if they'll be cut out of the finished product.

Don't limit yourself to the knifemaking industry when buying lumber. The bubinga pictured here was priced at about $30/BF. That's a lot of handles for the money.

06-03-09w19284.jpg
Click to expand...

Phil, I'll take piece #3. (kidding:D) Wow! Nice bubinga!
 
I missed out on those guys too :(. They were only on sale for half a day. I have to be faster next time.

Every once and a while, they'll cut a table slab out of this stuff. Last month they had a table board that looked like #3, except is was 40" x 110". I want to see the table that gets made out of that one!
 
No ones said morning wood yet?

Ironwood is pretty rare over here in England but its getting easier to get although I can see it getting rarer soon, as its popularity grows its going to get harder to get and the prices will rise which will lead to poaching (right term?). Snakewood I think will become more rare due to it becoming more available and getting popular.

As said though 'fossils' will eventualy run out. Sea cow, walrus, whale, mastodon, mammoth will all run out. Sure there are still walruses (walrye?) and whales but they take ages to fossilise and as I said once the popularity rises more people will want it, the price will rise and people will go to greater lenghts to get it. Probably wont be long before museums are robbed!

What we need to do is to find some other forms of good looking handle material so we have back ups. Whats Toucan beak like?

Jamie
 
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