Woodchuck ALERT... exotic wood supply

ACStudios

ACStudios

Joined
Apr 9, 2001
Messages
2,170
Hello all you woodchucks and woodchuck wannabees,

While doing some research for handle material for SamuraiDave, I got this web site and contact information from Chris Reeve. This place is OUTSTANDING in the amount of different exotic woods available. You can get it by the board ft. and in some instances by the pound. Prices don't appear to be spendy either :D

http://www.eisenbran.com/

-------

Contact info:

I was able to get with Chris this morning and he said to please contact
Clay Eisenbrand at Eisenbrand Inc. about the exotic wood you are looking
for.

Clay's number is 310-542-3576.

Thank you for your patience with us and we do hope Clay will be able to help
you.

--------

If you are looking for something special... this place probably has it (or maybe could get it). At least it is a place to start looking...

Regards,

Alan

... this has been a public service announcement from the HI Woodchuck's Association. ... a non-profit organization. ... nanana na na na naaa WOODCHUCK :D:D:D
 
I'm not a true 'woodchuck', but a few years ago I needed several planks of mahogany (don't know whether you called that 'exotic' or not) for a project (which stills sits 90% completed after 5+ years) and I bought from what was then a fairly local shop, Middletown Lumber--I've never dealt with them on the web, but I recall their prices being reasonable, and in terms of stock, their website lists the following 'exotica':

Australian Lacewood
Balsa
Blood Wood
Bocote
Bolivian Rosewood
Bubinga
Canary Wood
Cocobolo
East Indian Rosewood
Gabon Ebony
Granadillo
Holly
Honduran Mahogany
Ipe
Kingwood
Koa
Lignum Vita
Osage Orange
Pernumbuco
Purple Heart
Red African Padauk
Teak
Tulip Wood
Wenge
Yellow Heart
Zebrawood
Ziricote


cheers, B.
 
But I play one on TV! :D :rolleyes: ;) Man, ya' gotta read the fine print! Thanks for the laugh, Alan.


Tax, tag, and termites not included. woodchuck retains all tru-oil. To the chuckmoblile!

-Craig
 
What kind of tree is saatisil? I did a search for it and came up with nothing. Is it a species of tree only found in Nepal?

:confused:
 
It's some kind of oak tree. I don't know the species but Wal is our expert on this wood and might be able to help more.
 
I spent several days going through the Asiaco and Nepali Google search results (including the Royal Botanical Garden) and came up with nearly zilch - There are two woods generally referred to as "Satisal" or "Saatisal". One is Dalbergia Latifolia, described as a rosewood widely used in furniture making, and also called Bijayasal. Then, there is Dpterocarpus Marsupium. I couldn't find even a description of this wood, and no mention other than it is a protected species, and cutting for export is not allowed. I suspect that this may be "our" Saatisal, but no joy so far. I'm still looking. It doesn't come up under oak family or quercus (genus) searches, so for the time being I am stymied. There is another wood common throughout northeren India and Nepal which is known commonly as "Sal" (as in my gal by the same name). The description is of a wood that is hard, very dense and oily. I've just about decided that the handle of my big UBE must be a root burl from this variety, "Shorea Robusta". WE NEED A BOTANIST :D
 
As I've admitted, I have a hard time identifying any wood. I argued that the hill walnut was pine and met with ridicule and anger from the BirGorkhaites.
 
Hmm... I thought Wal knew everything. :) I was hoping for pictures and descriptions in Latin.

Who exactly makes the handles for the khuks? Is it the kamis? Or if it's a sakri do they do handles for everyone in the shop?
 
Bruise -
The kamis make their handles, and can do the "standard traditional" and also some fancier variations, such as carving on the horn, etc. The heavily carved wooden handles are done by the Newari carvers. At any given time of day (except in areas where the army is chasing Maoists) there are thousands of people gathering wood - for their fires, for medicines, for personal building materials, etc. There are those who the kamis refer to as "the wood people" who tap resins to be refined into adhesives. In any "gathering" group within a poor society, everyone knows what will turn a buck. A piece of wood with a pretty grain has value above firewood. These people are at the very bottom of the economical ladder and know very well what will sell to the Newari carvers, and the kamis. Since they probably operate as much on barter as anything else (we need a new Khukuri - take 50 handle-pieces to the kamis at BirGorkha), Saatisal could easily be a generic for "good wood" or "handle wood". This has been going on for "10,000 years, and down from the clouds". Our kamis prefer an oak variety that we have termed Saatisal, and it is definitely an oak species, but the horticultural terminology comes down from outsiders who are intent on studying Nepali forestry for conservation, commercial and population uses. There are some notations in their text studies of the local terminology which applies to their latin names, but so far their concern has not overlapped with knife handles as a significant sociological use for native species. I think someone is missing a good bet for a serious paper on "Native Woods-Tool Handles", or the like. I've read these papers 'til my bifocals fog over, and still haven't come up with anything even in the neighborhood. It's turning into a whole 'nuther hobby :eek:
 
Uncle -
That rant, and the "gatherers" portion wasn't a result of any socioogical studies on my part - it was memory :) Your post of the depression reminded me of the one thing I did (at four years old) to help my mom while dad was at work. He started at 0400, and we would take him to work, then drive to some cottonwood canyons not far away. I would put grass clippings and a couple of leaves in Mason jars, and we would spend the morning collecting lady bugs. The produce growers (vegetable ranchers) paid top dollar for freshly caught lady bugs - the best pesticide available at that time. They would eat nearly every destructive insect ever to infest a lettuce crop. When they were scarce, and aphids, etc., were in the crops, a quart of ladybugs could bring $5.00 Anyone remember what a $5.00 bill looked like during the depression? They were about the size of a barn door. According to the old blues tune, that was back when a dollar bill "looked like a window shade".
 
Originally posted by Walosi
I spent several days going through the Asiaco and Nepali Google search results (including the Royal Botanical Garden) and came up with nearly zilch - There are two woods generally referred to as "Satisal" or "Saatisal". One is Dalbergia Latifolia, described as a rosewood widely used in furniture making, and also called Bijayasal. Then, there is Dpterocarpus Marsupium. I couldn't find even a description of this wood, and no mention other than it is a protected species, and cutting for export is not allowed. I suspect that this may be "our" Saatisal, but no joy so far. I'm still looking. It doesn't come up under oak family or quercus (genus) searches, so for the time being I am stymied. There is another wood common throughout northeren India and Nepal which is known commonly as "Sal" (as in my gal by the same name). The description is of a wood that is hard, very dense and oily. I've just about decided that the handle of my big UBE must be a root burl from this variety, "Shorea Robusta". WE NEED A BOTANIST :D
Click to expand...

I did a little web-crawling and turned up about the same things as Walosi. I put some links below (I think the 1st quote is interesting, though it's little to do with kukri-handles), but it's not my area ('Damn it Jim, I'm a linguist, not a botanist!' ;) )

Links:

"Prakash was like a satisal tree, never shaken by breezes. He stood up firm and dedicated to the cause." (http://www.hri.ca/partners/insec/Informal/Prakash.shtml)

Dpterocarpus marsupium (http://www.biodiv-nepal.gov.np/plant_resource.html)

Bijayasal & sal and other likely candidates seem to grow in the tropical & subtropical forests (http://www.schoolnepal.com/ecyGeog.htm#NATURAL VEGETATION)

The only truly different thing I found is that Dalbergia Latifolia used for furniture-making, seems to be different from Bijayasal (I found a page giving Bijayasal's latin name as Pterocarpus marsupium - http://www.flec.kvl.dk/ehf/cv.htm). This means, I supect, that the name 'Bijayasal' is applied to two different species of tree.

cheers, B.
 
Although the Nepalese government does use the name Dpterocarpus marsupium to describe satisal, three years of high school and one of college Latin leave me unable to cite another Latin word containing the initial consonants "dp". I suspect that this was a typo, and the remarkably similar name Pterocarpus marsupium is correct. A little more netsurfing reveals that this is reputed to be known by the English name "bastard teak", and a picture of the tree in question.
 
Originally posted by Berkley
Although the Nepalese government does use the name Dpterocarpus marsupium to describe satisal, three years of high school and one of college Latin leave me unable to cite another Latin word containing the initial consonants "dp". I suspect that this was a typo, and the remarkably similar name Pterocarpus marsupium is correct. A little more netsurfing reveals that this is reputed to be known by the English name "bastard teak", and a picture of the tree in question.
Click to expand...

Yes, I don't know how anyone (even the Romans) could pronounce Dpterocarpus! :eek:
 
Not the first time I've gone far astray because of a government typo :eek: Fifteen years of Spanish (two indoors, thirteen out :rolleyes: ) didn't help with the mother tongue, either.

Unless I find something which more clearly defines Saatisal (with pics and hopefully some finished product to view) I'm still leaning toward a broader "general usage" explanation, to include something so clearly an oak under this label. Maybe when Pala comes?
 
Wal, I'm no woodchuck, but aren't oak and teak similar in color and grain? I thought the "bastid teak" name might be an indicator that this was a more likely suspect than Indian rosewood, which the back of my 64 Martin guitar is made of, and which looks nothing like oak for sure.
 
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