Some special exotic woods

[Brian Brown]

I am working on a gift for a friend on the 25th anniversary of his company. During that 25 years the company has expanded to many countries around the world. I would like the gift to contain woods that would be representative of all of those countries. Most are easy, but I am having trouble with a few. I am trying to find a wood that is mostly exclusive to the country. For example, what wood(s) would be grown in Korea. My web searches have turned up nothing. The others I am having trouble with are Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Singapore. With African countries, Argentina and Brazil I have many different choices. New Zealand is on my list, but I don't know where to purchase any ancient Kauri. I really need only a small amount. Japan could be represented by Japanese maple, but where do I find that specific wood. Some of the Asian countries might be best represented by Camphor, and monkey pod, but I don't know where specifically those woods are grown. I'm starting to realize I took a big bite with this project. Do any of you have any wood ideas and/or sources that could help me out?

Now for the really hard part, if you had to choose just one wood to represent the United states, which would you choose, and why?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

Here's some information on the Netherlands. It's not what you want.

Accordign to Wikipedia:

Phytogeographically (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phytogeography), the Netherlands are shared between the Atlantic European and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumboreal_Region) within the Boreal Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boreal_Kingdom). According to the WWF (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Fund_for_Nature), the territory of the Netherlands belongs to the ecoregion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecoregion) of Atlantic mixed forests. In 1871 the last old original natural woods (Beekbergerwoud) were cut down and most woods today are planted monocultures of trees like Scots Pine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scots_Pine) and trees that are not native to the Netherlands.[citation needed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)] These woods were planted on anthropogenic heaths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_(habitat)#Anthropogenic_heaths) and sand-drifts (overgrazed heaths) (Veluwe (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veluwe)).

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

Teak is native to China.

[Jacob Hooysma]

The species of the 10 oldest trees in the Netherlands are

Oak (summer oak)
Lime (dutch variant)
Lime (summer)
Acacia
Sweet chestnut

Most of them are between the 450 and 300 years old.

Jacob
The Netherlands

[alex carey]

no idea about any of this but I'm excited to see the final product if it every comes to fruition, its a great idea.

[John Harden]

Brian, you need to better refine your internet searches. This information is readily available.

Rather than focusing your searches on specific countries, try searching by the geographic distribution of woods.

Regarding Ancient Kauri from New Zealand, I have a ton of the veneer. Shoot me a PM with your address and I'll send you some via U.S. Mail. You can just glue it down over a stable substrate such as plywood or MDF. Just be sure to sand/polish it to 400+ grit. That's when the amazing shimmer breaks through.

Another source would be veneer suppliers. They often sell very small samples of their products and may be able to set you up with small samples of many of these that you could apply to a substrate.

Regards,

John

[Peter Luch]

PM me.

I have Monkey Pod comming out my..........................best left unsaid:D

If you just need some small amount of Teak I have some of that also.

For the USA it might be Hickory or maybe Redwood if it being so soft would work.
How about mesquite? (sp?)
Koa is only grown in Hawaii but that may not be for the USA. Got a little of that also.

Aloha, Pete

[charlie knighton]

for USA use red oak :D

[Bill Blasic]

Try ancientwood.com for Kauri out of Wisconsin.
Bill

[David E Keller]

Sounds like an ambitious project... Here's what I could find using google to search for "trees native to _______". The banyan tree grow in Hong Kong but also in Hawaii. Teak is native to Thailand. Ebony trees grow in Taiwan. Sorry, but I didn't have time to look up the rest.

As for sources, eBay comes to mind. Gilmerwood has a variety of things but $100 minimum order. I'm sure the other creekers have sources for many of these things.

Good luck and let us know if you get stuck.

Pictures of finished project now mandatory.LOL

[Jim King]

I know that Wood Workers Source in Arizona has a wide variety of exotics . He has a lot more than are on his web site. He has many species from here in the Amazon that no one else has and he has one of the better private collections in the US from all over the world.

www.woodworkerssource.com (http://www.woodworkerssource.com)

[Scott Lux]

For the USA wood, I'd recommend one of the 3 rock-hard native woods. All three are native to USA only (originally): Honeylocust, Black Locust, and Osage Orange.

[Bill Wilcox]

The Bristle Cone Pine was the oldest tree that was harvested in the USA. However my suggestion for USA tree would be the Sequoia.

[John Harden]

What are you all crazy?!?!? :)

The U.S. wood needs to be Cherry!!!

[Rich Stewart]

I see a lot of bamboo starting to be sold. Ought to be good for some asian country.

[Brian George]

I vote for Black Cherry of Hard Maple

[Mark P. Brown]

If you can find it american chestnut. Pre wormy chestnut.
Mark

[Deni Irawan]

do you have the shipper ?
i can send you rosewood for free.
http://picasaweb.google.com/deniirawan66 (http://picasaweb.google.com/deniirawan66)

Cheers,

Deni I.

[Brian Brown]

Thank you all for your help with this one. SWMBO has me in the shop around the clock working on Christmas gifts, so I haven't had too much time for this the last few days. I'm going to hit this one hard right after Christmas. I have been able to find a lot of information about my international woods, but am still searching for some countries. Korea research says pine and dogwood. Does anybody know what species of Pine and is there more than one species of dogwood? :confused: There is a lot of cherry grown in Japan, is it the same as the black cherry in the US? If there are no native trees in the Netherlands, this will be challenge. I know there is mining there (mostly coal), but I can include a soft metal like brass or aluminum, or even a soft mineral. Does anything come to mind? Maybe I could use Tulipwood. :D Then again maybe not. Also, from the US, I was thinking of red oak, because it symbolizes strength and stability. However redwood symbolized monumental growth. Any other thoughts about what native US woods would represent for a strong stable company?

I'm finding the hardest part about this project is that even if I come up with a good representative wood from each country, there may be little contrast in color and look in each wood, making the design for the project much more difficult. I'm hoping for some real variety in woods to make this easier. Oh well, I never make anything easy for myself!

[David E Keller]

According to a little research, the Korean pine is the Korean pine but is also known as a Chinese pine. They also grow in Canada and northeastern US apparently.

The dogwood tree is Korean dogwood, and there seem to be about twenty different dogwood vaieties.

As for the Japanese cherry tree, it's not the same as the American cherry. There are several locations in the US where they grow... check "cherry blossom" on wikipedia.

I like redwood for the American representative... actually Redwood burl would be better. It's beautiful.

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Brian,

Higly figured curly maple gets my vote for the U.S. representive.

For ancient Kauri, Alby Hall in NZ works with it a lot.

http://www.ancientkauri.co.nz/index.php/make_ancient_kauri/ancient_kauri_woodturners/hall_kauri_artist

He's a good guy and I'm sure he would be willing to ship you a small piece.

[Matt Evans]

Also, from the US, I was thinking of red oak, because it symbolizes strength and stability. . . Oh well, I never make anything easy for myself!


Red Oak? Actually symbolizes the American dream of being obstinate, contrary, and hard to work with, and when rubbed the wrong way liable to leave a splinter you'll remember for a long time. . .

Sorry, just one of my prejudices. I don't like working with Red Oak. I have to work with it pretty often, but never liked it.


Tiger Maple gets my vote for the USA.

[Brian Brown]

Red Oak? Actually symbolizes the American dream of being obstinate, contrary, and hard to work with, and when rubbed the wrong way liable to leave a splinter you'll remember for a long time. . .

Ahhhh.... someone who thinks the same about red oak that I do. I have some nice tiger maple, and I can certainly get the same strength and stability symbolism from maple. It is definitely a contender.

[Jim King]

This site will give you wood info from all over the world. Names-scientific and local, mechanical properties, colors etc.

http://www2.fpl.fs.fed.us/

[Steve Trauthwein]

I agree with the bamboo for China or Japan. What sizes of wood are you looking for? I am a pen turner and I have many woods from around the world, mostly in 3/4 x 3/4 x 5 size.

Regards, Steve

PS Having made bamboo rods I also have a large quantity of arundinaria amabilis.

[Greg Just]

Great idea Brian - good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing the final product. I have a niece getting married next June and I was thinking about making her something from wood native to Ohio - not quite the challenge you are taking on - Good Luck!