G-Day - Back from Down Under with a Wood Gloat (Pics)

[Rob Russell]

I haven't posted for awhile 'cuz we were on a long vacation on the other side of the world - Australia. While there, I wanted to find some lacewood, figuring that it's best to get it in the source country. BTW, lacewood is really quartersawn silky oak. Well, most of Australia's forests are now covered by World Heritage status, so there is effectively little or no native lacewood coming out of Australia that's freshly logged. The vast majority of the lacewood is grown in South America. I guess they even ship logs to Australia to saw. Remember that Australia and South America were joined by Antartica a gazillion years ago before the land mass broke up.

So, I figured that I could get lacewood at no more cost by getting it more locally.

I decided to bring a couple of other pieces of timber home (checked through as luggage). The wider piece is fiddleback red gum and the narrower one is fiddleback jarrah. He also gave me a smaller piece of lacewood. The customs officer was a little curious as to why I'd want to carry wood home on vacation, but y'all understand! :)

It's nice to be back.

Rob

[Jim Becker]

Welcome back, Rob!! I'm sure you had a great time and glad you brought a little "premium" back with you...you did take a pic of the look on the customs agent's face didn't you?? :D

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Duh!.........did you guide the customs officer to SMC.......then .....maybe he'd have understood! :rolleyes: :D .....Welcome back Rob!

[Norman Hitt]

Welcome back Rob. Those are some nice Souviners ya Brung home wit ya. What part of Australia did you visit? I spent some time around Melbourne area mostly, in the '80s, and had real fun getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, from the wrong side of the rent car. I always parked on the top floor of a five story parking garage at the hotel, so I would be "Tuned In" by the time I reached the street before entering the traffic every morning. Loved the country (except the horrendous number of flies that would surround you if you walked across a grassy field) and the people were great also.

What are you going to make with the beautiful wood?

Cheers........Norm

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Very nice wood haul there Rob! I'll bet Australia is something else to see...I know you had fun.

[John Renzetti]

Hi Rob, Sounds like you had a great trip. Did you meet up with Richard and Greg.
The lacewood looks good, the AD751 will dress it up nicely.
take care,
John

[Michael Stafford]

Nice looking wood. Please post pictures when you make something from it and remind us of where you got it. How do you tell the difference between Australian lacewood and lacewood from anywhere else?

[Rob Russell]

Let's see - all these questions.

The customs officer was a sheila. She understood the jewelry my wife got, but was definitely puzzled by the wood. Must have been because the faces were covered to protect them so you couldn't see the fancy grain.

We spent time in Sydney, Ayers Rock, Cairns and Brisbane. JR - didn't meet the FOG'rs - they're down the Melbourne/Adelaide way.

Regarding the lacewood, as far as I know, silky oak is silky oak whether it grows in Australia or South America.

Don't know what I'll build with them. The jarrah is a fairly thin piece (3/4") - I can probably get 3 nice thick (5 millimeter) pieces of veneer out if it. The Red Gum is thicker - a proud 1 1/4", so I've got a little more material to work with. I just wanted some nice wood from Australia that I could use for a neat project when the inspiration hits.

Less than one week back and we got snow last night. Ugg.