Get your wood together

[Harry Robinette]

I was in a conversation today that really bothers me,The talk is that allot of the woods we all use are going to be hard to get and I mean soon. China is buying up all the exotic woods,log,milled and SCRAP everything they can get there hands on. They are also buying most of the lumber wood coming out of Canada.What this means for us is either we're going to not be getting any wood or the price is going to be to high for the normal guy to buy.
I truly hope that this is just another one of the scares you hear about but I have to say I do believe it's true.

[Steve Vaughan]

Don't know if it's true either, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

[Marty Eargle]

If so, it will be a blow to us, but we'll adapt. I'm not a huge turner of exotics, so perhaps it doesn't hit me as hard as some of you. I'm more worried about the things that are endangering our native trees.

But like Bob Dylan said...times are a changin'. I think it was Wally who posted something in recent weeks about a time when foreign countries were making their shipping pallets out of some of the woods we find very precious.

[Ryan Baker]

I have heard of a lot of lumber heading to China, but I don't see any particularly huge need for exotics from that market more than usual. Wood prices are going up fairly steadily anyway. Pretty soon someone will start making synthetic wood out of soybeans or something.

[Steve Kubien]

I know a lot of our (Canadian) softwood lumber is going to China, where it had previously gone to the US. I do not know specifics of our lumber deals with China but over such deals with the US over the past decad or so have been a joke. I would be shocked if any of our softwoods went south.

Note: This is just fact and NOT a political rant. You want to get political, do it somewhere else.

[Rick Markham]

Most exotics, and domestic woods deemed as prime figured woods go to the furniture industry to be made into veneer. It has been this way for quite awhile. China is a bit different. (though their tactics may be changing) China's furniture industry is notorious for using a tactic called "dumping" it is actually one of the few examples in business. Here's the skinny on dumping... China's furniture factories will buy enormous quantities of wood (usually substandard for the rest of the furniture industry) and produce immense amounts of substandard furniture, as cheaply as possible... they will then "dump" this excess of furniture on another countries market... (the US for example.) This floods the market with furniture that is impossible for domestic manufacturers to compete with. If WE the consumer don't buy crappy cheap furniture from China, dumping doesn't work. However, most consumers in the U.S. (not all thankfully) look at the bottom dollar... not craftsmanship.

We actually stand in a unique position as Artist Craftsmen in this point in history. Our Economy is going through some major changes, we've become a country that largely outsources. We can look at the obvious flaws of that reality, or we can look at it like American's of the past have, an opportunity. We are actually creating an environment (as I see it) for individual craftsman/artists/inventors to flourish. We are a service based economy and the consumers of the world. I can see a future where we become the innovators/ idea men, and women of the world. I'll get off of my tangent now LOL