Need/want to buy acacia turning squares. Can't seem to locate

[terry mccammon]

Hi

For reasons that will be apparent to some, I have need of some Acacia turning squares, 2x2x12 or so and 3x3x6 or so. Frankly I have never purchased turning wood in my life as I depend on local harvests from tree trimming and felling. I made a quick search of google and while I can buy all kinds of furniture and cutting boards made of acacia no luck with raw wood.

Thoughts?

[Jamie Buxton]

Call Global Wood Source. https://www.globalwoodsource.com/ I've bought urban-lumbered Black Acacia slabs from them. They sell turning blanks. They should be able to help you.

BTW, Acacia is the name of a large family of trees, and their lumber isn't all the same. What I've seen in lumber form is tight-grained and darkish brown. But I've seen furniture built in the tropics from something which is much lighter color, and which is called acacia. Maybe that's not really acacia, but rather some other species that gets called by the classier name to get it to sell. That's not unheard of. Dunno. At any rate, if you're trying to turn something to match some existing piece of furniture, ask questions.

The Black Acacia I've used is really pretty. Dark, tight, hard, with some chatoyance. It is native to Australia, but is used as a landscaping tree here in the San Francisco area. Another famous acacia is Koa, which is native to Hawaii, and is endangered from over harvesting.

[terry mccammon]

Thanks. Much appreciated. Not trying to match anything. I need to turn a gavel. For a variety of reasons it would be nice if it were acacia. That Black Acacia is just what I am after. The light colored stuff is actually acacia, in lots of the warmer places it is more of a bush or scrub tree as various things eat it.

[John K Jordan]

You might try Pete at Big Monk lumber. http://www.bigmonklumber.com/ He often has interesting turning squares and gets new things in a lot.

Here are some other suppliers in my list you might check:

Hearne Hardwoods
http://hearnehardwoods.com/
888-814-0007

Cook Hardwoods
http://www.cookwoods.com/
(877)672-5275

Global Woods
https://www.globalwoodsource.com/
(408) 392-0573

NorthWoods
https://www.nwfiguredwoods.com/
(800) 556-3106

http://www.marksmanwood.com/

http://www.macbeath.com/


As Jamie mentioned, there are a lot of species with the acacia name. Understandably, there is controversy over this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Acacia_species
For your purpose, any with that name might suffice as genuine.

BTW, I love turning gavels. I always use a tap and die set made for wood to thread the head and handle so it won't loosen up with pounding as it might with glue:

355731

JKJ

[terry mccammon]

Thanks for the tips. I have made a few gavels, normally make the "setting maul" style. This is a special request as normally I won't bother with specialty wood. If I don't get it free from tree trimmers/yards/side of the road I don't turn it. But we all break our own rules.

[John K Jordan]

Do you know anything else about the particular acacia species you are looking for, for example, where it grows?

The more I investigate, the more obvious the reasons for acacia species confusion. For example, read what Paul Hinds of wonderful Hobbithouseinc says about Acacia:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/acacia.htm
He mentions his own database of wood names has over 400 species and was told there were over 900 species in Australia alone. I have a couple of pieces of these a friend sent from Australia. Here is one Eric of the Wood Database lists: http://www.wood-database.com/mangium/

Also, you can search the Wood Database for "acacia" with several hits including Koa, Monkeythorn, Shittum, Camelthorn, Rasberry Jam, Australian Blackwood, Black Wattle, Gidgee, Mangium. Related to one, Koa, this article is interesting: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/top-ten-overrated-woods/


I took a look at my copy of Timbers of the New World book (Record & Hess) published in 1943, a thick book recognized by some as the "bible" of wood species. Some people have spent a lifetime studying and classifying wood species, mostly identifying by microscopic analysis. Record states that the Yale School of Forestry alone had 40,600 samples in 1942.

The book lists these from the Luguminosae family with the local names different depending on the country.

acacum acuifera -Bahama acacia

Calliandra anneslia - Night-Flowering acacia (Jamica), acacia (Puerto Rico)

Cercidium praecox - Green-barked acacia or palo verde (USA)

Enterolobim cyclocarpum - Acacia franc (French Guiana)

Gliricidia sepium - Acacia (Cuba)

Leucaena Shannoni - Acacua blanca (Puerto Rico)

Myrmecodendron - "~dozen species formerly of Acacia", example: Bullhorn acacia

Parkia - ~35 species, ex: Acacia male ("a" with a hat)

Poponax - 15 species, ex: Acacia bush (Jamaca, Cuba), Long-spined acacia (Bahamas)

Prosopis - 30 species, ex: prosopis juliflora: mesquite in USA, acacia de Catarina in Nicaragua

Senegalia tamarindifolia and S. angustifolia - Acaia scleroxyla (Hati)
(Read what Paul Hinds says about the genus Senegalia.)

There are other species I didn't list and ALL of these have many other local and trade names which adds to the confusion.
As Paul Hinds points out, most of the acacia species are obscure and unavailable in North America. If you have any more information about the wood you are looking for, Paul or others I know might be able to help.

Otherwise, just do what everyone else does, pick a wood and call it what you want. :)

JKJ