Poll: Brazilian rosewood

[Jack Briggs]

How many of you 'Creekers will/would use the endangered hardwood, without absolutely knowing that the material was legally procured or pre-ban? Brazilian rosewood was placed on the CITES appendix I in 1992.

Feel free to elaborate your answers.

[Brian Kent]

"Legally obtained" means it could be logged in a less destructive pattern.

My central issue is sustainability, respecting the value of each part of the brazilian forests and not destroying a species of tree / wood / lumber.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...knowing that the material was legally procured..."

"Sticky Wicket". The big problem is that most "exotic" rain forrest woods are harvested "illegally". This is common knowledge. But there is a "loophole". While the harvesting of the logs may be illegal, the milling of those same logs is not. So once the logs have been handed off to a saw mill, they, for all intents and purposes, become "legal". The sawmill cannot be touched because they did not actually "take" the logs. The best way to insure that you are buying truly legal, properly harvested wood is to never buy any wood that does not have an FSC stamp on it.

[Steve knight]

I don't think you will find it but for old stock. as far as I have seen it's just sold by places that horded it. at about 90.00 a bf it's not like you can buy it at most stores anyway.
myself a dark cocobolo looks nicer and has more grain pattern.
it was one of the few wood dusts that bothered me.
I got some from a old railroad tie.

[J. Z. Guest]

I'm done with all tropical woods.

None of the countries that have those woods can be counted on to harvest the wood in a sustainable manner. Hell, I wouldn't even care if it were obtained illegally, if it were obtained in a sustainable fashion.

[Charles Shenk]

if it were big enough for an acoustic guitar it would be very tempting.

[Billy Dodd]

I have a couple small pieces I've had for awhile now. Thing is without being able to get more it just sits on the shelf waiting till I can find something real special I need just a little bit for. I wouldn't buy anything I thought was remotely possible to be harvested illegally.

I believe it was wood magazine that did an article several years back that talked about a group of US foresters that kept up with some forest land in South America that was being harvested by 1 or 2 big sawmills. The tree huggers came in and got the government to stop harvesting those forest and when they left the illegal chainsaw mills came in and destroyed what was an organized adventure. Just goes to show sometime those tree huggers need to stay away from things they know nothing about.

[Tom Esh]

How many of you 'Creekers will/would use the endangered hardwood, without absolutely knowing that the material was legally procured or pre-ban? Brazilian rosewood was placed on the CITES appendix I in 1992.

Feel free to elaborate your answers.

Generally I stay away from anything illegal or harvested irresponsibly, but I often wonder how much of an impact us hobbiest WW'rs could really have on any species. Do you suppose we even make a dent in the total consumption when commercial use is included?

[Wilbur Pan]

Generally I stay away from anything illegal or harvested irresponsibly, but I often wonder how much of an impact us hobbiest WW'rs could really have on any species. Do you suppose we even make a dent in the total consumption when commercial use is included?

This reminds me of a joke.

A rich looking man goes goes up to a woman in a bar and says, "I'm a multi-billionaire. I made my money in the internet boom of the 90's and got out before the bubble burst. I find you very attractive. Would you sleep with me if I paid you $1,000,000?"

The woman says, "Sure, why not?"

The man says, "How about for $25?"

The woman says, "What kind of a woman do you think I am?"

The man says, "I think we already established that. Now we're just negotiating on price."

*rimshot*

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Just so there's no misunderstanding (not that this ever happens here :rolleyes:), my point is that if we accept the fact that illegal/nonsustainable harvesting is wrong, it doesn't matter how little of an impact our consumption of such wood makes compared to the commercial suppliers. It's still wrong.