Interesting note on shipping teak

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I bought some teak for a boat I'm building. It is a gorgeous piece of 76" x roughly 12". I laid out my part, and suddenly I realized that there are boards nailed on each end of the teak. I thought maybe it was some weird way to prevent checking, which didn't really make sense.

Another boatbuilder enlightened me- The reason for the end cap is that you can't ship raw teak lumber (Can't remember if it was an export issue at origin or a US import issue), so they nail a piece on either end and ship them as bookshelves. I was told that sometimes they will put a rabbet on each end in lieu of the nailed strip.

I thought it was amusing.

Teak.jpg

[Bradley Gray]

clever bunch those woodworkers

[Van Huskey]

Quite interesting.

[Mark Wooden]

I've heard of the desired lumber being used to line the insides of shipping crates and as support shelves inside of shipping containers. Someone told me they used to 'smuggle' rosewood into the U.S. that way

[Gary Ragatz]

They call it "tariff engineering." One of the better-known examples is the cargo vans Ford manufactures in Europe. For the ones exported to the States, they put in side windows and a row of cheap seats so they can be imported as passenger vehicles (2.5% tariff vs. 25% for cargo vans). As soon as they clear Customs, a crew tears out the seats, repairs the holes in the floor, and replaces the side windows with metal panels - voila!- it's a cargo van again. US Customs has tried to stop it, but so far, I believe they've been unsuccessful.

I'd guess that with all the new tariffs being imposed, a lot of companies are trying to be "creative."

[Malcolm Schweizer]

They call it "tariff engineering." One of the better-known examples is the cargo vans Ford manufactures in Europe. For the ones exported to the States, they put in side windows and a row of cheap seats so they can be imported as passenger vehicles (2.5% tariff vs. 25% for cargo vans). As soon as they clear Customs, a crew tears out the seats, repairs the holes in the floor, and replaces the side windows with metal panels - voila!- it's a cargo van again. US Customs has tried to stop it, but so far, I believe they've been unsuccessful.

I'd guess that with all the new tariffs being imposed, a lot of companies are trying to be "creative."

That is interesting. I deal a lot with customs in many countries. I saw them break open a custom carved statue worth thousands of dollars to make sure there were no drugs in it. There weren't. They refused to reimburse the shipper for the damages. This was US Customs, by the way.

[John K Jordan]

Another boatbuilder enlightened me- The reason for the end cap is that you can't ship raw teak lumber (Can't remember if it was an export issue at origin or a US import issue), so they nail a piece on either end and ship them as bookshelves.

I did that when bringing back a beautiful piece of 2" thick Olivewood from Italy. You can't bring back "raw" wood but you can bring back something made from wood.

A friend's friend found a nice piece in his stash but it was rough sawn with bark on one side. I had him cut it into a rectangle, sand all sides smooth, put a small radius on each edge, and apply some oil. I brought this nice, heavy cutting board back to the US in my suitcase. I cut it into 2x2 and smaller squares for woodturning.

When Richard Casey visited he said he couldn't take back to Australia a turning blank with a bug hole, bit of bark, spalting, or various defects. I think the fear was it might harbor some disease.

JKJ

[Yonak Hawkins]

Is this method an end run around measures to preserve endangered wood species ?

[Brad Shipton]

I bought a piece of imported wood from a supplier a few years ago. The pieces had clearly been run through a moulder with a single relief cut near one edge. When I asked about this I was told they could only import this species if it was a "value added" good.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Is this method an end run around measures to preserve endangered wood species ?

I believe it may be more to avoid tariffs on raw wood. They do allow teak to be imported as far as I know.

[Mikail Khan]

Done to prevent raw materials from being exported to help local furniture manufacturers.

Governments would like value added before export.

MK

[Wayne Lomman]

I did that when bringing back a beautiful piece of 2" thick Olivewood from Italy. You can't bring back "raw" wood but you can bring back something made from wood.

A friend's friend found a nice piece in his stash but it was rough sawn with bark on one side. I had him cut it into a rectangle, sand all sides smooth, put a small radius on each edge, and apply some oil. I brought this nice, heavy cutting board back to the US in my suitcase. I cut it into 2x2 and smaller squares for woodturning.

When Richard Casey visited he said he couldn't take back to Australia a turning blank with a bug hole, bit of bark, spalting, or various defects. I think the fear was it might harbor some disease.

JKJ

Yes, Australia has strict quarantine laws regards raw wood products. As an island we are able to keep out troublesome pests. Hence we still have healthy bees, no rabies or mad cow disease and our forests are still there. Cheers

[Bill Dufour]

I was surprised to read about the runaway iron ore train in Australia. It was running raw ore to be shipped to other countries. I would have thought the government would have required they build a steel plant with paid workers and only ship out steel not ore like a backwards third world country.

[Keith Westfall]

Years ago my Sister and Hubby were in Singapore (I think) and wanted to ship some teak back to Canada. They were told they couldn't, but if the wanted to make crates to ship their other stuff back, they could make all the crates they wanted out of teak. Company was paying - they had lots of crates!!

[Bill Dufour]

My brother worked in a school district auto shop. They had a chain hoist that had been evacuated from the Philippines before the Japanese invaded. He gave the mohagony 2x6 crate to my brother to use for furniture making.