Saturday, June 19, 2010

Timber and Working with Wood Show : Part 1 - The Timber

EXPO!!!
Yesterday we packed up the forester and ventured south to the big smoke (Sydney) for the Timber and Working with Wood Show. Being the (unofficial) largest wood show in the country there was lots to see, do and buy. Overall there seemed to be an higher quality and range on offer than previous years. I'll break the trip up into a few sections looking at timber, tools, and demonstrations.

Boutique Timbers
I had a good chance to catch up with Mal & Greg from Boutique Timbers. Their offering of timber was the largest on display. It included some beautiful slabs of fiddleback cedar and camphor (which I normally avoid like plague). Have a look through the photos for the diversity and quality on display. If you haven't yet, it's well worth your time to check out their site www.boutiquetimbers.com.










Other Suppliers
Other timber supplies on offer included Tasmanian Timbers, Cedarworks, East Coast Specialised Timbers, Island Specialty Timbers Tasmania, Timber & Burl Liquidation, Trend Timbers, and Wild Wood Gallery.



I wanted to include this photo to demonstrate the diversity within a species of timber - in this case blackwood (acacia melanoxylon) from Tasmanian Timbers. Due to different growing conditions, different nutrients in the soil, different climates, and different genetics significant variation can occur. This is why it's important to actually see the timber you are buying, and then to carefully match timbers or using the differences intentionally with design in mind.

My Purchases
Well I can't say that this is largest timber order I've ever made but I made two interesting purchases of timber I haven't used before. The first from Trend Timbers is a piece of real ebony (diospyros dendro) which is for accents my next project a shaker table, and yes it was $79. The second is blackheart sassafras (atherosperma moschatum) from Wild Wood Gallery which may end up as drawer fronts on an upcoming tool cabinet. (To give an idea of sizes the bench holes are 3" apart.)


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