WoW 13 May-June 2009 - International Wood Collectors Society

World of Wood
JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOOD COLLECTORS SOCIETY
Volume 62, Number 3
May/June 2009
May/June 2009
World of Wood
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World of Wood
Vol. 62, No. 3
ISSN 1068-7300
May/June 2009
The International Wood Collectors Society, founded in 1947, is a non-profit society advancing information on wood.
Officers and Trustees
Contents
Greetings everyone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Veneers— my inlays and veneer
collection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
...sorting through the off-cuts . . . . . . . . . . . .
A message from a long-serving member .
Waltzing Matilda ‘09 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Letter to the Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Galls and burls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Kebon Raya, Bogor, Botanical Gardens . .
Growth Rings: The IWCS Record . . . . . . .
Exploring . . . The Effect of Climate on
Wood Growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A sort-of a book review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meet the new Vice President . . . . . . . . . .
A Fovourite Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
All-Mail Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Shrubwoods of the World . . . . . . . . . . . .
Birdseye walnut –rare or not so rare? . .
Member’s Listings and Requests . . . . . .
Wood Meets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Australian woods No 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Regis-tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Corrections, 2009 IWCS Directory . . . . . .
More strange things Down Under . . . . . .
Editor:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Morris Lake
22 Julia St, Highgate Hill, Q 4101
AUSTRALIA
From overseas: 061 07 3844 1246
Within Australia: (07) 3844 1246
[email protected]
Associate Editors:
Ken Bassett — Washington, USA.
Richard Crow — Cornwall, England.
Alan Curtis — Oregon, USA.
Ron DeWitt — New York, USA.
Eugene Dimitriadis — Victoria, Australia.
David Greve — Queensland, Australia.
Fred Holder — Washington, USA.
Willem Hurkmans — Overijssel, Netherlands.
Emie Ives — Suffolk, England.
Nelis Mourik—South Holland, Netherlands.
Susan Stamm — Wisconsin, USA.
IWCS World wide web site:
http://www.woodcollectors.org
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President: Garry Roux
Vice President: Gary Gronborg,
Secretary-Treasurer: Bill & Myrtle Cockrell,
Publications Chairman: Chuck Holder,
Endowment FundChairman: Dan James
Archivist: Jerry Zipprich,
Past President: Art Lee,
Regional Trustees
NE USA (2006-2009) Ron DeWitt,
SE USA (2007-2010) Chris Nothnagle,
Great Lakes USA (2008-2011) Bob Chastain,
Central USA (2008-2009) Stan King,
NW USA (2007-2010): Fred Holder,
SW USA (2008-2011) Les Campbell,
Canada (2006-2009) Greg Reed,
UK (2006-2009) Ted Ingle,
Australasia (2007-2010) Ian McLaughlin,
Committee Chairpersons
All-Mail Auction: Art Brennan,
Membership: Garry Roux,
Museum Committee: Robert Ritchie,
New-member Correspondent: Bill Cockrell,
Wood Import Permit: Alan Curtis,
Wood Specimen Kits: Dan Keierleber,
Web Master: Erlene Tarleton,
Website Committee: Chuck Holder,
Corporate Membership Coordinator: Daryle Layton,
Student Membership Coordinator: Les Campbell,
Personal Information has been deleted from the copy of this issue
World of Wood, published bimonthly by the International Wood Collectors Society, is
devoted to distributing information on collecting wood, correctly identifying and naming
wood specimens, and using wood in creative crafts.
Contributions for publication may be educational, scientific, technical or of general interest
to members and relevant to the purposes of the Society. Papers may be refereed by an
Editorial Board of technically trained members.
The phrases ‘World of Wood’, ‘ IWCS Wood Data Sheet’ and all materials contained herein
are © Copyright protected by the International Wood Collectors Society. Address requests
to reprint material to the editor.
World of Wood is published as a benefit to members of the IWCS, a non-profit organization
of botanists, dendrologists, and other scientists, technologists, wood collectors, hobbyists
and crafts people for mutual assistance and reciprocation.
Membership rates for individuals or couples worldwide are: US $35 annually, US $90 for 3
years, US $125 for 5years and US $500 for life membership. Student Membership is US$15
per year. Corporate Membership US$125 annually, US$325 for 3 years, US$450 for 5 years.
Applications are available from the Secretary-Treasurer or from the IWCS website. Dues
and address changes also should be directed to the Secretary-Treasurer.
We encourage your membership in our unique international organization.
Cover photograph..Background; Root burl of Eucalyptus delegatensis ssp.
tasmaniensis, Tasmanian oak. Centre; Dieter Becker’s well prepared and documented
veneer collection. Read his story on page 4..
World of Wood
May/June 2009
The President’s Message
from Garry Roux
Greetings everyone!
By the time you are reading this, the
final details will be completed for the
2009 IWCS Annual meeting at
Stayokay Hotel, Soest, Netherlands.
Some of you may already be on your
way there for the pre-meeting tours.
I’m disappointed that Shelly and I
will not be able to attend. We wanted
to go very badly, but due to life’s
twists and turns, things happen
about which we have no control. I’m
sure that everyone there will have a
great experience. I hope to read
some articles in the next couple of
issues of World of Wood about the
meeting and adventures that
members had there.
I’m happy to announce that Gary
Gronborg has stepped forward to
serve as Vice-President on the Board
of Directors. His knowledge and
experiences will be a great asset to
this organization. Thank you, Gary.
Dan Keierleber of San Antonio,
Texas, has also stepped forward to
take over the wood specimen kits.
Please give your support to Dan
when he requests various species of
wood. Thanks Dan, and a big thankyou to Marvin Smith for doing these
kits in the previous years. We’ll have
A note for contributors
Please submit articles as you
complete them. I can then format
them and ‘lay’ them into future
editions as they will appear. In this
way each edition will ‘grow’ and
present a balance of topics. I will
advise you when they will appear.
This will also reduce the last minute
rush to meet final edit and printing
deadlines.
Absolute last minute changes
should get to me before:
1 July for July/August 2009 issue
1 Sept for Sept/October issue
1 Nov for Nov/December issue
to start looking for a new project for
him.
Ron DeWitt had a great idea for a
new section of the World of Wood—a
member profiles section. In this
section, there would be a small
biography (a page or less) about one
or two of our members, no matter
what that member does, whether
they are a crafter, professional
woodworker, specimen collector,
taxonomist, teacher, wood scientist,
wood supplier, bus driver, wannabe,
or anything. In discussions with
numerous members, we have some
extraordinarily talented individuals,
and it would be great to learn more
about them. I would like to see
someone volunteer for an associate
editor position and help this become
a regular feature.
In my previous articles, I’ve
discussed the financial difficulties
the organization is facing. Everyone
can help out by spreading the word
that there is a new section on the
website. We will be selling craft
items made and donated by our
members. These items will have a set
price (in US dollars). Postage will be
based on US shipment only, so if you
need overseas shipping, you will
have to email or call for the prices.
These items are different from the
All-mail Auction, because the
general public will be allowed to
purchase them as well. The first
selection of items will be segmented
vases and bowls crafted by Jim
Zoellner. Thanks Jim for the
donation! We need other members to
be generous and donate additional
items that would make beautiful
gifts or keepsakes for the purchaser.
There will be additional information
on our website. The board and I feel
this is a great opportunity to help the
financial struggles without cutting
any existing benefits, like the
journals or directory, or raising the
dues.
Since I’m on the subject of finances,
in this issue you will find the items
for the All-mail Auction. Please be
generous with your bidding. Thanks
again Art Brennan for organizing
that for us!
Summer is approaching quickly (for
the northern hemisphere at least),
and with that comes more
opportunities for wood collecting. It
would be great if some of you would
submit articles about your
adventures in gathering and finding
some of your treasures. There will
also be various regional and local
meetings held. Take these
opportunities to meet new members
and old friends.
It’s also time to start planning your
2010 vacations. You won’t want to
miss the meetings that are being
planned—they will be great! It
would really be nice to see some of
the overseas members at these
meetings too.
I hope to see you soon and
remember that each day is a new
beginning, and seize that
opportunity.
E-mail copy to:
[email protected]
May/June 2009
World of Wood
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Veneers— my inlays and veneer collection
Inlays —Marquetry
But later found
that Ruth Felber
I was only around 14
in Heilbronn had
years old when I first
veneers in all
worked with veneers in
hues and the
school—we inlayed the
most beautiful
lid of a toolbox. This was
burl-veneers,
my beginning with
and this has
veneers.
been my main
I got myself waste pieces
veneer contact
of veneers from a
for 32 years.
carpenter’s workshop to
I also began to
make my first inlay
read literature
pictures. Working with
about intarsia,
veneers became my
but I found that
passion and for the next
One of my very detailed wood
I already knew
year I spent every free
pictures.
quite a lot
minute designing inlay
because of my
pictures—of course my
own work—but I did find many
small stock of veneers did not
new ideas for my further work.
suffice—there were more and I
started to search for them. I wanted
I always draw outlines for my
to get beautiful veneer woods in
pictures and chose only the natural
different colors and grains.
colored woods—I do not use
colored or stained woods.
At twenty-four I met Gerda and she
understood my passion for veneers
I co-founded the group,
and was very patient with me.
Kunstkreis-75-Engers 35 years
Around this time I found a report in
ago because I like to work with
the local paper about Otto Wahl who others. We have regular
manufactured inlay pictures and we
exhibitions of our current works
went to see him—of course I took
and my inlay pictures find
some of my wood pictures along. I
buyers there and I get orders
had not heard of inlays until then. I
from these exhibitions enabling
had worked my veneers with scissors me to buy new wood. My
and a sharp pointed knife. I had no
pictures have been sold to
reference books and no literature on
people in Spain, USA, Bolivia,
this topic. I was self-taught—a pure
Belgium, Switzerland, Italy,
autodidact.
Australia, Netherlands, as well
as within Germany. I also
Mr Wahl said to me, “ Now you will
joinedThe Marquetry Society in
also make inlays. You have a good
England in December 1999.
disposition”. He liked my work and
gave me some unusual veneers. He
The intensive work of always
told me of Haider in Nuremberg, a
bending forward, however, has
veneer specialist. Gerda and I went
caused cervical pain and I am now
to Nuremberg but found a locked
working less. But I compromised
door—he had gone out of business.
and starting wood collecting which
is now my passion.
Dieter Becker # 6362.
I collected veneers from dealers all
over Germany, and I also collected
wood reference books. Our holidays
were veneer searches. Fortunately
Gerda understood and was patient
with me. Our journeys led us to
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Minden,
Hundsleben. Three journeys were
also made to a region north of Milan
in Italy—at that time a paradise for
veneer enthusiasts.
In the early days dealers had sheds
with open stacks for you to select
from. Then came the era of shelf
storage in high-bay warehouses and
the dealers had no time to look for
one or two packages of veneer for us.
Then when tropical woods became
scarce dealers had fewer veneer
types in their stores.
I then found other commercial
dealers, like Constatine in New York,
and Craft Supplies and John Boddys
in England.
The basic question always was
however, “How do I find new veneers
worldwide?”
At the beginning of 1989 I wrote to
our State Department and asked for a
list of Embasies. I then wrote to these
Embasies requesting addresses for
Building my veneer collection
wood and veneer dealers, and I got
My veneer collection started with a
many addresses. I wrote to selected
card index on which I had sorted
ones for many years getting many
my veneers by color. Sometimes I
veneer samples from all over the
included the trade name, written on
world. I had not expected such good
a label.
results. I obtained veneers from
Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Australia,
India, and many more countries.
Around 30 years ago I met Georg
My veneer rack. for inlaying.
Sanders, from Soest who also had
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World of Wood
May/June 2009
My veneer press.
been collecting veneers for many
years. He had good contacts with
Danzer, a leading veneer supplier in
Germany and we exchanged our
newest finds.
George identified his veneers by
their scientific name so I tried to
identify my veneers from color
photos in the books and their
descriptions. I even did chemical
experiments and compared the
surfaces with a magnifying glass. The
problem with veneers however is
that only the flat surface can be seen.
A veneer is only 0.6 to 0.8 mm thick
so not much endgrain can be
recognized, making it difficult to get
an exact identification.
In storing my collection, I first put A4
size veneer sheets into a plastic cover
in a standing file. This was not
satisfactory. I then altered my
collection size to A5 and put the
veneer leaves into card index covers
with a name tag above. These covers
were then put into a file-card box—I
still sorted by colour and the boxes
were identified by single numbers
and letters.
My main listing is by botanic names
and trade names listed alphabetically
with reference to the special number.
In this way I had relatively good
access to the individual sheets.
I have always had the desire to
organize my collection in the form of
a book—a difficult undertaking. The
idea matured further before I started
work on a new system in which I cut
the veneers so that I could fit a
number of samples into windows cut
in a piece of white cardboard 27 cm
of 39 cm, and 0.8 mm thick. On each
sheet I identified whether it was, flat
cut, flat cut quartered, or quartered—
as well as different figures, such as;
fiddleback, crotch, ribbon stripe,
mottled, swirl, burl, or birds eye.
Each sheet was then fixed to
cardboard and pressed in a veneer
press (30 cm of 50 cm and 40 cm
high) which I designed and built with
the help of my brother.
To make the book folders I glued two
linen strips along the edge to make a
hinge. The joined sheets were then
filed into a 32 cm of 40 cm folder
made especially by a bookbinder. The
folders are 10 cm thick and are held
by four screws. They are flexible and
single sheets can be added or
exchanged. This collection is almost
finished, though some markings are
still missing.
My collection now contains around
580 different species multiplied by
the different cuts and figure samples.
One problem is that some of the
folders are too narrow and some are
too big so I decided to return to my
original file-card boxes again—
athough a little bigger
proportioned—this time I have
wooden file boxes 48 cm by 25 cm
and 30 cm high. Cardboard sheets
with veneer attached, fit into these
boxes. The folders however remain
unchanged as I have taken only the
cards on which I had the samples.
In front of the individual veneer
file cards is the card with the
information about the wood;
trade names, botanic name,
synonyms, family, origin and
collector, is recorded here— but I
have not quite finished them yet.
My veneer collection contains
around 580 different species held
on 10 card index boxes. To every
species there are different cut
and figure samples.
580 species of veneer held in 10
card index boxes.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
Boxes with veneer mounted on cardboard.
My wood collection
By 1990 it became almost impossible
to obtain new veneers so I started
collecting wood and cutting it into a
veneer—but the results were not
good.
In December 1992 I read an article in
the German NEHOSOC journel
Holz-Zentral-Blatt and through Ben
Coster I have been able to get new
heavy woods which I have been able
to cut into veneer. I regularly attend
their events in the Netherlands. In
1993 or 1994, I decided that veneer is
veneer and solid wood is solid wood
and since then have made no more
veneers— I started to collect solid
samples instead.
I became a member of IWCS in
December 1994 and then joined
HCTO in the fall of 2005— and a
new chapter in wood started for me.
I started collecting solid wood
samples with the same enthusiasm
that I had for veneers. My sample
collection now contains 4,600
different species of wood.
I can only say:
“Wood creates joy and friends”.
Veneer samples held in book folders.
5
...sorting through the off-cuts
What’s in the off-cuts today? Well
firstly I want to thank all those who
responded with ideas on how we can
economise in these tight times. The
concensus as to what economies
IWCS could take in regards the World
of Wood have been resoundingly in
favour of keeping it just as it is, if
that is at all possible—that ‘s good
news and I would like to thank those
who have commented on how recent
editions have been very interesting.
That is satisfying, but we realise also
that because this is your magazine
then it is actually you, the members,
who make the magazine a success by
what you supply for us to print. So,
we all need a pat on the back.
I did detect however that it would
not be too much of a loss to produce
a biannual Members Directory. So, it
may be something the Board could
consider.
There has also been considerable
discussion about fundraising and I
am sure some of the ideas raised will
come to fruition over time. There
seems to be a resurgence of interest
in the various auctions, whether they
be at meetings or for the All-mail
Auction. So do your bit and either be
a provider or an acquirer.
I would like to thank you all for your
contributions, and in the process of
this discussion we seem to have
gained ourselves a new VicePresident along the way,
congratulations Gary Gronberg—and
Gary has given us some thought in
his letter to the Editor on page 9.
Thanks Gary.
Where to now?
We have had good discussions
floating around about wood
identification, and that was headed
off by Alan Curtis in the last issue on
his Aids for tree Identification, and he
is to continue that discussion in
future issues. I am also confident
that we will have more information
on wood identification in the World of
Wood in the near future, so stay
tuned.
6
On that very subject, I recall
discussions I had some time ago with
Jim Flynn about the Australian
identification problem. I will put
you in the picture by briefly
describing the problem so that you
can follow what we were on about.
One really important way to wood
identification is to use a 10x lens to
examine the wood characteristics and
then by referrence to published wood
ID Keys, establish a match and so
correctly identify the wood. The
problem in Australia is that we have
5,300 wood species but ID Keys for
only 380, or approx 7%. The stark
reality is that once you go beyond the
commercialised species, it‘s a waste
of time using a 10x lens as a tool for
identification—unless you have all
that information in your head from
your own personal experience over
the years—because this information
is not written down anywhere.
What’s more, nowhere in Australia is
this science being progressed. The
ONLY way therefore, to identify 93%
of Australia’s wood species is using
botanical identification first and then
obtain a sample from that tree which
becomes a comparitive sample you
can eyeball.
So, the discussion with Jim centered
around: Where do we go from here—
since Photomicrographics (PMG’s) is
a very detailed and professional
speciality, I asked the question: “ Is it
of any use sticking a piece of wood on a
scanner or taking a close-up photograph
and increasing the size by 10?”.
Jim’s answer was that he did not
think it would be useable unless the
block was one that had been used to
slice off segments with an extremely
sharp microtome knife and had no
ragged edges on the pores, nor debris
clogging them such as sandpaper. In
fact he indicated that he had just tried
what I had suggested with a polished
block of Quercus virginiana that
ordinarily has very prominent
features in the ring-porous end grain.
I cropped the size and printed an
enlargement. Forget it!
World of Wood
by Morris Lake #7634
Valid and authenticated PMG’s are
needed. They are the heart of wood
ID. Take Alan Curtis for instance.
He uses a magnifying glass when he
explores in Mexico because he has
an idea of what he is looking at.
When he picks up a ‘stranger’ and
has no reference standard he must
rely upon herbarium material —as
he described in his last issue. No
herbarium material, no result.
The ideal setup is for the wood
collectors in a particular area to
make bone fide PMG’s of the woods
that they know. Then have these
published if they have not been
done so previously. Then when
guys like Alan Curtis come along,
they have some reference material to
validate their specimen. Lest we get
discouraged there is a cheap way of
getting PMGs made and printed. I
highly recommend we draw to all
member’s attention an article by
Ernie Ives in our own book More
Useful Woods of the World. Ernie
describes a way of cutting sections
of wood for mounting on glass
slides using an inexpensive block
plane. You do not have to be a
skilled microscopist to make such an
instrument and make a useable slide
that can be used with a microscope
and photographed with a good
digital camera. Efforts spent in this
direction would pay off in the long
run. A short time ago a burst of
energy was felt coming from
Australia created by a desire to
make real microtomes. I am sure
that there is lots of energy down
there if it were focused. Thanks Jim.
Now I’m not sure of the position in
other areas of the world. What is it
like? Are we the only ‘basket case’,
or do you have similar problems?
Can you go to publications that will
give you PMG’s of your wood
species?
The second question I ask of our
Australian members is: “When do we
start?”
May/June 2009
A message from a long-serving member
It was great to receive a letter from
George Walker, and an even greater
pleasure to find out that his
membership number is 54. I’m sure
George is our longest serving member.
I’m sure, because in chaseing back
through early records. The first IWCS
minutes were recorded at a meeting
held at the Harold Nogle Camp, Big
Cow Creek, Newton County, Texas,
which ran from 4 - 6 April, 1947—24
members were present.
Then Bulletin No 1 produced in March
1948 outlined the Objectives of the
Society. The Constitution was
published in the Second Edition, also in
March 1948.
However, in Bulletin Vol 1, No 6,
September 1948, the names and
addresses for all members are listed.
There were 98 members and member
54 is — Walker G. B , 346 Levee St,
Granada, Miss—the man himself—just
17 months after the foundation of
IWCS—but George must have joined
some time before that.
George, we are indeed honoured to
have you with us and to have received
your message and a contribution.
George initially wrote to Chuck Holder
and sent a newspaper clipping from
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis,
Friday, November 2, 1979 which
contains a story by Ron Russell about
The Largest Tree Competition in Shelby
County. I include extracts from this
article which I trust you will find
interesting.
The competition was organised by
botanist Phillip Norfleet who spent 13
months judging the entries. Even at
the conclusion of the competition,
Norfleet, when asked if it was over, is
reported as saying. “I don’t think it (the
competition) will ever be (over).
Someone is always going to come up with a
larger tree of some kind or another. That’s
what we want them to do. The idea all
along was to enhance public interest in the
country’s beautiful tree population. We
wanted people to think trees; to be more
conscious of them, and from the results
(about 150 entries) I think we’ve
May/June 2009
accomplished that. Frankly I was
surprised, I did not think there would be
so much interest. We tried to keep it as
uncomplicated as possible. We said the
tree had to be a native or naturalised
species and they had to be growing within
the county, and that was about it”.
The trees were judged on a point
scoring system devised by the
American Forestry Association.
“But not only are the trees interesting”,
said Norfleet, “So are the people you
meet. There was, for example, an 81 year
old lady who had a giant elm in her back
yard. It is the same, size as when we
moved here 41 years ago. I remember that
tree when I was a little girl, she said, I
The Winner, an oak tree with a trunk
used to take piano lessons in the house
circumference of 20 feet 2 inches, height
next door and we’d climb in it”.
96 feet and crown spread 98 feet.
Thanks George.
Photo: The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Friday, November 2, 1979.
Contribution from George Walker #54, written by Morris Lake #7634
The winners in each catagory were as follows:
Sassafras. Circumference 5 feet 4 inches, height 65 feet, crown
spread 30 feet.
Hickory: Circumference 11 feet 2 inches, height 101 feet, crown
spread 93 feet.
Birch: Circumference 8 feet 8 inches, height 110 feet, crown spread
80 feet.
Sweet gum: Circumference 13 feet 5 inches, height 99 feet, crown
spread 100 feet.
Hackberry: Circumference 11 feet 8 inches, height 99 feet, crown
spread 90 feet.
Catalpa: Circumference 10 feet 8 inches, height 89 feet, crown
spread 28 feet.
Locust: Circumference 12 feet 3 inches, height 61 feet, crown spread
40 feet.
Dogwood: Circumference 4 feet 3 inches, height 35 feet, crown
spread 40 feet.
Ginko: Circumference 13 feet, height 84 feet, crown spread 56 feet.
Pecan : Circumference 10 feet 9 inches, height 75 feet, crown spread
82 feet.
Tulip poplar: Circumference 15 feet 4 inches, height 99 feet, crown
spread 94 feet.
Sycamore: Circumference 10 feet, height 96 feet, crown spread 80
feet.
Elm: Circumference 17 feet 3 inches, height 99 feet, crown spread 80
feet.
Pine: Circumference 9 feet 9 inches, height 72 feet, crown spread 70
feet.
Oak: Circumference 20 feet 2 inches, height 96 feet, crown spread
98 feet.
World of Wood
7
Waltzing Matilda ‘09
I can’t pretend to add anything to the
excellent article and detailed
knowledge of Ron De Witt as
expressed on Monterey cypress
(Cupressus macrocarpa) in the Nov/
Dec 2008, World of Wood. But I can
report on possibly the tallest
macrocarpa in the world—and also
on a lighter note, picture what might
happen to some unfortunates in view
of the current world recession.
From the Great Trees of New Zealand,
(1984) by Burstall and Sale, a
macrocarpa in Moffats Road,
Tauranga, North Island, New
Zealand measured 47.7 m (155 feet)
with a diameter of 148 cm. That was
in 1984 when it was regarded as the
tallest macrocarpa in New Zealand.
In a recent telephone conversation
with Lindsay Holland #5845 of
Ashburton, New Zealand, Lindsay
reminded me of the macrocarpa
quoted by Ron De Witt in his article,
and growing in the South Island of
New Zealand, that measured 48 m
(157 feet) —obviously this species
flourishes in New Zealand.
I have just returned from New
Zealand where our son and family
by Lindsay Dunstan #5017L
farm kiwifruit at Tauranga.
Whilst there I contacted the
Local Council and local
residents to learn about this
expatriate giant. What I
found was that the tree was
planted in 1892 by Gordon
Cummings. Nereby
residents who observe the
tree daily, declare
considerable growth has
occurred. Since last
measured 25 years ago,
one would expect the
height to have reached
160 feet. Indeed,
perhaps now the
tallest tree of its type
in the world.
When we built our
semi-retirement home
off Moffats Road late
last century this
towering cypress
could be seen from our back door.
When I say, “We built our home”, we
certainly made a contribution—as
Lorraine can well attest—with daily
raw hands from laying concrete
drivelays, building cement block walls
and an 18,000 gallon concrete
swimming pool, etc.
For relaxation, I started to shape a
large log of—yes, you guessed—
macrocarpa, which had been given to
me, and which had grown in the
Tauranga district. With the 1987
world-wide share market crash still in
mind, I resolved to carve a ‘swaggie’.
I approached my neighbour, Bill
Bishop, to pose and I dressed him up
with a swag—a rolled blanket slung
over the shoulder holding all his
posessions—a walking stick, and a
billy (no pun intended). It’s again
topical considering the current world
recession.
The whole figure is one piece of
macrocarpa—except for the billy,
which is Huon pine (Largarostrobos
franklinii). Swaggies, were numerous
Standing ‘in’ the macrocarpa in
Moffats Road, Tauranga, North
Island, New Zealand measured at
47.7 m (155 feet) with a diamater
of 148 cm in 1984, and
photographed in Great Trees of
New Zealand (photo left).
in the 1930s depression, and this is
how they dressed—walking the
roads with their swag was a
common sight. They trudged
through the countryside looking for
odd jobs—humping their bluey,
waltzing matilda—as we might say
Down Under.
Our farm in Victoria had a strict rule
for hungry swaggies. They were
given a prompt introduction to the
formidable wood heap of sawn,
foot-long blocks of curly-grained
grey box (Eucalyptus woollsiana
ssp.microcarpa). Two barrow-loads
of split pieces were expected
payment before any ‘handouts’.
Those familiar with this wood will
appreciate the effort required to
complete this task—especially with
a blunt old axe.
As we were a large family our
wood- fired, cooking stove with
oven, which devoured vast
quantities of this high quality, slowburning, heating fuel. Our meat
sandwiches, however, were relished
and must have softened the hard
work of chopping the wood,
Billy the swaggie humping his bluey.
8
World of Wood
May/June 2009
because many of these itinerant,
jobless souls, often returned for
more wood and more sandwiches
during those difficult times. The
aim of the swaggie of course was
to get work to send money home,
but in the meantime he needed
the bare necessities to keep him
on the road in order to find work.
Bill might be walking lightly, but
has a heavy heart, hoping for
replenishment for a cup of tea,
some sugar and flour to get him
to the next farm or station, where
he migh obtain work and be able
to send money home to his
family—could history repeat
itself—perhaps without the
woodheap.
There came a time with this
sculpture where Lorraine decided
that Bill had suffered enough. I
was glad it was finished—and so
was Bill. His modelling fee—nil.
Bill has followed us wherever.
When we retired back to Australia
we brought Bill with us to
Murwillumbah—strange to say,
but Bill looks a bit like our current
neighbour.
A pleasure to work, this
macrocarpa must surely be much
under-rated in the woodworking
world.
Visit a Tropical Forest
Spend a week getting acquainted
with tropical forests and Mayan
ruins in the Yucatan Peninsula of
Mexico.
I’ll be your guide and I know the
various habitats and trees. Share our
beachside condo (your own private
bedroom and bath) in Cancun. This is
our 17th year of hosting IWCS
members and spouses, with visitors
from The Netherlands, Taiwan, Italy,
and the USA.
Contact us for details.
Alan & Mary Ann Curtis.
Letter to the Editor
I joined the IWCS a few years ago, and the March/April 2009 issue ot the World of
Wood really impressed me. How can such a great organization be in such financial
straits? Then I thought, what have I done to help? Sure, I have bought wood at the
auctions, donated a piece of my work, paid my dues and even done demonstrations. But
just look what is in that last issue! It is nothing short of amazing, and I would like to
point out a few of the items that really hit home.
First is our President’s message. Garry Roux is one of the most dedicated members of the
IWCS I have ever met. But he is not alone. I have not met anyone in this organization
who is not a dedicated lover of wood and a really nice person to know. One of Garry’s
statements made me think. Our website is underutilized regarding the sale of members’
items. I didn’t realize until recently that there was an online auction. I agree it should be
open to anyone who has an appreciation for wood. I for one, would be more than willing
to donate more of my craft items for this worthy cause. There is also a mention of links to
our website.
How do you do this? I have a website that I would be more than happy to link to the
IWCS, but us old folks need to be told how to do it. Don’t assume that everyone is totally
computer literate.
Moving on to the World of Wood, I noticed Lindsay Dunstan’s article on the two
Eucalyptus trees with a common branch. Where else would you see this but in the World
of Wood? Regarding scheduling, I would not like to see fewer issues. In fact, I would like
to see more; but times being what they are, why don’t we all just pull together and do
some more fundraising? I know many members who do not donate to our auctions. How
about coughing up an item or two for this worthy project?
Then I read Art Lee’s article on a future IWCS Museum. What a wonderful idea. And if
it is presented correctly to the public, I believe it would be an additional source of new
members.
Botanical Gardens of the World? This is the first time my wife, a Missouri Master
Gardener, has read the World of Wood. Willem Hurkmans’ article was great! I had no
idea there were so many Botanical Gardens in the world.
Alan Curtis followed that up with an article on corkwood, and he’s looking for it in my
home state. Who knew? It took the IWCS to show us. He followed that with an article
that says there are officially 679 native tree species in North America. What a surprise
for me! More trivia I can use when giving turning demos at our schools.
Richard Crow then discussed willows. It harkened back to the old craft of making willow
furniture. Anyone out there that has done this craft and can write, should submit an
article on it. Back in the 70’s, I met an old iterant man who went from town to town
making this furniture. All he had was a small saw, a hammer and a bunch of nails, but he
crafted the most beautiful, sturdy furniture.
And who would have known, were it not for the IWCS telling us, that some pipe briar
burls are found 60 feet below ground??? John Allen told us in the World of Wood. And
Rhododendron is used for pipes? C’mon.
So on the next page, I begin to wonder why the IWCS President elect and the Vicepresident positions are currently vacant. Is this a thankless job? Probably, but does it
give the holder of these positions a lot of satisfaction of helping the club and it members?
You can ask them yourselves, but I’ll bet the resounding answer is ‘YES!’
I don’t mean to skip over any of the remaining articles, but you get the point. This is a
great organization with a great group of members, so let’s buck up and get those
donations coming in. Let the powers that be know how you feel about the suggestions
offered in this latest issue. Get involved!
Gary Gronborg.
IWCS #8959
May/June 2009
World of Wood
9
Galls and burls
I know I am not alone in my fascination
with burls and for as long as I can
remember I have been searching for an
explanation as to what causes burl
growth on a tree—and I have shared and
listened to quite a few ideas on the
subject—but nothing has been quite as
interesting as the following article by Dr.
Humphrey Elliott which appeared in
Tasmanian Wood, a short-lived Tasmanian
Forestry Commission publication. The
publication is now out of print but the
following are some exerpts from this
article.
Extracts from the article by Dr.
Humphrey Elliott:
Galls and burls... range in size from
microscopic malformations to large, woody
outgrowths, sometimes several metres across
on the stems of trees. Many names have been
given to this abnormal tissue, but in general,
the smaller stem and root growths are called
galls and larger stem swellings, burls.
Both are produced by the plant in response to
interference with its normal growth.... either
from injury, unusual soil and climatic
conditions, but more commonly by attack
from insects, mites, nematodes, fungi and
bacteria. The plant then responds to this
interference by rapid cell division and
enlargement. The exact biological nature of
the response is not fully known, but is likely
that growth hormones are altered.
The smaller stem and root galls are usually
caused by insects, mites, or nematodes in the
case of roots. The cause is usually indicated
by the size and shape of the gall.
Large burls however, which are common on
the trunks of several tree species, when cut
open reveal a proliferation of buds within the
general tissue, or just a mass of tissue with
irregular grain patterns. This combination
of irregular grain and numerous buds give
woodwork made from burls a special
character.
The main cause of stem burls is thought to be
mainly from fungal and bacterial infections
which have been identified as causes on some
tree species, but many still remain to be
identified.
10
by Morris Lake #7634
My experience
While on the west coast of
Tasmania in February 2000—in a
selfish effort to excape the humid
heat at home—we came across an
almost pure stand of Tasmanian
myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii),
but more importantly, there were
a huge number of both aged and
young trees in this stand with
burls—the older trees had
extensive burls, like I had never
seen on myrtle, while the younger
trees exibited new burls. These
are shown in the two
photographs on the right.
I also detected very new burl
growth, which is photographed
below. Also, scattered on the
rainforest floor were pieces of
myrtle bark with striking blue
mould growth on the underside.
The side with direct contact to the
cambium layer— the stems
growth layer.
The fungi Cyteria gunnii has been
documented as the cause of galls
on Nothofagus species in various
areas of the world.
Burls on old and young myrtle stems
(Nothofagus cunninghamii).
Without positive identification of
the fungi species present on this
site with numerous burl-laden
trees, I have to conclude that the
two are associated, i.e., the cancerlike growth of merismatic tissue
resulting in stem burls, is most
likely a direct response to fungal or
bacterial infection of such tissue.
In addition, although not all
species have merismatic tissue
present in the stems, those species
in Australia that do, tend to
produce burls.
Exposed new burl growth lifting
the outer bark on fungi-laden
Tasmanian myrtle stems.
Blue coloured mould on the
under-side of myrtle bark fallen
on the rainforest floor.
World of Wood
May/June 2009
Kebon Raya, Bogor, Botanical Gardens
300,000) at an altitude of some 300
During the period of colonial
expansion it became ever more clear metres. Trees are well represented,
to the Dutch authorities that they had with special areas being set aside for
to make the best of their possessions palms, bamboos (up to 25 metres),
pandanuses, commercial timber
in the Dutch East Indies. The
standards of agriculture and timber trees, a ‘Mexican garden’ with cacti,
management had to be improved to etc.
make the colonies a viable
Several ‘special trees’ are
proposition. In 1817 the Dutch
represented here – some ebonies, for
government appointed Caspar Georg example, all belonging to the genus
Carl Reinwardt, 44 years old, to lay Diospyros. D. frutescens, which
out and maintain botanical gardens means the ‘shrub ebony’ proves to
where plant species from all corners be a tree which, in the Kebon Raya,
of the colonies could be collected,
grows to about 20 metres and has a
grown and tested. Reinwardt was a trunk well over a foot in diameter.
practical man with an eye for the
This tree was described by Blume. It
economic importance of crops, and plays a part in the general ecology of
successors like Teysmann and Treub tropical woodland, for example as
ensured the scientific importance of food for proboscis monkeys. The
the gardens. Their impulse led to a
fruits remind one of persimmon or
major exchange of cash and
kaki, but they often fall from the tree
subsistence crops in the Dutch East when still green. Wood production
Indies. Since the economy benefited from this tree is unknown. Diospyros
directly, government support was
celebica (named after the island of
kept up. During the 19th and part of Celebes, now Sulawesi) which also
the 20th Centuries, the number of
grows here, is well known for its
plant species and the area of the
beautiful, brown-and black marbled
gardens grew considerably. Now, the wood named coromandel. Virtually
Kebon Raya (Indonesian for large
the same wood is produced by D.
garden) occupies about 200 acres in
rumphii (named after the naturalist,
the midst of the city of Bogor (pop.
Rumphius). It is one of the most
expensive carving and turnery
woods, often used for musical
instruments (flutes, clarinets, pegs,
fingerboards and chin rests for string
instruments, etc.) on account of its
very fine grain, strength and ability
to take an incredibly high lustre
when polished. Then there’s
Diospyros maritima (also described by
Blume), which is grown in Florida
under the name of Malaysian
persimmon, (D. andamanica, and, D.
diepenhorstii), 19 ebony species in all.
Did you know that there are well
over 400 species of ebony, and that
most of these do not have black
heartwood? Many of them produce
fruit that man and animals can eat,
like persimmon (D. virginiana), kaki
Diospyros frutescens.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
By Willem Hurkmans #8761-L
Diospyros diepenhorstii.
(D. kaki), jackalberry (D. mespiliformis)
and lotus tree (D. lotus). Another
group of trees well represented at the
Kabon Raya are the figs. They vary
from giants like Ficus binnendijkii,
which has a diameter above the root
extensions of 8 to 10 feet and grows
up to 200 feet, to F. benjamina which
often remains a shrub, is often grown
indoors, but can make a small tree. Of
course, figs are a well known variety
of edible fruit – but not all figs can be
eaten. Some of them remain hard and
small, while others, when they finally
drop off the tree, are so smelly and
attract a multitude of insects, that
most people will avoid them.
Monkeys often are attracted to them
and can swarm all over a tree, until
its fruit is finished, then go in search
of another one. Figs are not famous
for their timber although this can be
used for a multitude of light duty
purposes like packing crates. Ficus
wood is usually distinctly striped on
the cross section, which is caused by
alternate bands of fibres and
parenchyma; this often reflects the
alternation of dry and wet seasons.
Cont’ over page.
11
Cont’ from page 11.
Visiting the gardens is
possible every day of the
week. The gardens are well
signposted, there is a
catalogue of all plants, which
are referred to the easily
identified areas (a map of the
gardens is for sale near the
main entrance). Guided tours
can be taken, the workers at
the gardens are very helpful.
A nice little booklet is for
sale, showing four different
walks which all take about an
hour. Anyone who really
wants to see it all has to
spend days, if not weeks.
Part of the gardens area is
occupied by the former
governor-general’s palace,
built in 1870, which was later
used by the Indonesian
President, Sukarno.
Bogor is connected to Jakarta
(some 40 miles off) by a
national toll road and by
train.
Bogor is known as ‘the rainy
city’ – one of the reasons for
laying out the gardens here,
since water is seldom in short
supply. This is also the
reason why Bogor, although
only 300 metres above sea
level, is substantially cooler
than hot and noisy Jakarta
(pop. 8.75 million). The other
side of the medal is that it
will often rain during the
afternoon; no problem if you
arrive on time. The main gate
opens at 8 am, allowing
visitors a relatively cool and
dry walk. In case you’re
caught out in the rain there
are several places offering
shelter, such as the De
Daunan restaurant and the
substantial buildings, in
retro-classical style, near the
main entrance.
12
Growth Rings: The IWCS Record
bt Ken Bassett #543
What would music be
without wood?
So many of our musical
instruments are or were
formerly (flutes for
example) made of wood.
Furthermore, they are not
made from just any wood.
Each instrument is
identified with a specific
type or types of wood.
This absolute identity is
the product of the
evolution of the
instrument and the
discoveries and
refinements produced by
many skilled craftsmen
and musicians over many
years. It is certainly still
going on as new materials
are found and traditional
materials become scarce;
however, most classical
instruments are fixed in
their construction. Why
mess with a good thing.
Much has been and
continues to be written
about the violin. As far as
I can determine the
experts still cannot
definitively determine
what combination of
factors produces a great
violin such as a
Stadivarius. Extensive
testing using modern
technology has not
produced the answer. One
factor beyond dispute is
the wood. This article is
one of the better
descriptions of the woods
used in violin making that
I have read. Others
apparently agreed as this
is its second reprinting. It
first appeared in the May
1952 IWCS Bulletin and
was reprinted in the
November 1977 Bulletin.
World of Wood
A few notes on woods used for
violin making
by Dr. W. Mautz Oberursel
The most famous of European violinmakers who
pride themselves for carrying on the tradition of
the great past masters of their craft — such as for
instance: Stiadivarius, Amatius and Guarnerius
— and whose ancestors have been devoted to
making violins for many generations and several
centuries still use the same classical materials
which once went into the making of a highly
prized, famous Stradivari violin. It can be
considered an established fact that the old Italian
and Bavarian masters whose handiwork is still
unsurpassed and nowadays worth a small
fortune, had found out by long experience just
which woods were best suited for building a
violin. Is it a coincidence that the woods they and
their successors used, grew in the land of their
birth?
Naturally, in the course of the last centuries,
experiments have been carried on with the object
of testing numerous other woods hoping perhaps
to find still better materials or at least to discover
an adequate substitute for the rapidly
diminishing supply. The result was, however,
that no other woods were found which could
equal —not to speak of surpassing —the classical
materials of old which Stradivarius and his
contemporaries once used. These were curly
maple (Acer pseudoplatanus) and the so-called
tune spruce (Picea abies) The latter is used for the
top of the violin, whereas the maple is used for
the back and the sides. Now as far as these
woods are concerned, it is not so much the
botanical species which is important but more
than that the location and peculiarity of the
particular tree. Both the maple and tune spruce of
the desired quality grow only —with certain
exceptions— on the slopes of the Italian and
Bavarian Alps: the spruce generally occurring at
somewhat higher altitudes than the maple which,
by the way, is called bergahorn, meaning
mountain maple in German. It is usually the very
big, old maples which yield a finely textured,
slowly grown wood of the desired and highly
prized figure or grain, i.e., a fine, regular, curly
figure on radial cuts. This figure of grain has
always been preferred for the back and the sides
of violins and it is due to this fact that nowadays,
a very regular curly-grain on quarter- sawn
material is always referred to as fiddle-back
figure.
May/June 2009
Some trees have curly grain only at
the base of the trunk —where this
figure of grain frequently occurs
when a tree is very old due to the
enormous pressure on the wood
tissues— whereas more rarely others
are curly up to a height of 10 to 12
feet. The figured part of the tree is
processed into regular slices, both
faces of which are exactly parallel to
the medullary rays. The reason for
utilising only quarter-sawn material
is of course not merely a matter of
beauty, but first of all to ensure that
no warping will take place in case of
possible changes of atmospheric
conditions since a quarter-sawn
board will always remain straight.
On extremely rare occasions, old
trees of Acer pseudoplatanus show a
true birds-eye figure comparable to
the well known birds-eye maple of
Acer saccharum origin. It is, however,
well discernible from the latter, Acer
pseudoplatanus being more yellowish
white and never having a reddish or
brown tinge. The annual rings are
never so pronounced as in sugar
maple and the eyes are not quite so
prominent and with somewhat less
lustre.
The previously mentioned slices are
roughly cut to the size of about 16" x
5½" being approximately 1" thick at
the thickest edge and tapering down
to 3/8". These small boards are
stored and seasoned for many, many
years. In fact, it is not extraordinary
for a good violin maker to use the
material which his grandfather had
acquired in his day. Seventy years is
consider a good age for the material
and the longer it has lain, the better it
is. These woods, of course, are not
stored in the open but in perfectly
dry rooms.
A typical characteristic of the socalled tune spruce is the close — and
above all — regular spacing of the
annual rings. However, this can also
be found once in awhile in old spruce
trees growing in the lowlands. The
most important peculiarity of the
true tune spruce, however, is the fact
that the latewood is extremely
narrow in comparison to the spring
growth and somewhat lighter in
coloring compared to trees grown
elsewhere. This peculiarity is
restricted to trees growing at high
altitudes where adequate conditions
of climate and soil prevail. It is never
to be found in trees from other
localities. The characteristic structure
of wood — close and regularly
spaced annual rings with narrow
latewood — is responsible for the
resonance which in turn influences
the sound qualities of the violin.
Naturally, due to the narrow
latewood, the specific weight of tune
spruce is considerably below the
average of spruce derived from trees
grown in other localities. An old and
very experienced violinmaker with
whom I am acquainted is carrying
on experiments with a view of
finding a definite relationship
between specific weight and sound
quality. Since these spruce boards
also have to be exactly quarter-sawn
and because they must be at least
5½” wide and furthermore taking
into consideration an average of 20
to 30 annual rings to the inch, this
means that a tree yielding the
desired quality of wood must be at
least 150 to 200 years old. In fact, a
tree usually has to be very much
older because when it is young the
trunk has branches all the way down
and many years have to pass before
these branches die, break off and are
finally overgrown by layers of
straight grained wood. Hence the
prices for suitable violin spruce are
very high and it is not exceptional
that for a pair of nicely matched
boards of superior quality prices
amounting to $50, — and more —
have to be paid.
Hello from Ken Platt in Florida, USA.
were full of small sprouts of corkwood just like
Dennis Wilson found (MO). The area was thick to
wade through in the summer..Please take due notice
that ...mosquitos, ticks and snakes are very plentiful
Corkwood —Leitneria floridana
in the summer months ..By this time Freida had
I first went looking for the corkwood with a friend and stopped because of the thickness of the brush.. The
last time I took her into a thick area the vegetation
after looking all day, we stopped where an old forest
was poison oak (Toxicodendron toxicarium)...so, after
road crossed the Waccasassa River in the Cedar Key
area of Florida. We found one small spot of waist high the Florida meeting this past Febuary,which is our
winter, the area vegetation is free of leaves and
brush that looked like corkwood.
ditches dry now, we went back by boat taking Alan
Not satified with our outcome for the day , my wife
Curtis. We found the corkwood , but none larger
Freida , and I went back for a better look a bit later.
than about 2" in dia. and barely tree size, but big
We took her canoe—the only way to the spot— and
then did a great deal more walking in the same area of enough for a couple samples....
my frist visit. Where the uplands breaks to sawgrass
and salt marsh (not all of Florida is beach), the ditches Good day to ya,
Ken Platt
This is a follow up on Alan Curtis’s article on
corkwood in the World of Wood March/April 2009
page 12.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
13
Exploring . . . The Effect of Climate on Wood Growth
By Richard Crow #595-E
About the Author
Richard
Crow
Living in
Cornwall,
England,
Richard
Crow is a well known
wood collector and
timber trade historian. He
has been an IWCS
member since 1960 and
has a personal wood
collection of over 7,000
specimens. Richard was
born with a love of wood
that was nurtured by his
family’s centuries-long
connection to the timber
trade. With an
adventurous spirit and
kind heart, Richard has
travelled the world
collecting wood, making
friends, and accumulating
knowledge which he
graciously shares with us.
A pine tree grows in poor soil with
little rain at 10,000 feet in California.
Another pine tree grows in moist subtropical southern Brazil. A teak tree
grows in the seasonal monsoon climate
of Burma, while a tall cactus grows in
the desert of Arizona. Oak trees grow
in Scotland and by the Mediterranean;
meranti grows in Singapore where the
sweltering climate stays the same all
year long. What effect do these
locations have on the growth of the
trees and the structure of their wood?
Obviously, there are several factors
involved which influence the answer to
this question. How much rainfall is
there? Does the rain fall consistently or
seasonally? Is there a clearly defined
winter and summer season? How
warm or cold is it? What is the altitude?
How rich is the soil?
Changing Seasons and Growth Rates
Let’s consider seasonal variations first.
The further north or south the location
is, the more pronounced and cold the
winters are. During the winter season,
all growth ceases. Temperatures in the
summer are also cooler. So the first
effect on the tree and
wood is that growth
is slowed. The second
effect is that when
spring arrives the
growth opportunity
has to be seized. The
leaves open and the
sap rushes up. The
effect on the wood is
the presence, in
varying degrees, of a
ring of much larger
vessels. For example,
the vessels will be
very prominent in oak
or sweet chestnut, but
much less prominent
in beech or maple.
A Saguaro cactus in
southern Arizona.
14
World of Wood
During the summer, growth continues less
frantically and by autumn in most species
the leaves fall as growth slows to a halt.
The wood may show a narrow darker
borderline. The more ideal the summer
conditions, the faster the growth and the
greater the contrast between ‘early’ and
‘late’ wood. Even in the relatively cool
summer of Scotland, a clear-cut difference
will be able to be seen.
But what about an oak tree growing by the
Mediterranean coast in Spain. Here the
climate contrast is less defined so the tree
can keep its leaves and be evergreen. The
wood will not show the prominent bigvesselled ‘early’ wood. Since the summers
are hot and dry, the leaves are thicker and
drought-resistant. The wood is capable of
storing water which means there will be a
higher proportion of sapwood (and
shrinkage when the wood dries after
felling will have devastating effects of
warping and splitting).
Adapting to Harsh Conditions
Within these climate zones other factors
need to be taken into consideration:
altitude, amount of rainfall, and quality of
soil. Perhaps the best example of the effect
of these can be found in the White
Mountains in California near the Nevada
border. Here at 10,000 feet the winters are
cold, the summers are not very hot, the
rainfall is very low, the winds blow, and
the soil is poor. Perhaps nothing should
grow here. But the bristlecone pine has
learned to grow here, although at a
painfully slow rate. The result is that
growth rings are infinitesimally small and
close together. It may take 100 years to
grow an inch in diameter, and while the
growth rings are distinct, they are so close
together that a lens or microscope is
needed to see them. The trees plod on and
on and can live for 5,000 years, albeit
stunted, battered and blasted by wind
born ice crystals. They have one advantage
– while they have learned to survive in
these arduous surroundings, very little
else has. There is very little competition,
and even destructive fungi cannot survive.
The trees and the wood have great
survival characteristics.
May/June 2009
dryness is not quite so ‘total,’
trees will grow very slowly.
Their leaves will be tiny and
some trees will have no leaves at
all. Because the tree has to cope
with the dreadful drought
conditions, the wood is often
very fine-grained and extremely
heavy and hard (and attractive)
as in the dry-region Acacias of
Australia. As the fringes or
‘savannah’ areas around the
deserts increase, growth
improves but even then the
wood is generally harder than if
it had grown in easier conditions.
An example is the dry-zone
mahogany of the savannah
regions of Central Africa which
produces a harder and, in my
view, more attractive wood than
that grown in damper regions.
Bristlecone pines at 10,000 feet in the White Mountains, California.
But managing without water is
not the only response of trees to dry
While the climate is not so arduous
I can vouch for this since this is
in Oregon or southern Sweden and
where I was for most of my National conditions. The hot, dry ‘nearly
growth is faster, in pines the contrast Service in the Royal Air Force. This desert’ climate of southern Arizona
between soft and light (color and
region is steamingly hot, it rains off is the home of the mighty Saguaro
cactus which can be 40 feet tall. The
weight) earlywood and harder
and on all the year, and the
darker latewood is distinct and
humidity is daunting. But for trees it climate might be described as ‘desert
monsoon.’ Even though it is
growth rings can be clearly seen.
is ideal. They grow steadily,
generally very dry, there are times
vigorously, and uninterrupted.
Thriving in Warm, Wet Places
There are virtually no growth rings when, for a short time, very heavy
rainfall occurs causing flash floods.
(although there may be ‘chalky’
Now, imagine the climate in
The clever Saguaro has learned to
deposit
rings
which
are
not
related
southern Brazil, northeastern
cope very well with this. When the
to
seasons).
The
vessels
are
Argentina, or central Africa. The
rains come, the tree soaks up the
consistent
in
size
and
distribution;
seasons are much less distinct, the
water and stores it in a great soft
meranti
is
a
good
example
of
this.
humidity is generous, and the soil is
core in its trunk. Surrounding the
good. So the pines (in plantations)
If we move a little north to Burma,
soft core is a hard one like a set of
have a much easier life and, to the
we will experience another type of
scaffold poles within the trunk
delight of the plantation owners,
climate. It is hot all year long with
they grow very rapidly and
little variation but, unlike Singapore, which holds it all together. The tree
consists of 90 percent water which
consistently with very little contrast
the rainfall is highly seasonal; it is
acts as a reservoir for the long, dry
between the early and latewood. This monsoon country. In the ‘dry’
fast growth has productive
season growth continues but in the hot season.
advantages, but the wood texture is
wet season growth greatly
rather coarse. Also stability is not as
accelerates so that the growth rings A Tree for All Regions
good as, for example, the slowof large clustered vessels, like those Such are the variations in the world’s
grown northern European pine.
of oak, indicate the flow of sap. Teak climate and the reactions of trees.
From regions where one would not
Perhaps the best growing conditions is a very good example of this.
expect a tree to survive to areas
for trees are locations where the
where all plant life flourishes, you
Overcoming the Dry Zones
climate is warm, damp, and
can find one of our hearty friends
consistent. Equatorial regions are
In other parts of the world, it can be
adapting to the environment. The
ideal. One such region is Singapore
very hot but dry – the ‘total’ deserts
growth of the wood will tell the
and peninsular Malaysia where the
such as the Sahara. Here the climate
story of the tree’s life in that climate.
weather and temperatures remain
may be so dry that no trees, indeed
virtually consistent all the year long. nothing, will grow. Where the
May/June 2009
World of Wood
15
A sort-of a book review
Dear IWCS Members,
Another day cannot pass without my
expressing sincere gratitude for having
met you wonderful people at the Florida
gathering. When I first joined, it was to see
if perhaps “someday” I would participate,
but Jerry Zipprich tugged at me to go to
the meeting because IWCS would “come
alive” there for me. Well, come alive it
surely did!
Truly I have never met such a kind,
generous, welcoming group. Your
encouragement was very important to
those of us who are still reading,
“Woodworking and Identification for
Dummies!”
I wanted to give something to IWCS in
return for the outstanding welcome. Since
I have no skills to give back to you folks, I
have given you something dear to me
instead, Dr. Miroslav M. Grandtner’s first
volume of World Dictionary of Trees,
Elsevier’s Dictionary of Trees, Volume 1:
North America. This is the initial of five
volumes that will present the first global
dendrological portrait.
Miroslav Grandtner is a member of IWCS
#6040, who belongs in support of a group he
believes in even though he is still busy
researching the trees of the world, thus too
busy to attend.
Okay, that is how it began, and now I will
tell you “the rest of the story” concerning
World Dictionary of Trees. Miroslav
Grandtner has devoted his life to the
science of international forestry; therefore,
it is easy to see how this project evolved.
The leading publisher of scientific work,
Elsevier, is producing the dictionary in
five volumes, one for each of the following
continents: North America, South
America, Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania.
The scientifically accepted Latin names of
trees are numbered and listed in
alphabetical order for easy crossreferencing. Common names are verified
in English, French, Spanish, as well as
indigenous and other languages where
available, and English and French names
are being standardized.
For each tree species, the following
elements are addressed:
• World distribution and zones
• Size of individuals
• Foliage type
• Ecology
• Current threats, and
• Known uses.
16
contributed by Sandra Szczygiel #9278
Further Project Description and Statement of Need
World Dictionary of Trees, gives the information to monitor, thus maintain,
global biodiversity. This is critical in that forests provide immeasurable
resources including food, medicine, forage, resins, gums, lumber, fire wood
and paper, as well as capture and sequester atmospheric carbon and
contribute to the global production of oxygen. As a quantitative baseline of all
known native genera, species, sub-species and varieties, the dictionary may be
used to monitor, (among others) the effects of changing climate, clear cutting
in some areas, over-harvesting and single species plantations at a time when
scientists are encouraging sustainability.
Sustainable use means that the utilization of forest resources must respect
the ecological limits of production for the particular ecosystem, and
maintain its biodiversity. Because forest ecosystems are dominated by trees,
it is a primary task to establish a baseline for studying and monitoring the
dendroflora. There was no existing inventory of the dendroflora of North
America, and no baseline was available for a monitoring system of its
biodiversity until the publication of World Dictionary of Trees first volume.
Ensuing volumes will provide the baselines for remaining continents.
World Dictionary of Trees, may also serve as a guide to users such as
scientists, individuals, and those who are collecting for seed banks and DNA
storage; or for those considering different plantations as the composition of
the present zones changes as does the climate; locating species in like zones;
or studying distribution while considering carbon storage.
The dictionary’s multilinguistic synthesis provides more possibilities for use
in many disciplines and cultures; consequently, it encourages the global
cooperation necessary to protect biodiversity. In a world community, this
reference is essential to users such as forestry students, linguists, translators,
botanists, environmentalists, researchers, ecologists, pharmaceutical
researchers, urban environmental planners, wood collectors and
newcomers.
World Dictionary of Trees, Author and Scientific Project Coordinator, Dr.
Miroslav M. Grandtner, earned a Ph.D. in Plant Ecology, as well as a Water
and Forest Engineering Diploma from the University of Louvain and a
Master’s in Forest Ecology from Laval University. He is now Prof. Emeritus
at Laval where he taught Plant Ecology and International Forestry.
He initiated and created the International Forestry Training courses that he
delivered in 12 countries in North and South America, Africa, and Eurasia,
while having first-hand experience with the large diversity in tree species
composition of each continent. In addition, books and papers that he has
written throughout his career, are still in use today.
So, our non-attending member #6040 is no longer a stranger to you, and I
truly hope that you will check out his work at your nearest library perhaps
through an interlibrary loan. It’s definitely worth it!!
Regards to IWCS members in your part of the world!
Sandra Szczygiel.
Editorial Note
Sandra Szczygiel is from Prince Edward Island, Canada. She is a
retired teacher, who worked with environmental high schools
students and various environmental groups for the past 30
something years! She has no hesitation in declaring herself a “tree
hugger,” because of all that trees do for her. She supports groups
like IWCS that also appreciate the environment and the
interdependence we all share. She is a volunteer on the staff of Dr.
Grandtner, IWCS #6040, who is compiling/ producing the material for
the series of five World Dictionary of Trees, published by Elsevier. Sandra
is writing grant requests to support Dr. Grandtner’s work.
World of Wood
May/June 2009
Meet the new Vice President
Profile of Gary Gronborg IWCS #8959
From the President
Gary joined IWCS April
2006 and comes from the
state of Missouri . He has
attended an annual
meeting and several local
and regional meetings. He
is an avid wood turner,
and teaches wood turning
to both adults and
students. As you can tell
from the email attachment
enclosed, he is enjoying
IWCS and has IWCS
interests at heart.
Gary is an enthusiastic
supporter of IWCS and
has offered to fill the
vacant office of Vice
President.
Garry Roux, President
I retired from the railroad industry after
37 years, and took up wood turning
about ten years ago. Turning involves
spinning a piece of wood on a lathe and
cutting it with various tools. I have
turned just about anything that is round,
and am now working towards my own
artistic statement. Recently I have been
melding woodturning with
blacksmithing. Interesting idea, but my
main focus remains bottle stoppers. I
really enjoy making stoppers, and I was
the first to come up with the idea of a
goblet on a wine bottle stopper. I call it
my ‘Gob Stopper’. My next innovation
was the wine bottle shaped stopper; then
the winged stopper and an apple
shaped stopper out of red bloodwood.
My Pepper Mills are also my own
design. It took me about twenty mills to
get one design of which I am proud. I am
the founder, past President and
Honorary Lifetime Member of the Show
Me Woodturners of Festus, MO; a
member and contributor of wood
turning articles to the American
Association of Woodturners (AAW); a
member and demonstrator for
woodturning in the International Wood
Collectors Society; and a member of the
Best of Missouri Hands (BOMH). I also
attend local craft shows and have my
work displayed in galleries in Columbia,
Lake of the Ozarks, Branson and the
Central West End in St. Louis. I love
wood, and am constantly amazed at its
beauty and strength. I believe that by
saving a piece of wood, and turning it
into something beautiful, I am
contributing not only to mankind’s
appreciation of nature, but preserving
the wood for us to enjoy for many years
to come. As always, I use only renewable
sources of wood, recycled wood, and
storm damage. A recent piece was made
from a floor joist from a 150 year old
church which was torn down in Y2K.
Tribute to Margaret Edwards #5427
We have received word of the death of Margaret Edwards of
Wales, United Kingdom. She and her husband Brian attended and
were very helpful with many USA meetings.
The Edwards were members of the UK Branch.
Myrtle Cockrell.
A Guide to More Useful Woods of the
World
A Guide to Useful Woods of the
World
Edited by James H. Flynn, Jr.
The book includes 71 additional
wood data sheets (WDS) bringing
the total of published WDSs to 350,
PLUS two comprehensive indexes.
It also contains fourteen articles
from highly respected professionals
in wood-related matters: Richard
Crow, Alan B. Curtis, Mihaly Czako,
Eugene Dimitriadis, Robert
Goldsack, Ernie Ives, Siegfried
Klotsche, and Regis Miller.
A Guide to More Useful Woods of the World was
launched at the 2007 IWCS Annual Meeting &
Woodfest in Grafton.
Softcover, 376 pages. $29.95 plus postage to members.
Edited by James H. Flynn, Jr.
and Charles D. Holder
Published in 2001, the first
printing sold out! Reprinted in
2007, here’s your chance to have
a copy of the definitive
statement on 279 woods of the
world. The description for each
wood includes: scientific and
family names, common names,
distribution, the tree, the timber, seasoning,
durability, workability, uses, and supplies,
along with a line drawing, a photomicrograph,
and a color photograph of the wood. Also
included are common name, scientific name,
and family name indexes and 3 appendices.
This is a second edition, softcover, 640 pages.
$39.95 plus postage for members.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
These publications are
marketeted on behalf of
IWCS and are available
through:
Forest Products Society
2801 Marshall Court
Madison, Wl 53705-2395
Phone: 608-231-1361 ext.
202 Fax: 608-231-2152
17
Pumpkin Ash (Fraxinus profunda) (Bush) Bush
A Deciduous Hardwood
Oleaceae - Olive Family
by Ron DeWitt #6037-S
(40 m), with stems 5 ft.
(1.5 m) dbh (diameter
breast high), but more
green (also called red)–
often to about 100 ft.
F. pennsylvanica, blue–F.
(30.5 m) by 3 ft. (0.9 m)
quadrangulata, and
dbh. These trees may
indigo–F. tremillium.
live 300 years. The
The original native
U.S. National Register of
range of the pumpkin
Big Trees lists a
ash, all in the U.S., is in
pumpkin ash, found in
the swamps and river
1995 in Big Oak Tree
bottoms of the coastal
State Park in Missouri,
plain from New Jersey
at 103 ft. (31.5 m) by 5
and Maryland south
ft. (1.5 m) dbh.
across northern Florida
This tree usually selfinto Louisiana. This
prunes to grow
quite discontinuous
straight and clear from
range, with many small
a broad expanded butt
outliers, also extends
to an open, rounded
up the Mississippi
crown of heavy
Valley into Illinois,
branches. Like the
Ohio and Michigan
flared buttresses of the
(first noted in 1992).
baldcypress, the
Recently it has been
bulbous base of this
found in southern
tree is thought to help
Ontario, Canada.
stabilize it in its boggy
Pumpkin ash grows
habitat.
well in wet to very wet
The opposite,
swamp margins, wet
pinnately-compound,
woods and poorly8- to 16-inch- (20- to 40Mature pumpkin ash tree.
drained river bottom
centimeter-) long
land. Soils are usually
leaves of pumpkin ash
mineral types of various textures
are usually composed of seven to
from silt loam to clay loam. The tree nine short-stalked leaflets topped by
is sensitive to drought and fire.
a longer-stalked terminal leaflet.
Frequent companions may include
Leaflets are 3 to 8 in. (8 to 20 cm)
baldcypress (Taxodium distichum),
long, elliptical to lance-shaped, only
water tupelo or tupelo-gum (Nyssa
occasionally with saw-toothed
aquatica), water-elm (Planera
margins but hairy along the
aquatica), and red maple (Acer
underside of the midrib. Leaflets are
rubrum). On better-drained sites it
dark green above, yellow-green
will associate with some of the less
below. An identifying feature, useful
common oaks (Q. spp.), American
in separating this ash from the
elm (Ulmus americana), and
others, is the heavy hair cover on the
sweetgum (Liquidambar straciflua).
underside of the leaf axis or stem.
Pumpkin ash is a medium to large
Pumpkin ash is dioecious, having
tree, occasionally growing to 130 ft.
male and female flowers develop on
Synonym: Fraxinus tomentosa F. Michaux
Classifying ash in the Olive Family
may seem confusing. The olives are
evergreen hardwoods, ashes are
deciduous. Olives have sweetly
scented, petaled flowers; ash flowers
have neither scent nor petals. The
ashes, however, have an oil in their
wood that is chemically very similar
to olive oil.
Derivation of the genus name
Fraxinus is from the classical Latin
name for ash. The epithet or species
name profunda is from the Latin for
“deep” or “profound,” referring to
the tree’s chosen swamp habitat. The
common name pumpkin ash is
derived from the sometimes
pumpkin-shaped base this tree
develops to better support itself in
very wet locations.
The ash species number 21 in North
America (16 in the U.S. and Canada)
and about 50 more in Eurasia for a
world total of about 70. Almost all
are native in the North Temperate
Zone.
The pumpkin ash, Fraxinus profunda,
is also called swell-butt ash or red
ash, the red reference from the
cinnamon-orange color of its inner
bark. This species is a member of a
large group of colorful ashes: the
white–F. americana, black–F. nigra,
Emerald ash borer Agrilus planipennis.
18
World of Wood
May/June 2009
separate trees. Small inconspicuous
yellow male and greenish-purple,
wind-pollinated female flowers are
without petals. Flowers appear in
early spring before the trees fully leaf
out. The fruit, a single wing key or
samara is 2 to 3 in. (5 to 7.5 cm) long
and about 1.5 in. (3.8 cm) wide,
usually rounded at the tip. The wing
nearly extends to the base of the
single seed. Fruits develop in
multiple clusters and mature in late
summer or autumn. They may
continue to drop well into winter.
The fruit is popular with ducks and
other birds. The individual fruit and
leaves are larger than those of any
other native ash, another
distinguishing feature of this species.
Twigs are stout, light brownish-gray
when young, and densely hairy
which may persist for one to three
years. Bark darkens and becomes
scaly as it ages, developing coarse,
tight furrows and divided ridges that
form diamond-shaped patterns. The
tree grows rapidly, occasionally to 20
ft. (6 m) in its first six years. It is
considered moderately shade
tolerant.
Sapwood of the pumpkin ash is
creamy-white and relatively narrow
with an abrupt transition to the tan
or light brown heartwood. Growth
rings are distinct. Wood is coarse,
even textured, straight grained,
usually with little figure, medium
hard and medium heavy. Average
sp. gr. is about 0.55 and it weighs
about 38 pcf (609 kg/m3) at 12%
M.C. This wood is tough, has
excellent shock resistance and
excellent strength, among the best on
the basis of strength to weight. The
wood has no distinguishing taste or
odor.
The wood is ring-porous; earlywood
pores are moderately large, distinctly
visible to the naked eye. Earlywood
is 2 to 4 pores wide. The transition
from earlywood to latewood is
abrupt. Latewood pores are small,
barely distinct to the naked eye and
solitary or in radial multiples of 2 or
3. Rays are 1 to 3 seriate, indistinct
or barely visible to the naked eye.
May/June 2009
Tyloses are plentiful in
pulverized fresh bark
heartwood.
of twigs and roots (and
two
parts of alcohol)
Pumpkin ash dries
has
been
used “where
quickly with average
an
astringent
tonic was
shrink and only a
deemed
necessary.”
moderate tendency to
Infusions were found
warp, check or degrade.
useful
as a cathartic,
This ash works nicely
stimulant,
for relief of
with hand or power
constipation,
for
tools, although slightly
treating
mastitis
and
dulling cutting edges.
enlargement
of
the
Sanded surfaces have a
spleen. Bark poultices
soft, lustrous
were
used to treat
appearance, the result of
eczema,
arthritis and
a small amount of a
gout.
Consuming
the
volatile oil in the wood.
seeds
was
thought
to
Pre-drilling for fasteners
prevent
accumulation
is recommended. It
of body fat.
turns well, carves nicely,
especially with power,
Wood of pumpkin ash
and is excellent for
is a very desirable
steam-bending. Those
firewood. It easily
large earlywood pores
splits along radial lines.
do require filling before
The oil in the wood
finishing to achieve
promotes good
smooth surfaces. It
burning, green or dry.
glues, stains, and accepts
High quality wood is
almost any finish,
used for tool handles,
including paint, with
farm implements,
normal care. It is stable
dimensional lumber
in service, but durability
and trim stock. It is
Board of pumpkin ash.
is poor when exposed to
also used for furniture,
moisture, soil or
cabinets, flooring,
weather.
caskets, plywood, veneer, steam-bent
parts, boxes, walking canes, crates
Dermatitis is an occasional
and pulp. In its growing areas it is
consequence of working with any
usually mixed with and sold as white,
of the ashes. Skin cover and
Oregon, or Pennsylvania ash or
breathing and eye protection
simply as “hard ash.” Pricing is
should be routine when working
comparable to that of the other
around this wood or its sawdust.
common hardwoods. At present
Perhaps the most important use of
supplies are adequate but are
pumpkin ash for Native Americans
seriously threatened.
and early settlers was that of
carrying its leaves in their shoes or The threat comes from the Emerald
about their person. This “proved” Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis), an
exotic beetle first discovered in North
to be offensive to rattlesnakes and
America, in southeastern Michigan,
so provided protection from
in the summer of 2002 and in Ontario,
snakebite. (In the event of failure
Canada, later that year. It is believed
the leaves were used to treat the
the beetle probably came into the U.S.
bite.)
accidentally in wood shipping
Pumpkin ash also reportedly has
material of surface or air cargo from
some medicinal benefits, probably
its native Asia. Adult beetles are
from glucosides and essential oil in
about 5/8 in. (15 mm) long with
the wood and bark. A beautiful,
metallic green wing covers and a
clear, reddish-orange, very bitter
coppery-red or purple abdomen.
tasting infusion prepared with
Cont’ over page.
World of Wood
19
Cont’ from page 19.
They are usually seen
from May through
September. The insect is
selective, living only on
the ash species. Adult
beetles feed on ash
leaves, doing little
damage. The larvae,
however, feed on the
inner bark, disrupting
the tree’s ability to
transport water and
nutrients. Symptoms of
invasion are 3/8 in. (9
mm) “D”-shaped exit
holes in the bark and
dying upper branches
followed by the death of
the tree from the top
down.
Since its discovery the
Emerald Ash Borer has
killed tens of millions of
ash trees in Michigan
and more in infested
adjoining states. The
epidemic is progressing
at an alarming rate,
having reached Ohio in
2003, Indiana by 2004,
Illinois and Maryland in
2006, Wisconsin,
Missouri, Pennsylvania,
and Virginia in the
summer of 2008.
At present the future of
the native ashes of North
America is in question.
This insect is well
established and will be
difficult to eliminate or
contain. Quarantines of
nursery stock and
firewood in infested
states may be slowing
the advance. An
injectable insecticide is
showing some promise,
but without massive
proactive measures, our
ashes could go the way
of the American elm and
the American chestnut,
Castanea dentata.
20
All-Mail Auction
by Art Brennan #6663
Bids due by June 25, 2009
Notification of successful bids; payments for
items, postage
I invite IWCS members to take a look at
the accompanying list of donations for
I will notify the bidders of the results of the
the 34th All-Mail Auction and submit
bidding by June 30, 2009. After the winning
bids on this year’s unique mix of books,
bidder receives notification from me, the
specimens, pen blanks, egg blanks, crafts, successful bidders should forward payment
woods, and a Compact Disk donated by expeditiously to IWCS Secretary/Treasurer
members.
William Cockrell, 2300 West Rangeline Road,
Greencastle, IN 46135-7875. You may pay by
Bidding
check or money order in U.S. funds, made out
to the IWCS. Alternatively, you may pay by
The minimum bid for any item is $5.00
unless otherwise noted in the description Visa or Master Card; identify the credit card
you are using and provide the card number,
of that item. Bids above that amount
the expiration date, and the V-code (that’s the
should be in whole dollar amounts in
last three digits on the signature line on the
U.S. currency, e.g., $9.00, $21.00, etc.
back of your card). If you pay by credit card,
Bids should reach me by June 25, 2009.
please mail your credit card information to the
You may mail or e-mail your bids to me;
Secretary/Treasurer. Do not send credit card
however, if you have an Internet account,
information by e-mail. No payments should be
I would prefer to receive bids via e-mail.
sent to the auction coordinator.
It’s fast and easy, and not only saves on
postage, but also paper, envelopes, and
Shipping costs
trips to the post office. E-mail me at
[email protected] and use a subject Successful bidders also are responsible for
line of “all-mail auction” in your e-mail. reimbursing the donors for the postage costs of
forwarding the item(s) to the winning bidders.
Or, send your bids to Arthur Brennan.
Payments should be forward directly to the
In forwarding your bids to me, please
include the number of the item(s) you are donors after receiving the bid upon item(s).
bidding on (e.g., S001, W003, etc.), the
Forwarding items to successful bidders
amount you are bidding for each item,
your name, your membership number, as After notifying successful bidders of their
well as your return e-mail or mail
being the high bidder, I will forward those
address.
names and bid amounts to Bill Cockrell. When
he receives payment, he will authorize me to
You may bid on as many items as you
notify the donor to forward the appropriate
like, but you can submit only one bid
amount for any particular item. Whoever item(s) to the bidder. Donors should forward
items expeditiously and by economical means.
submits the highest bid on an item will
receive that item. In the event of a tie, the If shipping costs are not reimbursed, please
notify me.
earliest bid received by me will prevail.
High Bidder Award
As a bonus this year, Jim Flynn will be
awarding a copy of A Field Guide to the
Families and Genera of Woody Plants of
Northwest South America (Columbia,
Ecuador and Peru) to the person who
bids the highest amount for any item in
the auction. See the accompanying article
by Jim for details. Also, in this year’s
auction, Les Campbell has offered to
carve Welch love spoons and a wooden
bowl full of eggs for the highest bidders.
If you have some woods with special
significance, here is an opportunity to
have them carved into a keepsake. See
items C009 and C010 for details.
World of Wood
Internet
This year, a list of the donated items will be
posted on the IWCS Web Site (http://
www.woodcollectors.org). Also, you can see
photographs of all of the craft items that were
donated as well as photographs of wood items
W001 through W007.
Thank you for your support
Please join me in expressing appreciation for
the IWCS members supporting the All-Mail
Auction. We should be especially thankful
for the members who donated items. Their
names appear with the list of donated items.
The proceeds of their donations support
IWCS activities. Also, it is not too early to
begin setting aside items for next year’s allmail auction.
May/June 2009
outstanding book with a judicious
spread of Aussie trees.
B006
Standard Plant Names published in 1942
by American Joint Committee on
Horticultural Nomenclature. Good
condition, 677 pages, weight 3 pounds.
8” x 9 x 1.25”. This book was in heavy
use prior to computerized programs
and served well as a starting point in
plant identification. It remains useful
as a handy reference guide for
nomenclature. Minimum bid of $50.00.
Item B007 was donated by Art Lee
#7984L, Maryland.
B007
2003 American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM) Volume 04.10, Wood
on CD. Retail value is $159. Minimum
bid of $20.
9” wide, 6 lbs. The eggs are turned
from a variety of woods and in various
Items B001- B006 were donated by
shapes and sizes. No duplication of
Jim Flynn #3975H, Virginia.
wooden eggs. Minimum bid of $45.00.
B001
C008
Book, Diccionario Botanica de Nombres
Carved bowl of Eucalyptus spp.,
Vulgares Cubana Par el Dr. Juan Tomas
brown mallee burl, 9” long, 6” wide
Roigy Mesa. Editora Del Consejo
2½” deep, 3lbs. Minimum bid of
Nacional de Universidades, La
$25.00.
Habana, 1965. Printed in Spanish. Two
C009
Volumes, sewed sections, hard cover, 5
You are bidding on six Welsh love
x 8 x 3 “, weight 3 pounds (2 volumes
spoons that Les will carve using your
combined) Considering origin, in very
wood or his. The spoons will be similar
good condition. Many B & W photos,
to items C005 and C006, photographs
Index contains 3,553 scientific name
of which can be seen at the IWCS web
entries. Botanical literature written in
site. Details to be worked out between
Spanish is quite readable with practice.
the high bidder and Les. Minimum bid
A good bit of the nomenclature can be
of $30.00.
translated with a little practice. The
C010
world used book market lists only two
You are bidding on a carved bowl of
copies of this book available. One in
your wood and a set of turned eggs
Spain and the other in Florida.
similar to item C007 which can be seen
Minimum bid of $125.00.
Crafts
on the IWCS web site. Details to be
B002
Note: Photographs of all of the craft
worked out between the high bidder
Trees for Darwin and Northern Australia. donations are available on the IWCS
and Les. Minimum bid of $50.00.
Author D. A. Hearne. Published by
web site: www.woodcollectors.org.
Items C011 - C012 were crafted and
Australian Government Publishing
Items
C001
C004
were
crafted
and
donated by Jim Zoellner #8029,
Service, Canberra. 1975. 1 pound 10
donated
by
Jerome
Padrutt
#1068.
Florida.
oz., 7 x 10 x .75”, like new, 168 pages
C001
C011
plus 36 B & W plates and 8 color. A
Large weed pot of avocado (spalted)
Honduras mahogany (Swietenia
compilation of trees that have
demonstrated good growth in northern (Persea americana), 11" tall x 4" diameter. macrophylla) segmented bowl, 3 rows
Has a small crack on the spalted line.
of 12 segments per row, 2¼" high x 5
Australia. It was written in response
½" diameter. Minimum bid of $30.00.
for calls from residents living in the
C002
extensive housing developments for
Pepper mill of Loquat wood. - 8¼" tall C012
shade plants as well as botanical and Base is 2¼ diameter.
Honduras mahogany (Swietenia
agricultural needs.
macrophylla) segmented vase. 8 rows of
C003
12 segments per row, 5¾" high x 5½"
B003
Desk organizer of staghorn sumac
Cinchona in Java, The Story of Quinine.
(Rhus typhina), 2½" tall x 2¾" diameter. diameter. Minimum bid of $75.00.
Published by Greenberg, NY 1945.
Item C013 was crafted and donated by
C004
Hard cover, like new, 87 pages, 12
Art Lee #7984L, Maryland.
Tooth pick holder of staghorn sumac
ounces, 6 x 9 x ½”. Outstanding
(Rhus typhina) 4½" tall x 2" diameter.
C013
coverage of the history of discovery,
silky oak (lacewood) (Grevillea robusta),
Items
C005
C010
were
crafted
and
cultivation uses and distribution of
bank, brass Grecian-style post office
donated
by
Les
Campbell
#8626.
quinine. A collector’s item.
box door with combination dial, brass
C005
B004
coin slot on top, approximately 5" by 6"
Trees, Shrubs, and Vines of the Texas Hill Set of three carved Welsh love spoons
and 4" deep. Minimum bid of $25.
of
cherry
wood
(Prunus
serotina),
in
Country, A Field Guide, By Jan Wrede,
flower, calla leaf and oak leaf motifs, 6”
published by Texas A&M University
Item E001 - E002 were donated by
Press 2005. Weight 1 pound, 5 oz. 246 long, 1½ “ wide, ½” deep, 1lb.
Alan B. Curtis #1132-HL, Oregon.
Minimum
bid
of
$15.00
pages, 6 x 9 x ½ “. Condition like new.
E001
C006
Includes Book Review by Jim Flynn.
Set of 15 wooden egg blocks. Each
Set of three carved Welsh love spoons
The Texas Hill Country includes 13
piece is roughly 2” square by 4” long.
of cherry wood (Prunus serotina), in
counties in central Texas.
Labels give botanical and common
swan,
maple
leaf
and
acanthas
leaf
B005
names, and where grown. All wood is
motifs,
6”
long,
1½”
wide,
½”
deep,
1lb.
Native Trees of Australia by J. W.
dry. About 8 lbs; red ash (Alphitonia
min
bid
of
$15.00
Audas Published by Whitcombe &
excelsa), Parana-pine (Araucaria
C007
Tombs Pty, Ltd, Melbourne, Australia
circa 1935. 396 pages. Good condition Carved bowl of Western juniper crotch, angustifolia), chakte-viga (Caesalpinia
with some sun fading on spine. 5.75 x with 16 turned eggs of various woods. violacea), sugi (Cryptomeria japonica),
The bowl is 16” long, 4-6 inch deep, 5- black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii),
8.75 x ¾ “. Weight 1 pound 8 oz. An
Cont’ page 24.
Books - CD
May/June 2009
World of Wood
21
Shrubwoods of the World
by Nelis Mourik #7460-L
Common Lilac
Lilacs are among the most elegant and
colorful flowering shrubs and small
trees. They’re also accompanied by a
delicious fragrance. Moreover, their
wood is one of the most beautiful
shrubswoods available.
Common lilac’s Latin name is Syringa
vulgaris L., one of the only two
endemic to Europe out of a total of 23.
About 20 others are natives of Asia, as
far east as Japan. They are in the
Oleaceae family, in which is also the
olive tree and the (common) ash.
Common lilac’s most probable natural
range was central and south-eastern
Europe, but because this shrub has
been cultivated so long and extensively
meanwhile it is possible that it
occurred only the mountains of southeastern Europe: from Rumania down
into the Balkan peninsula. From the
second half of the 16th century this
shrub was introduced via Germany
into western Europe and a little later
onto the British Isles. Therefore it’s just
as common as many other native
shrubs in western Europe now.
Common lilac can attain the size of a
small tree, some 4 to 7 m high, bearing
a round crown. Suckers can make it
grow bushy, they’d better be cut off.
Leaves are heart-shaped. Flowers are
richly scented, born in dense, erect,
conical panicles in May or June. Their
colors range from white through
creamy-yellow to red, purple or blue.
The Hilliers Manual of Trees and Shrubs
1998 edition says over 500 selections
have been named for their differencies
in color, single or double flowers, and
panicle form.
The genus name Syringa is derived
from ‘seringa’, which was the local
name for it on the isle of Crete in the
second half of the 16th century. The
specific epithet vulgaris means
‘occuring everywhere’ or ‘common’, an
indication that the shrub already had
spread widely in Linnaeus’ time (the
18th century). The English name lilac is
said to be derived from ‘nilak’, Persian
for purplish blue.
The wood of the common lilac (and
also all other lilacs) is light brown with
a rose tinge and is quite sharply
demarcated from the creamy colored
sapwood. On its end grain the
heartwood can show concentric or
waving red or purple whorls that
result on the longitudinal surface in
meandering streaks of that same color.
This is most possibly caused by a
fungal attack because of a too wet
growth site. It´s not the color of the
flowers, for it´s the same in wood of
white flowering lilacs. Stems can easily
grow to 10 cm across; healthy shrubs
or in tree-form it can reach up to 20
cm.
Growthrings are visible because of
more dense fibers in the latewood near
the bounderies. The wood is semi
ringporous, the pores being very small,
nevertheless in the earlywood wider
than in the latewood. Parenchyma is
paratracheal, but scanty. Rays are 2seriate, less often 1-seriate and rarely,
local, 3-seriate, heterogeneous, in
general with one row of square
marginal cells, up to 0.3 mm high. In
the ground tissue thick walled fiber
tracheids predominate.
The wood of common lilac is very
hard, dense and heavy (specific gravity
850 - 1050 kg/m3, average 900 kg/m3),
very fine textured and straight grained,
although quite often also spiral grain
occurs. This latter, together with a high
shrinkage rate of over 10 % in
tangential direction, makes drying of
this wood very difficult. It’s good to
dry it with sealed ends and cut over
the pith. Do it as slowly as possible,
letting it season quietly over a long
period of time.
Once dry it can be worked well, using
10x magnification of endgrain of common lilac.
22
World of Wood
Longtitudinal surface of common lilac.
sharp tools. The combination of small
dimensions and hardness, however,
can lead to dangerous situations.
When working the wood has a
specific, quite fresh-sour odor. It can
be sanded and polished to a very
smooth surface. It glues well, and
finished with laquer the color paterns
are deepened. The wood is not
durable: fungi and worms both like it!
This often beautifully figured wood is
used for craft items, especially small
turnings, carvings and inlay works.
Transverse section of a five cm stem of
common lilac.
May/June 2009
Shrubwoods of the World
by Nelis Mourik #7460-L
Forsythia
One of the most colorful flowering
shrubs in early spring is forsythia
with its numerous yellow flowers on
erect stems. Key characters of the
wood are an off-white color and a
hollow pith.
Forsythia is also sometimes named
(Chinese) golden bells. The most
common cultivated in gardens is
Forsythia x intermedia Zabel, a hybrid
originated between 1880 and 1890 in
Germany between its two parents
Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.)Vahl and
Forsythia viridissima Lindley, both
natives of China. The genus Forsythia
has, besides its several hybrids, 7
species of which one is native to
south-west Europe, the others to east
Asia. They are in the Oleaceae family,
and closely allied to the lilacs and the
jasmines.
The genus name Forsythia is in honor
to William Forsyth (1737 - 1804),
Scottish superintendent of the Royal
Gardens of Kensington Palace. The
specific epithet suspensa means
‘hanging’ and viridissima means ‘very
green’. In the epithet x intermedia ‘x’
means it is a hybrid and intermedia
means the plant characters are
intermediate between its two
parents, and indeed, in many
respects they are.
Forsythia forms a bushy shrub with
many slender, erect stems, also
sometimes hanging over, 2 - 3 m high.
Leaves are sometimes trifoliolate, but
mostly simple, with toothed edge.
Flowers are deep yellow and clustered
almost all along the stems, four-lobed,
bell-shaped, mostly hanging.
The wood of forsythia is off-white,
darkening to a very light brown.
Heartwood is indistinct. If some darker
wood around the pith is visible, this is
rather due to penetrated water after
pruning, that can easily reach and stain
the wood through its pith, that is
eighter (partly) chambered or fully
open in segments between the nodes.
Diameters at the base of the stems not
often exceed 5 cm.
Growthrings are visible, but not very
clearly. There is a slight transition in
color from lightbrown in the earlywood
to cream colored in the latewood. The
wood is ring porous with one
discontinuous row of earlywood
vessels being that small (20 - 30 μm)
that they are hardly visible through the
lens, let alone the latewood vessels (10 20 μm). Parenchyma is only
paratracheal, sparse. Rays are
exclusively uniseriate, up to 15 cells
high.
Forsythia wood is quite hard and
medium heavy (specific gravity around
650 kg/m3 airdry), very fine textured
and straight grained. To avoid cracks
when drying this wood it is better to
cut the bigger diameters along the pith.
It seasons quite slowly. Once dry it is
quite easy to work. A prominent
feature is the pith that is contrasting to
the lighter colored wood and showing
the hollow segments between the
nodes. Near the nodes, in Forsythia x
intermedia the hollow pith is
chambered. Other species are either
fully chambered, or fully open, even at
the nodes. Rays are so fine that they can
hardly be seen even on the quarter
sawn wood. The wood can be glued
well. It can be polished to a very
smooth surface. It is not durable.
10x magnification of Forsythia and grain.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
Longtudional surface of glue-up
specimen showing the hollow pith.
For the small dimensions this
wood is never used, although it
will be suitable for small
craftwork like turnings and
carvings. Any other use is
unknown, except for its abundant
flowering in Spring.
Transverse section of a 5 cm stem
near the end of one of the nodes.
23
Cont’ from page 21
cocobolo(Dalbergia retusa), earpod-tree
(Enterolobium cyclocarpum), jarrah
(Eucalyptus marginata), Oregon ash
(Fraxinus latifolia), cluster fig (Ficus
racemosa), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), silkyoak (Grevillea robusta), tulipwood
(Harpullia thanatophora), kaffir plum
(Harpephyllum caffrum), and American
holly (Ilex opaca). Minimum bid of
$15.00.
E002
Set of 15 wooden egg blocks. Each
piece is roughly 2 inches square by 4
inches long. Labels give botanical and
common names, and where grown. All
wood is dry. About 8 lbs; western larch
(Larix occidentalis), false-mastic
(Mastichodendron foetidissimum), beach
heliotrope (Messerschmidia argentea),
black poisonwood (Metopium brownei)
(the wood is not poisonous, only the
fresh sap), red mulberry (Morus rubra),
figured myrtle beach (Nothofagus
cunninghamii), Brewer spruce (Picea
breweriana), yellowwood (Podocarpus
gracilior), cherry-laurel (Prunus
laurocerasus), quaking aspen (Populus
tremuloides), canyon live oak (Quercus
chrysolepis), California black oak
(Quercus kelloggii), rhododendron
(Rhododendron spp.), red elm (Ulmus
rubra), and an unknown tropical wood,
possibly a Dalbergia spp, possibly
rosewood. Minimum bid of $15.00.
Pen Blanks
Item P001 was donated by Dave
Mouat #7101, California
P001
Set of 15 pen blanks, at least 11/16 x
11/16 x 5"; knobthorn acacia (Acacia
nigrescens), kingwood (Dalbergia
cearensis), tulipwood (Dalbergia
frutescens), Brazilian rosewood
(Dalbergia nigra), cocobolo (Dalbergia
retusa), American chestnut (not
wormy) (Astanea dentata), Mexican
crucillio (Condalia warnockii), coastal
banksia (Banksia integrifolia), African
mahogany (Khaya nyasica), pink ivory
(Bercemia zeyheri), Zanthoxylon
diversifolia, red milkwood (Mimusops
obovata), Knysna boxwood (Gonioma
kamassi), Catalina ironwood
(Lyonothamnus floribundus), Gaboon
ebony (Diospyros spp.). Minimum bid
of $15.00.
24
baileyana) dwarf form, westrern coastal
wattle (Acacia cyclops), carob (Ceratonia
Items S001 - S004 were donated by
siliqua), Gowan cypress (Cupressus
Dave Milligan #4864L, California.
governiana), bronze loquat (Eriobotrya
S001
deflexa), sweetshade (Hymenosporum
Set of 12 specimens, 2 lbs, most of
flavum), California black walnut
these specimens are pefect by a few
(Juglans hindsii), avocado (Persea
may have knots, checks, or bark
americana), digger pine (Pinus
edges: Acacia baileyana dwarf form,
sabiniana), California live oak (Quercus
purple leaf acacia (Acacia baileyana var agrifolia), holly oak (Quercus ilex), and
purpurea), Acacia cyclops, Sydney
African sumac (Rhus lancea).
golden wattle (Acacia longifolia),
Item S005 - S008 were donated by
Carmel creeper (Ceanothus griseus),
Jerry Zipprich #1238, Illinois.
carob (Ceratonia siliqua), Arizona
S005
cypress (Cupressus arizonica var
Set of 11 specimens, 2 lbs: damar/
glabra), bronze loquat (Eriobotrya
almaciga (Agathis dammara), parana
deflexa), common flannel bush
pine (Araucaria angustifolia), Pacific
(Fremontodendron californicum),
madrone
burl (Arbutus menziesii),
Australian wilga (Geijera parviflora),
pawpaw
(Asimina
triloba), black olive
California black walnut (Juglans
(Bucidas buceras), bitternut hickory
hindsii), and pin oak(Quercus
(Carya cordiformis), pecan (Carya
palustris).
illinoinensis), American chestnut
S002
(Castanea dentata), hackberry (spalt)
Set of 12 specimens, 2 lbs, most of
(Celtis occidentalis), Eastern redbud
these specimens are pefect by a few
(Cercis canadensis), and Port Orford
may have knots, checks, or bark
cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana).
edges: Cootamundra wattle Acacia
S006
baileyana (dwarf form), purple leaf
acacia (Acacia baileyana var purpurea), Set of 11 specimens, 2 lbs: camphor
westrern coastal wattle Acacia cyclops, laurel (w/red, figured) (Cinnamomum
camphora), Pacific dogwood (Cornus
carob (Ceratonia siliqua), Leyland
cypress (Cuprocyparis leylandii), bronze nuttalli), Sisso rosewood (Dalbergia
sisso), X persimmon (w/black)
loquat (Eriobotrya deflexa), common
(Diospyros virginana), American beech
flannel bush (Fremontodendron
(Fagus grandifolia), white ash (Fraxinus
californicum), Australian wilga
americana), black ash (burl) (Fraxinus
(Geijera parviflora), sweetshade
nigra), velvet or Arizonia ash (Fraxinus
(Hymenosporum flavum), California
black walnut (Juglans hindsii), avocado velutina), honey locust (Gleditsia
(Persea americana), and Japanese black triacanthos), Kentucky coffeetree;
(Gymnocladus dioicus), and black
pine (Pinus thunbergii).
walnut (crotch). R (Juglans nigra).
S003
S007
Set of 12 specimens, 2 lbs, most of
Set of 11 specimens, 2 lbs: tamarack or
these specimens are pefect by a few
Eastern larch (Larix laricina), yellow
may have knots, checks, or bark
poplar or tulip poplar (burl)
edges: Cootamundra wattle Acacia
(Liriodendron tulipifera), cucumber tree
baileyana (dwarf form), western
(Magnolia acuminata), chinaberry (Melia
coastal wattle (Acacia cyclops), carob
azedarach), black tupelo or black gum
(Ceratonia siliqua), Italian cypress
(Nyssa sylvatica), avacado (Persea
(Cupressus sempervirons), loquat
americana), slash pine (Pinus elliotii),
(Eriobotrya japonica), sweetshade
sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana),
(Hymenosporum flavum), California
pondorosa pine (Pinus ponderosa),
black walnut (Juglans hindsii),
chinaberry (Melia azedarach), avocado loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), and
(Persea americana), Jelecote pine (Pinus Jamacian dogwood (Piscidia piscipula).
S008
patula), holly oak (Quercus ilex), and
Set of 12 specimens, 2 lbs: sycamore
African sumac (Rhus lancea).
(spalt) (Platanus occidentalis), quaking
aspen or popple (Populus tremuloides),
S004
shingle oak (Quercus imbricaria), burr
Set of 12 specimens, 2 lbs, most of
oak or mossy cup oak (QS) (Quercus
these specimens are pefect by a few
macrocarpa), live oak (Quercus
may have knots, checks, or bark
virginiana), staghorn sumac (Rhus
edges: Cootamundra wattle (Acacia
Standard Wood Specimens
World of Wood
May/June 2009
Birdseye walnut – rare or not so rare?
I’ve always loved American black
walnut (Juglans nigra). It’s easy to
work, takes a fine finish, is very
attractive and is moderately priced—
at least relative to other imported
woods. Unfortunately it doesn’t
grow on the Canadian prairies.
For the small boxes I sometimes
build, I prefer the straight, plain,
quarter-sawn wood which I resaw for
the sides and interior partitions and
more interesting figured accent wood
for the lid. Walnut doesn’t
disappoint and has some beautiful
crotch, fiddle back, angel’s wings,
burl, curl and swirl figures. Our
book Guide to Useful Woods of the
World edited by Flynn and Holder,
lists even more figures that I had ever
heard of including stumpwood,
ribbon, mottle and snail.
To find the best boards, I’ve sorted
through dozens of pallet loads of
Cont’ from page 24.
typhina), black locust (Robinia
pseudoacacia), cabbage palmetto
palm (Sabal palmetto), Pacific yew
(Taxus brevifolia), Northern white
cedar (Thuja occidentalis),
basswood (Tilia americana), and
grapefruit (Citrus paradisi).
Items W001 - W005 were donated
by Ron Lira #4053, Oklahoma.
Note: Photographs of W001
through W007 are available on the
IWCS web site www.woodcollectors.org.
W001
Austrialian silky oak or lacewood
(Grevillea robusta), two pieces,
rough cut, kiln dried, clear, total
size of 9 x 22 x 2", 7lbs.
W002
Black walnut (Juglans nigra),
crotch wood, mixture of
heartwood and sapwood with
feather flame figure, rough cut, air
dried 10 years, 2 checks, one 1"
diameter knot, 14 x 11x 1", 6 lbs.
W003
Apricot (Persea americana), rough
chain saw cut, air dried 15 years,
badly warped with checks on one
side but clear, would make several
good samples 19 x 8x¾", 7lbs.
May/June 2009
walnut—literally thousands of boards
over the years. Most dealers don’t mind,
as long as you promise to leave the stack
neat and safe. Sometimes I can find a
board that has all the figure types I’m
looking for on the same board.
I have assumed that by now that I would
have seen every figure to be found, but
in a recent search, I found something
I’ve never seen before— a board
displaying unmistakable birds eye
figure.
My first assumption was that it must be
very rare. An internet search however,
revealed that although this figure wasn’t
unheard of, it was uncommon. There
was a single piece of veneer for sale on ebay that really looked like birds eye
walnut, but several other references to
birds eye figure looked a bit suspect—
including whole pieces of antique
furniture and luxury car dashboards.
However none of the pictures looked
by Greg Reed #7616
fully convincing to me. Perhaps some
of the “birds eye walnut” furniture
advertised is actually stained maple.
So I’d like to submit a question to
IWCS membership:
“Is birds eye walnut figure truly rare, or
are there sharp-eyed lumber graders at the
sawmills removing these pieces before the
wood is bundled and shipped my way—as
they apparently do for birds eye maple?”
I enclose a photo—the best I was able
to take – showing the grain pattern.
W004
All-Mail Auction Award
Aspen (Populus spp.), mostly planed,
by Jim Flynn, 3975 H
good color mix, from the wilds of
Our
Society
is more than ever depending on
Colorado, air dried 5 years, knots,
special
events
to keep our treasury alive. We
one check, 5¾ x 3 7/8 x 53", 5 lbs.
urge all participants in the All-Mail Auction
W005
to consider the bids they offer as a
Bristle cone pine (Pinus aristata), from
“donation”. We are offering a prize to the
the wilds of Colorado, dead when
member having the largest monetary
harvested, rough cut by bandsaw, air
amount on their total bids. It will be one of
dried 5 years, clear but with one knot,
Jim Flynn’s prize books—one that he has
17 x 5 x 1", 3 lbs.
considered tops in South American tree
Items W006 and W007 were donated
literature. The description is as follows:
by Dave Mouat #7101, California.
A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of
W006
Woody Plants of Northwest South America
Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron
(Columbia, Ecuador and Peru). Published by
giganteum), carving block, clear slow
Alwyn H. Gentry in conjunction with
growth, 8 x 8 x 12".
Conservation International. Washington,
DC. The weight of the book is 6.5 pounds
W007
and size is 6.5 “ x 10” x 3.25”, with a page
Bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva), log
count of 895. Excellent condition. Soft cover.
section with spiral and small
soft center, very slow growth, 7" long Tragically, Gentry and ornithologist Ted
x 6" diameter, soft center is less than
Parker were killed in an airplane crash on
1" diameter. Minimum bid of $15.00. August 3, 1993 in Ecuador. They died while
conducting scientific studies as part of
Conservation Internationalist’s Rapid
Assessment Program (RAP). Their work was
monumental in scope and importance. Their
All-Mail Auction Schedule
loss created a vacuum in talent that has
• June 25—Cut-off for bidding
never been filled.
• June 30— Notify bidders
The Wood Collector winning this book is
• Sep/Oct 2009—Results in
guaranteed to be pleased. Postage will be
World of Wood
prepaid.
World of Wood
25
Member’s Listings and Requests
Members with wood specimens for sale
Information from this page has been deleted as it is for members interest only
26
World of Wood
May/June 2009
Wood Meets
September 12 September 2009
Great Lakes Regional Meeting
Held at the home of Bob and Judy Chastain, 3904 E.
SR. 234, Ladoga, Indiana. 47954.
Registration will begin at 8:00 a.m. - E.S.T.
Demonstrations will take place from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00
Noon. Fried chicken will be served for lunch. A wood
and craft auction will take place after the meal. There
will also be something for the ladies to do, if wanted.
Call 765-942-2661 for more information.
Registration is $10.00 per person. Pay at the door.
Motels in Crawforsville
Comfort Inn. Phone: 765-361-0665
Quality Inn. Phone:765-362-8700 (Newly redone)
Holiday Inn Express. Phone:765-323-4575 - (New)
Audrey Dixon’s Bed & Breakfast.
Phone: 765-942-1002 (Location Ladoga).
3-8 October 2009
Australasian Regional Annual Meeting
Ravenshoe, Queensland, Australia
Some information about the meeting was published in
the World of Wood on page 24 and 25 of the January/
February edition 2009 .
Further information regarding the full program was
circulated to Australian members in Down Under No
54, February 2009. This edition contains full details
of the program, accommodation, transport, and a
summary of the pre and post activities. If you require
a copy of this edition, please email [email protected]
17-21 February 2010
Southeast Regional Winter Woodfest
Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center
Manley and Elaine Hunt will be hosts of this meeting.
More details in subsequent issues
15-20 August 2010
The 2010 IWCS Annual Meeting
Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center,
Ridgeway, North Carolina.
The Ridgeway Conference Center is located in the
Blue Ridge Mountains seventeen miles east of
Asheville, NC. The meeting will be hosted by Manley
and Elaine Hunt.
Future issues of World of Wood will contain more
information.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
Tues 16 - Sat 20 June, 2009
IWCS International Annual Meeting
Netherlands
The IWCS Annual Meeting will be held at the
Stayokay Hotel, Soest, Netherlands. See the program,
and costs in the Nov/Dec issue of World of Wood on
pages 26 and 27.
Please note: During printing the Euro symbol was
dropped from the program. All prices quoted on the
Registration Form are in European Euro’s not US$.
Payment Options for US or Canadian members
• Pay directly by Paypal to: Henk Bakker at
[email protected]. Be sure they add the 5% for
Paypal costs.
• Pay by wiring a bank transfer to: Nelis Mourik,
Ysseldijk Noord 31, 2935 BG Ouderkerk a.d. Yssel,
The Netherlands. The bank is the Coöperatieve
Rabobank Krimpenerwaard U.A., Marathon 9,
2924 XC Krimpen a.d. Yssel, The Netherlands.
Account # 3225.55.604 in the name of Rabobank/N.
Mourik and W. Hurkmans. Mention IWCS
Woodfest 2009 and Package No
IBAN NL65 RABO 0322 5556 04
BIC RABO NL2U
State these names and numbers or your transfer
may not be alid. Ask your bank what they charge
for the transfer. Rabobank will charge you 10 Euros
only for your payment. You must add these
charges to what you pay.
• Pay to Gary Green, but first contact him for
details. Gary Green, 9923 N 800 E, Syracuse, IN
46567. Phone: 574-457-5471. Fax: 574-457- 8551
Email: [email protected]. Gary Green will
transfer your dues through Paypal which will
entail a 5% charge on your amount. Remember
to add this amount when paying.
Payment from other countries
• Pay by wiring a bank transfer. Residents outside
theEuropean Union will be charged € 10 for their
payment.Make the payment as per the details listed
above for US and Canadian members. State the
names and numbers or your transfer may not be
valid and don’t forget to add the transfer
expenses.
Further information on location and program will
be forthcoming. If you should have any suggestions
or wishes, please inform
Nelis Mourik, email: [email protected]
Willem Hurkmans, email: [email protected]
27
Australian woods No 15
by Morris Lake #7634
Agathis robusta
Kauri pine
Derivation: Agathis from the Greek
agathis=a ball of thread, alluding to
the shape of the female cone,
robusta from the Latin
robustus=stout, strong in growth.
Family: Araucariaceae family
contains three genera, Agathis,
Araucaria and the recently
discovered Wollemia, with only eight
species in Australia. For 175 million
years Agathis ancestors have thrived
on the continent, as fossil evidence
of the Jurassic period shows. It had
a widespread distribution in a
period when Australia and
Antartica were still joined and
before the time of the Angiosperms.
They form the basis of most of our
coal measures.
Distribution: Kauri are found in
two distinct locations. In southern
Queensland between Tewantin and
Maryborough, including Fraser
Island and in northern Queensland
between the Herbert River and Big
Tableland and near Cooktown. It
grows from near sea level to 900 m.
The mean annual rainfall is 11001800 mm, falling mostly during the
summer months.
The tree: A tall tree reaching 50 m
in height and 1.8 m in diameter. It
is the tallest tree species in
Queensland. The cylindrical trunk is
not buttressed and is usually
straight with little taper. The bark is
smooth to slightly flaky and orangebrown, brown, or grey-brown. The
leaves are oblong to ovate, alternate,
smooth and waxy, shiny above and
dull beneath. The male flowers, or
strobili are slender, cylindrical
shaped, borne on the same tree on
short leafy twigs. The female cone
when mature are round green balls
containing 340-440 winded seeds.
Habit : It grows as an emergent
over a few rainforest types. The
plant spends energy growing
towards the sun with a minimum of
leaves, it then forms a spreading
crown and forms a dominant part
28
of the stand in dry marginal
rainforest types on the edge of
the rainforest zone.
There are a large number of
associated rainforest tree
species. In the north these
included; hickory ash
(Flindersia ifflaiana), silver ash
(Flindersia schottiana), brown
tulip oak (Argyrodendron
polyandrum), mararie
(Pseudoweinmannia
lachnocarpa), flame tree
(Brachychiton acerifolium) stony
backhousia (Backhousia
hughesii), cadagha (Corymbia
torelliana), candle nut (Aleurites
moluccana) and silver
malletwood (Rhodamnia
costata). In its southern-most
range common associates are
silver ash, mararie, flame tree,
iron wood (Backhousia
myrtifolia), Bennet’s ash
(Flindersia bennetiana) and
brown malletwood (Rhodamnia
trinerva).
An emergent kauri on the Atherton Tableland.
Female cone with released scales and
winged seeds.
Male strobili.
World of Wood
May/June 2009
Wood of Agathis robusta
The wood is a uniform creamy-white to
pale buff in colour, lightened by a
delicate sheen, sapwood narrow and not
very distinct.
Characteristics
The texture is fine and even with a
straight grain and has the quality of
toughness. It is usually slightly darker
than hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii)
and the presence of flecks in the rays as
seen on the radial surface distinguishes
it from both hoop pine and bunya pine
(Araucaria bidwillii). The timber is the
most attractive of the Australian
coniferous woods
It is easy to cut, work and nail, but some
compression wood may be present. It
glues well and can be stained and
polished. Air dry density at 12%
moisture is 480kg/m3. Shrinkage is
around 2% radial and 3.5% tangential. It
dries quickly with little degrade but
needs protection against blue-stain.
It is generally recognised that kauri is
not sufficiently durable for external use,
however, modifications to a lower floor
area at St Andrew’s Anglican Church,
South Brisbane, gives me reason to
believe that this wood does have some of
the resilient properties common to
others of these ancient species. On
taking up this floor for modernisation,
the kauri floor joists which had been laid
directly on to a light bitumen covering,
proved to be in perfect order after 130
years, and all were reused, as was 60%
of the kauri flooring, some of which was
replaced because it was worn and could
not be resurfaced.
Untreated specimen of Queensland kauri.
Uses
It has generally been used for
plywood, furniture, joinery,
flooring, panelling, framing,
shelving, boat planking,
patternmaking, vats, kitchen
utensils, butter churns and boxes,
cooperage, broom handles, buoys
and floats, battery separators,
turnery and violin bellies.
History
The original kauri used was
mainly from the southern stands,
which were largely depleted by
1920 and the species is now almost
extinct in southeast Queensland.
The northern stands have likewise
almost been depleted, with the
exception of those remaining in
World Heritage areas and Parks.
The largest tree recorded in the
southern stand was Bell’s Kauri at
Kin Kin which before it was blown
over in the 1920s measured 22 feet
8 inches (7 m) in girth, with a clear
bowl for 78 feet (24 m). It had a
centre girth of 19 feet 1 inch (5.9 m)
so there was very little taper in the
trunk. Of the trees that were
harvested in the early part of the
20th century, barrel girths of 20-30
feet (6.2-9.2 m) were occasionally
Farmers Cherry butter churn No 61748. Made by
Edward Cherry and Sons, Gisbourne, Victoria. In
1860 the farmers model churns were made from
NZ kauri and sold around 1,000 per year. Later
churns like this one made around 1900 used
Queensland kauri.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
130 year old Queensland kauri flooring.
found and the average was around
12-14 feet (3.7-4.3 m) girth.
Most of the big trees have been
felled, but according to John
Beasley (Plants of Tropical North
Queensland, 2006), some
impressive specimens still remain
on Smith’s Track near Cairns.
The fact that they are such stately
trees, with the magnificence of the
barrel trunk and the distinctive
crown, has meant that they are a
popular tree to plant in park areas
and in recent years have been used
extensively for street planting in
broad avenue situations in
Brisbane.
29
Regis-tree
New members of the International Wood Collectors Society
Information from this page has been deleted as it is for members interest only.
Key to Members’ Interests
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
30
World of Wood
Wood collecting- casual or
serious interest in acquiring
wood specimens; interested in
field collecting; interested in
collecting crafted wood items;
other.
Wood/wood technology dendrology; study of trees;
timber research; wood
identification; wood anatomy;
microtomy; other.
Wood supplier - willing to
trade or supply wood for
specimens or craft purposes.
Woodworking projects boxes; canes; games; toys;
puzzles; clocks; jewellery;
craft items; models;
miniatures; musical
instruments; furniture;
cabinetry; other.
Woodworking techniques carving, marquetry; intarsia;
pyrography; spindle or bowl
turning; ornamental turning;
other.
Other wood, wood crafting, or
wood related interests.
Teaching, writing, instruction
- would write articles for
IWCS or demonstrate/present
at IWCS meetings; other.
May/June 2009
Corrections, 2009 IWCS Directory
By: Chuck Holder; Chair, IWCS Publications
Information from this page has been deleted as it is for members interest only.
May/June 2009
World of Wood
31
More strange things Down Under
Following Lindsay Dunstan’s report
on finding a couple of gum trees that
were really good mates, the
phenomenon seems to be popping
up all over the place. Well, perhaps
not all over the place, but just down
the road a bit from where Lindsay
was.
For the March meeting the
Queensland members gathered on
Mt Tambourine, a coastal highlands
rainforest area only a few kilometres
from the Gold Coast in south east
Queensland.
Well you wouldn’t read about it, but
our guide for the day, Raymond
Curtis, when he found out that we
were interested in ‘matey trees’,
remarked that he knew of a couple
himself and they were just down the
road a bit. Well, we couldn’t contain
ourselves and headed off to see them
for ourselves. Ken Jackson was also
with us and he reminded us that he
had a ‘dried arrangement’ of
something similar which was beside
the tank stand at his place. Well,
before long ‘matey trees’ were
appearing everywhere, so I snapped
a couple for your interest.
Ken Jackson brought to our attention
the fact that there were two types of
‘matey trees’; those that simply had
a ‘friendly acquaintance’, and those
that had a ‘genuine relationship’. So
we asked him to explain. The matey
trees were simply friends that
had branches or part of their
anatomy that rubbed together
as the breeze drifted through
their branches. Sometimes
one or both members of this
acuaintance could get ‘rubbed
up the wrong way’, causing a
bit of friction, bleeding, and
squealing in the middle of
rough nights. The second
type of matey trees actually
grew together, as the
cambium layers joined and
they shared each others
victuals, you might even
say— they were blood
brothers—or even sisters for
that matter. Anyway we took
our happy snaps and wished
them well and then came
home.
Hoo Roo!
A couple of real Aussie
mates pictured above.
On the left is a
possible sister sister
relationship.
Yeah, rigy didge!
International Wood Collectors Society
c/o Bill & Myrt Cockrell
2300 West Rangeline Road
Greencastle, IN 46123-7875
32
by Morris Lake #7634
World of Wood
NON-PROFIT
ORGANISATION
U.S. Postage PAID
Greencastle, IN
Permit No. 24
May/June 2009