Tropical hardwoods and your conscience

I appreciate and share your concerns, but why is this specifically a problem for cabinet makers in the UK ? We've plenty of good hardwoods ourselves, and in the quantities that fine cabinetry consumes it there's no shortage. I have no trouble finding timber, I usually know who felled it, and I can often take you back to the very spot it was felled from. In general I just don't use tropicals - but where I do, I'm fussy over where it came from.

The timber consumption that worries me isn't at the high end, it's the low end patio furniture and mangrove-swamp charcoal. Teak furniture, sold for tuppence and thrown away after Wayne and Dwayne have broken it by the end of the summer.

Mon, Jun 14, 2004, 11:51pm (EDT+5) snipped-for-privacy@codesmiths.com (Andy=A0Dingley) says: I appreciate and share your concerns, but why is this specifically a problem for cabinet makers in the UK ?

I'm not in the UK, but agree, in principle. Enforcement of any logging laws, etc., is gonna have to be the country of origin.

We've plenty of good hardwoods ourselves,

Anymore, if I buy any wood, it's from trees native to North Carolina. Well, I do make an exception for plywood, even tho I'm not sure where the plywood forest are. It's more spiritually satisfying to me to only use NC wood, and that also kills any worry about moral issues on buying illegal, over logged, or whatever, wood.

Hmm, just had a thought. The wood here isn't exotic to me, but it would be to someone in another part of the world. Maybe people in different parts of the world could swap some of their local wood with people elsewhere, for some of "their" local wood. Might be a bit expensive in large lots, but I think it'd be neat to be able to make a small chest, box, or something, with some wood from the UK, Australia, or Canada, etc., or even to just include some. Especially when you "know" the person you got it from. Shouldn't cost much for a few board feet, and I think it'd be well worth the price.

Yep, I figure I can amend my "North Carolina wood only" rule, for a deal like that.

Damn. I've got some small pieces stuck away, from my own property, that went down in a hurricaine some years back; dogwood, hickory, oak, holly, something else. But, I've had plans for it, all this time. I'll have to check what I've got, and see if I'm willing to give up any of it, or will have to get some more, for swapping. Damn. LOL

JOAT Use your brain - it's the small things that count.

I've just moved to Brunei, Borneo and taken my first trip to the local sawmill. I've tried asking where it comes from, but you get the answer 'The forests in the north'. That is as much as they tell you. I don't know if it's all they know, but it's all you'll get. they're not a big exporter, just a small (and scary machinery) place on the bank of the river, providing to the local construction market.

I've got zip chance of finding out where my wood comes from. They don't seem to understand the concept of ecological wood cutting, so I'm intrigued as to how you find all your information. When stuff is exported, I assume it has to have documentary provenance etc, but it doesn't for local woods.

J.

You are in the wrong place. Brunei is sandwich in between Sabah and Sarawak, East Malaysia. You should go to Tawau, Sabah in the North. I believe Sabah Softwood have reforesting there since the early eighties. Borneo is divided into three Countries, East Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

If opportunity permit do climb Kota Kinabalu, an experience you will never forget.

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 12:11:24 +0800, Justin Peer calmly ranted:

Look up the names of local sawmills and ask how many send wood to the eco countries. They'll have "legal" wood.

If it were any more than a than a drop in the ocean of dunnage, charcoal, building materials, etc, I guess I'd worry.

If a million woodworkers change their, "Other uses are much more destructive than my piddly needs so I'm not going to feel guilty," beliefs, the market just might take notice. Also consider the word-of-mouth effect in raising awareness of the corruption and waste.

On the notion of trading wood, this happens amongst woodturners fairly regularly. I've send Oregon woods like Western Big Leaf Maple, Claro Walnut and Filbert to Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Tennessee - in return I've gotten Koa, Pheasantwood, Locust and Mulberry. The downside is that turners generally favor green wood and it's a might pricey to ship all that water. (I claim "book rate" since it's just a book in raw form.)

Fine words. Good thoughts. Bad data. Might want to look up the cordage which makes it to the hobby market to see how little a million woodworkers get compared to the local people who build their hooches out of the wood, or cook their food, or....

Thanks.

Word-of-mouth would eventually affect commercial uses of the tropicals if consumers voiced concerns and didn't buy. (Realistically, I doubt much would happen on this front - people who *want* something justify their desires by citing they deserve to have it. We seem to have a society that doesn't sacrifice anything for their desires - petroleum and food come to mind.)

The topic of harvesting tropical woods is certainly a Catch-22 situation. If you instill in locals the monetary value of the trees then corruption can easily cause widespread clearcutting without any sustainability measures. If you downplay the monetary value then the locals will still likely cut the trees to make way for other uses that generate money. It's a tough situation to solve but it really does come down to the local people recognizing the ecological as well as monetary value of what's in their backyard.

Care to provide comparisons of relative magnitudes of usage?

Not to mention the ones that just cut it down and burn it to clear space for farming or roads.

I hate to say this but perhaps what is needed is something along the lines of an OPEC for wood, that sets the world harvest rates and prices so that the resource remains available.

On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 04:42:37 -0700, Fly-by-Night CC calmly ranted:

That lends new meaning to the term "log book", Owie. ;)

Oh No ... a crippling dependence on imported wood ;-)

Maybe we should be hoping for more global warming. Then we can grow our own teak ... in Kansas.

Comes down to eating versus starving, really. Tomorrow's a long way away when your belly's growling.

Fortunately, we here in the US can vote for a man this fall who will force those folks over there to stop exploiting the labor of their people, and enforce California environmental law on 'em. Just ask him....

That must mean your fairy godmother is running for office.

You mean Bush has added the invasion of Borneo to the platform while I wasn't looking? Kewl.

The _second_ to last will not starve, in that instance.

And for your >

Does he know exactly where Bornea is, let alone how the State look like? I guess he's having personal problems.

Just for your information, they will NEVER stave as their (Dayak) ancestor eat human and the head is their specialty!