4 ms·

I've been doing a little wood turning lately, and have developed a deep love of exotic hardwoods. Such a guilty pleasure... Really good ebony is an amazing mate

by msds 8y ago

I've been doing a little wood turning lately, and have developed a deep love of exotic hardwoods. Such a guilty pleasure... Really good ebony is an amazing material to work with. Wood Database is a godsend for getting quality information on interesting woods, but trying to verify a vendor's claims about the identity and source of any given wood is hard!

module0000 8y ago
I once did tech-type work for a lumber importer in the US. They were between #5 and #1 in terms of market share - ie they were big and all of us have likely bought lumber sourced from them at some point up the chain. One of the more interesting aspects of the business I learned there involved customs, ports of origin, and bribes. The difference between sustainable and/or organically sourced lumber has nothing to do with the lumber itself: it's about the bribe to the harbormaster. Can't get customs to release your barges of Russian birch? No problem, pay him/her enough and it's stamped as whatever you like it to be. You mentioned it was hard to verify the vendor's claims about the identity and source of a given wood, and that old job came to mind. I imagine in the supply chain, once far enough down, the vendor might genuinely believe they are selling you wood XYZ, because the wholesaler told them it was XYZ...but in reality, it all goes back to whatever they paid the harbormaster to stamp the export as. PS: It's not that the harbormaster is the kingpin in this corruption. They are more like pawns...it was always presented to me as "the way business is done, since way back, everywhere". Just seems to be an accepted bit of dishonesty that everyone involved participates in and tolerates to a degree. edit: typos
Lukeas14 8y ago
Some of the cheapest exotic wood you can buy is from estate sales for this reason. The person running the sale can look up model numbers and prices for tools they know nothing about. But even one familiar with hardwoods will have a tough time accurately and efficiently labelling a stack of boards covered in dust, wax and bleached by the sun. Obviously some exotic wood is easy to identify (ex. zebrawood) but most look like any other wood after sitting in a garage for years and are usually sold as such.

by msds 8y ago

module0000 8y ago

I once did tech-type work for a lumber importer in the US. They were between #5 and #1 in terms of market share - ie they were big and all of us have likely bought lumber sourced from them at some point up the chain. One of the more interesting aspects of the business I learned there involved customs, ports of origin, and bribes. The difference between sustainable and/or organically sourced lumber has nothing to do with the lumber itself: it's about the bribe to the harbormaster. Can't get customs to release your barges of Russian birch? No problem, pay him/her enough and it's stamped as whatever you like it to be. You mentioned it was hard to verify the vendor's claims about the identity and source of a given wood, and that old job came to mind. I imagine in the supply chain, once far enough down, the vendor might genuinely believe they are selling you wood XYZ, because the wholesaler told them it was XYZ...but in reality, it all goes back to whatever they paid the harbormaster to stamp the export as. PS: It's not that the harbormaster is the kingpin in this corruption. They are more like pawns...it was always presented to me as "the way business is done, since way back, everywhere". Just seems to be an accepted bit of dishonesty that everyone involved participates in and tolerates to a degree. edit: typos

Lukeas14 8y ago

Some of the cheapest exotic wood you can buy is from estate sales for this reason. The person running the sale can look up model numbers and prices for tools they know nothing about. But even one familiar with hardwoods will have a tough time accurately and efficiently labelling a stack of boards covered in dust, wax and bleached by the sun. Obviously some exotic wood is easy to identify (ex. zebrawood) but most look like any other wood after sitting in a garage for years and are usually sold as such.