wow may june 2011

1May-June 2011 World of Wood

World of WoodJOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL WOOD COLLECTORS SOCIETY

Volume 64, Number 3 May-June 2011

2011—the year of Better Wood KnowledgeThis special program begins on page 14

2011 is also the United Nations Year of Forests

2 World of Wood May-June 2011

World of Wood, published bimonthly by the International Wood Collectors Society, isdevoted to distributing information on collecting wood, correctly identifying andnaming wood specimens, and using wood in creative crafts. Contributions forpublication may be educational, scientific, technical or of general interest to membersand relevant to the purposes of the Society. Papers may be refereed by an EditorialBoard of technically trained members. The phrases ‘World of Wood’, ‘ IWCS WoodData Sheet’ and all materials contained herein are © Copyright protected by theInternational Wood Collectors Society. Address requests to reprint material to theeditor.World of Wood is published as a benefit to members of the IWCS, a non-profitorganization of botanists, dendrologists, and other scientists, technologists, woodcollectors, hobbyists and crafts people for mutual assistance and reciprocation.Membership rates for individuals or couples worldwide are: US $35 annually, US $90 for3 years, US $125 for 5years and US $500 for life membership. Student Membership isUS$15 per year. Corporate Membership US$125 annually, US$325 for 3 years, US$450 for5 years. Applications are available from the Secretary-Treasurer or from the IWCSwebsite. Dues and address changes also should be directed to the Secretary-Treasurer.We encourage your membership in our unique international organization.

Cover photographs. Background; Mountain silky oak (Orites excelsa).Centre: Photos of a slice of fiddleback Australian walnut. See page 4.

ContentsThe President’s Message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3“A kind of Magic” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4... sorting through the off-cuts . . . . . . . . . . . 6Florida addiction—it’s catching . . . . . . . 7Turned lidded boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8AustralAsian Annual Meeting notice . . . . 9 Trees of Panama and Costa Rica . . . . . . . 9African Trees and Wood . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 10Old Wood No. 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Merssage from Gary Green . . . . . . . . . . . 12Rediscovering Wood—the key to a

sustainable future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13A tribute to Frank Lynn and the

Spruce Goose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Exploring... Wood Identification . . . . . . . 14Saving Remarkable Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . 16A Favorite Wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Growth Rings: The IWCS Record . . . . . 20Shrubwoods of the World . . . . . . . . . . . 22A Wood Microtomist’s Life . . . . . . . . . . 24The Sapwood-heartwood Transition . . . 25Member’s Listings and Requests . . . . . . 26Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Australian Woods No 27 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Regis-tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Wood Meets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

World of Wood

Editor: Morris Lake22 Julia St, Highgate Hill, Q 4101AUSTRALIA

Phone: From overseas: 061 07 3844 1246Within Australia: (07) 3844 1246

E-mail: [email protected] 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.Ernie Ives — Suffolk, England.Barry and Danielle James—South Africa.Nelis Mourik—South Holland, Netherlands.Susan Stamm — Wisconsin, USA.

IWCS World wide web site:http://www.woodcollectors.org

Officers and TrusteesPresident: Garry RouxVice President : Position Vacant. President-elect : Gary GronborgSecretary-Treasurer: Bill & Myrtle CockrellPublications Chairman: Chuck HolderEndowment FundChairman: Allen NemetzArchivist: Dennis WilsonPast President: Art LeeRegional TrusteesNE USA (2009-2012) Ron DeWittSE USA (2010-2013) Tom KinneyGreat Lakes USA (2008-2011) Bob ChastainCentral USA (2009-2012) Stan KingNW USA (2010-2013) Alan CurtisSW USA (2008-2011) Les CampbellCanada (2009-2012) Robert RitchieUK (2010-2012) Bob GoddardAustralAsia (2010-2013) Brian DavisEuroAfrica (2010-2013) Willem Hurkmans

Committee ChairpersonsAll-Mail Auction: Art BrennanMembership: Gary GronborgNew-member Correspondent: Bill CockrellWood Import Permit: Alan CurtisWood Specimen Kit: Gary GreenWeb Master: Erlene TarletonWebsite Committee: Chuck HolderCorporate Membership Coordinator: Daryle LaytonStudent Membership Coordinator: Les CampbellCraft Sales Coordinator: Allan Schwindt

Vol. 64, No. 3 ISSN 1068-7300 May/June 2011The International Wood Collectors Society, founded in 1947, is a non-profit society advancing information on wood.

All contact details have been removed.


A note for contributorsPlease submit articles as you

complete them.I can then place them into future

editions so each edition willpresent a balance of topics. If

possible I will advise when theywill appear.

Last minute changes before: 1 July for the July/August 2011

E-mail copy to:[email protected]

The President’s Message from Garry Roux

Thought for this issue from Gary GreenI think that I shall never seeA poem lovely as a tree.A tree whose hungry mouth is pressedAgainst the earth’s sweet flowing breast;A tree that looks at God all day,And lifts her leafy arms to pray;A tree that may in Summer wearA nest of robins in her hair;Upon whose bosom snow has lain;Who intimately lives with rain.Poems are made by people like me,But only God can make a tree.

Alfred Joyce Kilmer

First off, I want to thank GaryGronborg for assuming the role ofPresident Elect. As outlined in theInternational Wood Collectors Society,Roles and Responsibilities dated June 6,2001, Policy number RR03. Theappointment did not need boardapproval, but to ease any questions, Iput it to a vote. The appointmentpassed. Congratulations GaryA second appointment to announceis that of Gary Green as the newSpecimen Chairman. Gary Green hasindicated that he will be ready toaccept orders by the end of June.Thank you to Dan Keierleber for theservices you provided thisorganization.Willem Hurkmans, Gary Green,Mark Duff and Dan Keierleber willbe doing some field collecting inTexas—as this journal is beingprinted. Welcome to the UnitedStates, Willem. Could I talk you intowriting a story about your trip here?Since Gary Gronborg is nowPresident Elect, we have an openposition on the board—that of Vice-President—which needs to be filled.When you read this, go and look in a

Greetings Everyone

mirror and ask yourself, “hey, whatcan I do to help this organization?”Maybe it’s as the Vice-President, orTrustee, or Chairman, or meetinghost—someone has to do theseduties. Tell the person in the mirroryour answer.On other issues, the Annual Meetingis just around the corner. There willonly be one more issue of thisjournal before that meeting. If youhave anything you want to publishfor that meeting you need to get it in.I have been talking with Bob andJudy Chastain, and they and theircrew are working hard to make thisa very enjoyable meeting. Please helpthem by sending in your registrationin order for them to confirm howmany members will be attending.Remember to donate to the woodand craft auctions. This is the mainfund raiser for this organization.Also, the registration form forFlorida will be posted very soon.Sometimes, what I have to put in thismessage is redundant, but we needmore articles for Morris Lake. This isvery important so Morris can keep a

good variety of information in thisjournal. There are members thatcould do follow up storiesregarding some articles that havebeen written. Take some picturesof some interesting trees and writea story. Talk about yourcollections, some interesting factsabout yourself . The list can go onand on. Please send in something.How are you coming withrecruiting new members, have youtaken the time to talk to some newfriends, done any presentations ordemonstrations?I will keep this message short soyou will have time to think aboutwhat you can do to help.See you soon.


Once in a blue moon—on vary rareoccasions—extremely valuable, one-of-a-kind logs, or parcels of logs,become available on the market.Such rarities are in high demand.But the road to veneer productioncan be a long and thorny one, andone which requires copiousexperience, a specialist’s knowledge,as well as a bit of luck.In order to produce high qualityveneers, there must be carefulplanning of the felling of the trees,their handling, their sawing, theflitching, the cooking, the slicing, thedrying, and the clipping... all this, inorder to achieve the utmost in yield,dimension, structure of grain, anddesired figure.If all of these operations are donecorrectly, the effort can be rewardedwith a highly prized and uniqueveneer which develops a magic of it’sown—and can create a desire andhype throughout the industry.In the long history of the familyowned company —Fritz Kohl GMBH& Co KG, based in Karlstadt,Germany, and with a subsidiarycompany, Interwood Forest ProductsInc., based in Kentucky, USA, wehave acquired many of these rarelogs and have developed areputation based on quality in veneerspecialities.

“A kind of Magic” —by Rick Banas #9557Queensland walnut veneer

In this article I wish to discuss atruly exceptional parcel ofAustralian walnut (Endiandrapalmerstonii) which was purchasedby Fritz Kohl and its subsidiaryInterwood. Locally this species iscalled Queensland walnut, alongwith black walnut.As is often the case with rare woodspecies, this Australian rarity has aspecial history of it’s own. Thenatural growth of Australian walnutis limited to the mountainous coastalregion of northern Queensland withits tropical climate. In 1988, therainforests of northern Queenslandwere certified as a UNESCO WorldHeritage Site. In so doing, Australiawanted to emphasize the importanceof protecting this unspoiled areawhere the Daintree Rainforest islocated.The history of the Daintree and theNorthern Tablelands rainforest areais believed to go back more than 135million years—some authoritiesclaim 240 million years—and it is notonly the oldest, but also the mostdiverse rainforest area in the world.The area has also been protectedunder the Australian EnvironmentProtection and Biodiversity andConservation Act since 1999. Withoutprior official permission by theQueensland Government, nobody is

allowed to takeany actionwhich has anyimpact on aWorld HeritageSite, or on anyof it’sendangeredspecies, orwhich maycause anyecologicalimpairment.

The largest parcel ofAustralian walnut in 50 yearsAs to the harvesting of trees in thisarea, its World Heritage protectionwould imply that virtually nopermits will be granted.It is therefore an exceptionally rareset of circumstances that has madeit possible for us, as world-classveneer specialists, to obtain veneerfrom this privately owned parcel of13 logs of Australian walnut, whichhas been acquired in accordancewith the Australian Protection andBiodiversity and Conservation Act aswell as the Vegetation andManagement Act, which wasrequested from the Department ofEnvironmental ResourceManagement as well as theAustralian Government.The 300 plus, year old trees,belonged to an 88 year old privateland owner who sees himself as TheGuardian of his land which has beenin his family for many generations,and his lifelong work has been inthe wood manufacturing industry.His main objective has been andcontinues to be, to preserve andprotect his forest and property.The Guardian leads a simple andsolitary life, where his love was first

Operations in theharvesting andloading of the logs.

A slice coming off the flitch, showingconsiderable fiddleback figure.


and foremost for his forests whichtook top priority over any financialoffers which were often made to himthroughout his life. It was onlyfollowing a typhoon which knockeddown several of his trees, that herealized ‘it was time’ to harvest,rejuvenate, and afforest the land forfuture generations to come.An Australian timber agent who haddeveloped a relationship with TheGuardian, over the years, was givenpermission—and the honour—toharvest the trees. Two years prior tothis however, as the GeneralManager of Interwood ForestProducts Inc. (USA), a wholly-owned

subsidiary of Fritz Kohl KarlstadtGermany, I had expressed interest inthe Queensland walnut to him whileon a trip through Australia. So, nowthe adventure begins.The logs were carefully sawn tolength and shipped in containers toChina to a first-class veneer millwhich allowed for the properflitching of these large gems of theforest. Proper cooking, slicing,drying, and clipping was supervisedby the Australian timber company.Once production was completed, theveneers were shipped back to

Australia, and upon arrival,Frederich Kohl—of Fritz Kohl, and Icame back to Australia for veneerinspection during which weacquired 50, 000 square meters(540,000 square feet) of the finestAustralian walnut veneers everseen.The veneers were then shipped toInterwood in the USA where theywere graded and divided up andshared with Fritz Kohl Germany.Thirty thousand square meters(from 3 trees) had intense fiddlebackfigure with contrasting straightstripe, wide widths and all lengthsof 11' (340cm)— ideal forarchitectural projects.The other twenty thousand squaremeters of this parcel of specialwood, also had equally widewidths, contrasting straight grainwith relatively no figure—also idealfor architectural projects.Never before have I seen such aparcel of quality and quantity. Thishistorical parcel of logs has takenover 2 years to produce and hasnow travelled well over 25,000 miles(37,500 km) and has touched 4continents.Truly “a kind of magic”.

One of the oldest of the Australian walnut log marked ready for sawing.

The consignment of Australian walnut logs duringshipment and ready for processing. More images canbe seen via website: www.ifpveneer.com.


... sorting through the off-cuts by Morris Lake #7634

It’s exciting to announce the start ofthe IWCS Wood Identificationproject. On pages 14 and 15 of thisissue you will find the Introductionto this project— to kick- start youon your way to better woodidentification—because that is whatthis project is all about.Despite the fact that identificationis a core component for theexistence of IWCS, we have reallynot given the process ofidentification much exposure in thepast.Ian McLaughlin has compiled thefirst section of this exciting project.It’s not rocket science, far from it,and this is a very basicintroduction. For some it will beblindingly obvious, but it will stillremain, that there are manymembers who have never pickedup a lens to look at the structure ofthe wood in their collection.If you haven’t experienced woodidentification tecniques before, canI encourage you to start here. Thisis a golden opportunity to workalongside other IWCS members andas we progress through the project,I sincerely hope that it will promotediscussion as the topics arise ineach successive issue. If you don’tunderstand some aspect of what ispresented, then I want to encourageyou to e-mail or write to myself orthe authors of the project with yourquestions and these queries can beanswered in successive issues of theWorld of Wood. It’s a very good bet,that if you don’t understand, orneed clarification on a point, thenthere will be others who will also bein the same boat. In so doing it ishoped that by the completion of theproject, in a year or so, we can endup with a substantial documentthat represents a world wide viewon the subject of woodidentification and as a bonus havemore members, more proficient inidentification.I know and fully realise there arequite a few published guides

already out there—the most widelyused and recommended guide isHoadley’s, Understanding Wood- acraftsman’s guide to wood technology.But these guides represent woodidentification as it is viewed from onearea of this huge globe. Some arepretty comprehensive, but they are allcentered around a confined area andcentre on a rather specific group ofspecies to a large extent—so, againthey are largely only a starting point.The aim of this project is to compile aworldwide Wood Identification Manual.Not necessarily the mostcomprehensive possible, but becausewe are worldwide, and because wetend to have in our collections, woodsfrom, not just around our own neck ofthe woods, but wood from all over,then it’s essential we have a system ofidentification that reflects thatsituation.Most of us start by just picking up anew wood and turning it over in ourhands, perhaps smelling it, andfeeling what it’s like, is it slippery orgreasy? Is it heavy? Has it got anopen grain? or whatever—we thenmentally file that information in oursubconscious, and the next thing weknow, we gradually become moreproficient at identification by usingthese acquired skills—combined witha pretty good guess at identifying thewood—I know, because I am asguilty as most at doing this. Wellthere is a better way, and I’m going tobe very frank—it’s rare to see anIWCS member take out a lens andlook closely at a specimen that hasbeen dropped into his hands—andthat’s not going to take us very fardown the road to better woodidentification. It’s some way there,but we all soon hit a brick wall.Personally, I am vitally interested inrecording the knowledge that iscurrently in the minds of proficientIWCS members. Unfortunately whenI approach these members and oftenask them how they identified such-and-such a wood they invariably,shrug their shoulders, and say, ’I don’t

know, it just is . . . I’ve worked with itall my life and that’s how I know’.I would very much like to havemore of us ‘turn the corner’ andbecome more capable of recordingmore information about the woodstructure, in accordance with thestory told to us by the growth rings,the pores, the rays, etc., and by sodoing increase our overallappreciation of what constitutes theidentification of particular species ofwood. The IWCS will also beenhanced when that happens,because a large proportion of theworld’s woods have not yet beenstudied—even in a very basic way—and recorded.We have members skilled at woodidentification, and it is to be hopedthat we can progressively encouragemore members to develop thatskill— it is not going to happenovernight—but I would hope thatprogressively more and moremembers can be encouraged to pickup the lens and use it to identifyfeatures helpful in the identificationof wood.On pages 14 and 15 in this issue, Iangives us information to enable us totake that first step. When we pickup a lens, how do we hold it anduse it? And having looked throughthe lens, what are you going to see?To my knowledge, this is the firsttime IWCS has attempted toproduce its own Wood IdentificationManual through the medium of theWorld of Wood. Individuals, orgroups throughout the world havefrom time to time run courses, butwhat we want to achieve now is to:• encourage as many members as

possible to pick up a lens andmake the first step

• produce a Wood IdentificationManual which will help allcurrent and future members.


I’m kind of sitting there with achuckle as I think about the fact thatwe have traveled 2,500 kilometers towatch Garry’s skilled hands bend aboiled and softened piece of cherry,that’s absolutely not thicker than 1/16" —I’m told—around a shaker-boxmold at the most recent IWCSFlorida Woodfest.And that was after Jim Zoellner hadeagerly shared knowledge on exactlyhow many molecules thick a piece ofwood could be for any particularbending radius . . . that is so that itwould bend without fracturing…What a strange addictions we allshare. Wood nuts for sure!Of course I’m not really referring tomy husband and I. We have a muchbetter excuse. Any of us from the farnorth will find any reason to escapethree feet of snow, in the hopes thatwhen we return the white stuff willbe gone.But I digress. It really was fun to seehow craftsman fromthe 1800’s with veryfew tools and onlyingenuity to rely oncrafted such elegantand yet functional‘Tupperware’. In factthis organizationmight suggest theyinvented the conceptof stackable

containers but afterbeing intrigued withGarry’s shaker boxdemonstration, I did alittle homework. It seemsthat Shakersmadesomewherearound 20different sizesof oval boxesranging from1" by 2" up tosomethingover 38"long— eachprecisely scaled so that it fits insidethe next larger size.Garry used a table saw and thensander to dimension the side panels,making each 3-5" longer than theperimeter of the box. This allowedthe sides to overlap with hand-cutarrow shaped fingers, sometimescalled swallowtails. It is in fact one ofthe identifying characteristics of a

shaker box, butmore than that,the design allowedfor some degree ofseasonal expansionand contractionwithout puttingundue stress on thewooden structure.Garry then showedus how they usedspecial coppertacks and eventoothpicks to hold

the box together, and NO glue.So who were the Shakers?And I say ‘were’ because today thereare only two living Shakers thatreside at Sabbath Day Lake in Maine,USA. They are descendants of asmall splinter group of the ShakingQuakers that traveled from Englandto America in 1774 to find religiousfreedom. Their name evolved fromtheir rather exuberant worship

practices that includedenthusiastic singing,dancing and shaking. Attheir peak in the mid

1800’s, there were maybe 6,000followers at most. Their belief incelibacy made growing thenumbers somewhat challengingand expansion was limited by thenumber of orphans available foradoption and indoctrination.What amazed me though was theirinfluence on furniture design. Infact there are probably morewoodworkers today, whoseultimate goal is to create perfectreproduction shaker furniture thantheir ever was involved in thereligious organization.For such a small group of people,even IWCS is offering workshopson reproducing some of theirdesigns and Amazon.com has noless than 100 books discussingeverything from their panel raisingwooden planes, to themathematical analysis of the ratioof the major and minor axes of atraditional set of shaker boxes—that’s someone that has too muchtime on their hands.Maybe if I wanted to be a littlepolitical I could reiterate that smallgroups can have a big impact.Maybe that’s what a few passionatesoles are trying to do with IWCS.Thanks to all of you for sharingyour passion and patience with thisinquisitive wood addicted soul.

by Roger and Karen Lacasse #7678

Florida addiction—it’s catching

Stackable ‘tupperware’ inthe form of shaker boxes.

Oval shaker boxes.


I have collected standard 6" x 3" x ½”specimens since first joining IWCSback in the mid 1960s, and if possible,I also tried to secure additionalsections to test the timbers turningqualities.I had occasionally turned liddedboxes for friends and family, andoften inserted a coin in the lid tocommemorate a birthday, weddingor some special event, although oldAustralian silver coins are nowbecoming quite expensive.I found the task of developingvarious turned box shapes a greatlearning process, and one thatrequires some thought as to holding,finishing, etc.In 2002, during a period on poorhealth and medical uncertainty, andwith plenty of time for reflection, Idecided to make 50 turned liddedboxes of all shapes and sizes in ayear, by way of looking to the future.

English Holly box ( Ilex aquifolium).

Mallee root (Eucalyptus sp.) withAustralian ebony (Diospyros

fasciculosa) insert.

Fiddleback messmate (Eucalyptusobliqua) box with coco bolo (Dalbergia

retusa) insert.

Orange boxwood (Maytenusdisperma) box.

Pink Ivory (Berchemia zeyheri) with apiece of reclaimed ivory inserted.

Sandalwood (Santalumacuminatum) box.

Zircote (Cordia dodacandra) with a smallpiece of black palm (Normanbyanormanbyi) inserted (49mm.dia.)

Turned lidded boxes by Keith Towe. #1480L

With lidded boxes, there is muchdiscussion as to the fit of the lid.Personally, I prefer a nice fittinglid, neither too tight nor too loose,but if the box is a high qualityexhibition piece, or a ladiesjewellery box to be opened withone hand to deposit valuable earrings, etc., then a loose lid could bemore appropriate.In the last few years, I have settledon a simple design with an anglededge to the lid so that it is veryeasy to grip, and to remove fromthe base, and I think they lookattractive.To add some unique aspect to thelid, I often insert a small disk ofrare or colourful wood into the lid.A few of my boxes are shown onthis page and are from 85 mm dia.to 49 mm dia.

Editors note: Keith has served twoperiods as AustralAsian RegionalTrustee, from 1980-1982, and againfrom 1987-1989, when he hosted theThird International IWCS Meeting inMelbourne in 1988. He is the longestserving Australian IWCS memberand is the Regional Archivist and isheld in high regard by many IWCSmembers here and throughout theworld.


Trees of Panama and Costa Rica By Condit. R., Perez. R., and Daguerre. N Princeton University press, 2010 ISBN 978-0-691-14707-9 : hardback £59/US $ 85 ISBN 978-0-691-14710-9 : softcover; £35-50/US $45

When I heard that a book called Trees of Panama andCosta Rica was due to be published by PrincetonUniversity Press, I thought ‘’how marvellous,’’ so Ivisited the university’s web-site, studied the resume,and then looked forward in anticipation to obtaining acopy.The book is a field guide, (the first one covering thisregion), and it deals with almost 500 species. There are438 colour photos of sprigs showing leaves, and

sometimes flowers or fruits, and there are 482distribution maps.It would have been nice if there had been photos ofwhole trees, but disappointingly, there are none,though occasionally, some trunks are shown.Another shortcoming is the fact that the photos of thesprigs, though well presented and usually quitesharp, and displayed against the unobtrusivebackground of the plain page, are accompanied byshadow which ought to have been edited out, as itspresence imparts a blurred effect to the images.Nevertheless, this volume is a desirable acquisitionfor any tree enthusiast.Best wishesRamsey Pattison # 4748

Proposed programDay 1 Arrival and orientation

Evening geography of Canterbury and briefingfor Day 2.

Day 2 Focus on ForestryFrom nursery to plantations including theoldest planted forest in New Zealand, Sparkmuseum, tourist activities, winery. Evening -presentation on forestry.

Day 3 Focus on ChristchurchFrom preserved native forests, AntarcticCentre, timber merchant #1, tree nursery,School of Forestry, Botanic Gardens. Evening -use and properties of New Zealand timber.

Day 4 Highway 1 to AshburtonFrom cookies, knitworks, woods, timbermerchant #2, Rakaia salmon, Ashford spinningwheels, Bob Lynn’s museum or Annie’s quiltshop, picnic tea in plantation. Evening - deMont Pens - bespoke penmaking.

AustralAsian Regional Meeting14-21 November, 2011

Christchurch, New Zealand

Nau mai, harer mai —OtantahiNau mai, harer mai —OtantahiNau mai, harer mai —OtantahiNau mai, harer mai —OtantahiNau mai, harer mai —Otantahi(Welcome to Christchurch)

Day 5 Focus on ChristchurchTour of centre city, notable trees andearthquake effects, New Zealand sculptures,Maori carving school, timer merchant #3,Mona Vale. Late afternoon/evening - MaoriMarae tour, concert and hangi dinner.

Day 6 AdministrationAGM, auction, nutcracker competitionjudging. Evening - Project Crimson withLindsay Holland (IWCS member) on WestCoast and native forests.

Day 7 Day in the CountryRiccarton market, Cracker of a Nut(walnuts), arboretum, Rakaia Gorge, nativeforests, “woolie and warm” NZ madegarments, niche shopping in Geraldine.Evening - what you didn’t have time to see.

Day 8 Pack up and good byes

Registration form is availablefrom the meeting Organiser, Graham Trost.

E-mail: [email protected]


Red ivory sells!We have yet to meet a woodworkeror woodturner who will put aside redivory and select another species,unless they have a specific project inmind that requires a different wood.In that case, they usually find whatthey need for the project, and thentake some red ivory as well!

DistributionAlthough red ivory (Berchemiazeyheri) is described by some as “rarerthan diamonds”, the tree is, in fact,not rare and even described ascommon in the bushveld areas ofSouth Africa, such as Zululand inKwaZulu-Natal. However, in theKruger National Park it is describedas scarce, with brown ivory(Berchemia discolor) being described asrare. In the Kruger Park, red ivorytrees are said to reach heights of 15metres, but in other areas they aredescribed as small to medium trees,being between 3-12 m in height.Deciduous red ivory trees are foundat low to medium altitudes, inriverine forest and alongwatercourses, in open woodland,often on termite mounds, and onrocky ridges. These attractivebushveld trees can be found in areas

African Trees and Wood

Berchemia zeyheri (Red ivory)Family: Rhamnaceae

by Barry and Danielle James #9380

of South Africa,Swaziland,Mozambique,Botswana andZimbabwe.

Common namesBerchemia zeyheri hasbecome knownthroughout theworld as pink ivory,so readers may bewondering whetherred ivory is anothernew and exciting species. Actually,they are one and the same and thatis the problem with using commonnames. In its place of origin, the treeis known as red ivory – “red”obviously describing the colour ofthe wood and “ivory” perhapsalluding to the value and desirabilityof the wood. The wood ranges incolour from pale pink to the deepestshades of red, and the pink colourobviously gave rise to the othercommon name of pink ivory.

UsesThe tiny, yellow-to-red fruits aresweet and delicious, but with a largepip to fruit ratio, one has to eat a lot

of fruit to feel satisfied. For thisreason, the fruit is often gatheredand stored until it forms a thick,

sugary treat. The bark and leavesare also used by people intraditional medicine. Game andlivestock browse the trees, withporcupines enjoying the bark andmany birds and animals benefitingfrom the ripe fruit.Apart from the beauty of the wood,

its hardness anddurability make itsuitable for furniture,turnery, ornaments,small boxes, jewellery,bows, walking sticksand curios. Amongstthe traditional Zulupeople, the tree isknown as the royal treebecause only chiefs areallowed to carry knob-sticks made from it.

Red ivory (Berchemia zeyheri) trees.

Red ivory (Berchemia zeyheri) leaves.

Two red ivory (Berchemia zeyheri) bowlsone showing bright red, the other more pink.


All of these factors contributeto making this very desirablewood somewhat rare andcertainly very special.When working with red ivory,you will find the texture of thewood to be fine and even, witha straight to interlocked grain.It seasons slowly and is prone to endchecking and splitting if exposed tothe sun, but is very durable andresistant to borer and fungi. Becauseof the hardness of the wood, tungsten-tipped saw teeth are recommended,but it saws fairly well if done slowly.

It glues well, butpre-boring will benecessary whennailing to preventsplitting. Thewood planes well

Other properties:Shrinkage

Green-Oven Dry: Radial 4.82%Tangential 7.24%

Green-Air Dry: Radial 3.51%Tangential 5.56%

Density (at 10% mc): 1040 (990-1100) kg/m3

Modulus of Rupture: 153 MPaModulus of Elasticity: 15421 MPaCompression Parallel to Grain: 80.6 MPaToughness 42.5 Nm

to a lustrous, smooth finish, but,when sanding, it tends to clog up thesandpaper quite quickly. It paintsand varnishes well, but to preventthe pretty pink or beautiful redcolour of your piece of red ivoryfrom turning to brown, the use ofvarnishes with ultra violet filters arerecommended.

Red ivory (Berchemia zeyheri) specimen.

Red ivory (Berchemia zeyheri)block. You will note the colourranges from pale pink to thedeepest shades of red as in thespecimen..

A freshly cut log showing sapwoodand some centre cracking.

The woodAlthough red ivory treesthemselves are not rare, findinglarge, clean, straight logs is verydifficult. Even on bigger logs, therecovery of quality wood is oftenvery poor. Once, when preparingan order for high quality, deepred pen blanks, we only achieveda recovery rate of 8.7 %. There isoften a high proportion of creamysapwood and the centres of mostlogs have large cracks radiatingoutwards. Being a bushveld treealso means that they are oftenfound growing in private orpublic protected areas, suchas game reserves, makingthe wood generallyinaccessible.

A recorder and a pen made of red ivory.


A few years ago while visiting withFrank Lynn at his home in Kelso WA,he said, “you’re an Archer and I’m sureyou’d like to see these.” He showed mesome photographs of an old warshipnamed the “Mary Rose” which was oneof King Henry VIII’s favorite vessels. Ina battle with the French navy, the MaryRose was sunk on July 19, 1545 withmore than 400 men on board. Severalof the photos were of various artifactsfound in the hull when it was raisedfrom the bottom of the ocean in 1982.The artifacts included a wide range ofobjects, including a number of itemsmade from wood. The wood itemswere:• two violins,• wooden beer tankards,• several platters and bowls,• a large long handled ladle and• many English and European yewlongbows.The ship had sailed with 250 longbowsand more than 8,000 arrows.Most of the longbows were found tohave draw weights of more than 100

by Allan Schwindt #8209L

Hi fellow wood collectors,My winter list of new specimensarrives a bit late this year. I wasblessed with a very busy andprosperous winter in the lumber andwoodworking business which left littletime for preparing new samples. I’venot been on a field collecting trip per sesince the summer of 2008 so myofferings this time around includesome excellent material from aroundthe globe primarily from purchasesmade at the IWCS annual meeting inthe Netherlands and contacts made atthat meeting. In this listing you willfind wood or samples from: DieterBecker, Germany, Ian McLaughlin,Australia, Lionel Daniels, England,Willem Hurkmans, Netherlands, NelisMourik, Netherlands, Frans Steenland,Netherlands, Richard Kuehndorf,Atlanta, GA, Rocky Bemis, California(logger and former IWCS member),David Milligan, California, M. BohlkeVeneer, Cincinnati, OH, A couple

Old Wood No. 2

lbs. and were still in shootablecondition. One of them is shownin the photo. Very few of thearrows survived the centuriesunderwater as they were madeof willow, beech, ash, birch andhornbeam.As can be seen, the longbowswere more than six feet long.They were shot mostly frombelow deck by removing panelswhich gave the archer a view ofthe enemy ship alongside. Thearchers were well trained inwarfare with the longbows andcould accurately eliminate theiradversaries at 100 yards or more.Ever since the mid 1300s,beginning with King Henry I, theEnglish boys and men had been welltrained in shooting the bow andarrow and they were a formidablearmy ready whenever needed. Theirarrows could easily penetratechainmail armor at ranges up to 200yards. They were, without a doubt, aforce to be feared.

I have since become friends with alongbow enthusiast who lives inNew Zealand and who has closelyexamined two of the bows salvagedfrom the Mary Rose. He tells me thatthe yew appears to have deterioratedvery little in the 437 years that it wassubmerged in the sea.

Longbows from the Mary Rose

attend the Jasonville, IN meet on May21st. Please join us at this meet and rubshoulders with one of ourinternational members! This said Imay not be able to get all orders filledpromptly but be assured they will befilled in the order received. I willconfirm receipt of your order rightaway. If you don’t get confirmationsend it again to avoid disappointment.Lastly, I’m sending my complete listonly since many of the items areduplications from my personalcollection and with my numberingsystem would not appear on the “newitems” list. Unfortunately many of theitems available are only one, two orthree of a kind. Wish I had enough foreveryone but what it is is what it is.Hopefully next year y’all will findsome new Texas woods on my list.Thanks for helping support my habit!Gary Green

Merssage from Gary GreenIWCS auctions, several from myprevious field collecting trips, andseveral others…As always, first ordered first served.Order as many of each as you like butall immediate orders will be filledbefore I fill the multiples. Pleaseorder by item number with analternate item number if you willsettle for a bark edged or glued uppiece. I will send an invoice with theactual shipping cost, Priority FlatRate Mail usually being the cheapestand quickest method of shipping(name your preference if you wantanother form of shipping).I will fill the orders ASAP but I’mcurrently working double overtimeand Mr. Willem Hurkmans from theNetherlands will be arriving here onApril 25th (three short weeks). Willemand I will be driving to Texas for fieldcollecting and making several sidetrips during his stay. He and I plan to


Rediscovering Wood—the key to a sustainable future

In collaboration with the Governmentof India, the Food and AgriculturalOrganisation of the United Nations(FAO) will be holding an internationalconference about wood products andsustainable development. Thismessage is to announce the first call forpapers and inform people thatregistration for the conference is nowopen.The overall aim of the conference willbe to examine how the production anduse of wood products can contribute tosustainable development and howgreater demands for sustainabilitymight present new opportunities fordevelopment of the wood productssector. Within this general direction,three themes for the conference areproposed:• Emerging trends in economies and

lifestyles: what are the main trendsaffecting wood use and how canthese be utilised to strengthen theforest products sector?

• Stories portraying the winds ofchange: case studies showing howsome wood producers and usershave already developed strategiesor innovated to build successfulenterprises based on changingconsumer demands and needs.

• Wooden paths to a sustainablefuture: how can the linkages

between wood use and sustainabledevelopment be strengthened andused to promote more and higher-value wood use?

Given that the economic andenvironmental dimensions of woodproduct use have been discussedmany times before (e.g. at technicaland marketing conferences, greenbuilding events, etc.), an aim of thisconference is to focus, in particular,on the socio-economic, aesthetic andcultural dimensions of wood use(what we are calling “the art and joyof wood”). Papers on other aspects ofwood product development will alsobe considered, so long as they fitunder one of the themes describedabove. (Please also note that we arefocusing on solid wood productsrather than paper or non-wood forestproducts).The conference will last for three dayswith an optional field trip on thefourth day. It will be held in the J NTata Auditorium complex at theIndian Institute of Science inBangalore and the expected level ofparticipation is about 250 people. Inaddition to the technical programme,there will also be a very full social andcultural programme (artisansexhibitions, photo and non-technicalposter competition, “music from

wood” concert,field trip, etc.) togiveparticipants apractical,“hands on”feeling for thethemes of the conference.More background about the aims andobjectives of the conference ispresented in the conference brochure(go to :www.artjoywood.org, anddetails of the programme andprocedures for registration andsubmission of papers are given on theconference website . We hope thatthis event will be innovative - lookingat aspects of wood productdevelopment and utilisation that maynot have been covered in great detailbefore - and we hope thatparticipants will come away withsome new perspectives ondevelopments in the sector.Illias Animon, Ph.D.Forestry Officer (Economics)Food and Agriculture OrganizationViale delle Terme di Caracalla00153 Rome, ItalyTelephone: 06-570-55297Fax. 06-5705-5514email: [email protected]

Bangalore, India, 19-22 October 2011

Thanks for publishing the Spruce Goose article. In july 2002Frank Lynn and I had an exclusive tour thruough the plane.Frank and I became friends after the Australia meeting andtour. Frank was a very respected IWCS member for a verylong time. Most travelling IWCS members do know him. Hewas a very good auctioneer.When I visited Frank in 2002 wehad a long and interesting‘timber trail tour’ along the westcoast. Unfortunately I neverfinished the article about thistour.Maybe the picture can be placedas a tribute to Frank. The otherpicture shows the inisde of theSpruce Goose.met vriendelijke groet,Tjerk Miedema.

Hi! Anyone want to make anoffer on this little baby—

only one owner!

A tribute to Frank Lynn and the Spruce Goose


The fundamentalsThis article is intended for members havinglittle experience of wood identification, andwant to ‘have a go’ – it is a start on the road towood anatomy, though to be a real woodanatomist it is a long, long road. We don’thave to go down to the end of that road, butfar enough to achieve some satisfaction andcompetence.

Natural variabilityEvery piece of wood is unique in itself, evenfrom the same species or from different partsof the same tree. Its age within the tree andits growth rate are fixed, and different fromother pieces. This is really natural variationon the small scale. This doesn’t necessarilymake identification more difficult, but it iswise to keep it in mind.

Surface appearanceStarting with the proposition that you have apiece of wood of unknown identity, one canobserve some physical/appearanceproperties, such as colour (with variations, ifany), density (which usually goes withhardness), difference between sapwood andheartwood, difference between earlywoodand latewood, whether or not growth ringsare distinct, odour present or not, coarsenessof grain and having a greasy feel or not.There may be enough clues from theseobservations to arrive at an identification, orat least narrowing its identity to a particulargroup of woods.

Close observationBeyond those observations, examination ofthe piece with some sort of magnification isthe way to go, and the simplest is by means ofa small hand lens. The standard surfaces toexamine are the transverse, the longitudinal/radial and the longitudinal/ tangential. Thetransverse surface is the most useful and, ofcourse, is perpendicular to the long axis. Toobserve these surfaces, it is essential that theybe cut cleanly with a very sharp knife (aStanley knife for instance), possibly with theexception of the longitudinal/radial surfacewhere it may be best to split the wood on itsexact radius, thereby allowing betterexamination of its rays in side view. A cut

Exploring... Wood Identification By Ian McLaughlin #6624

area of about the size on one’s littlefingernail should be enough, but the areashould cover at least one full annual ringin transverse section.

Using a lensMost identifying features are obtainedfrom the transverse surface. To conformwith usual practice, it is best to imagineyou are standing at the pith of the tree,looking outwards to the bark. Growthfeatures will then be unfolding awayfrom you.The minimum usefulm a g n i f y i n gpower of handlens is 10 X.15X is betterbut moredifficult

to use because thewood surface has to be

closer to the lens. Inpractical terms, to examine

a surface, first removespectacles (if any), hold the lens

close to the eye (one’s best eye),even touching the eye-lashes, and

bring the wood surface up until it is infocus. It is vital to have a sharp focus.

It is also vital to have good illumination,like full sun or a reading lamp. Now youshould be able to see that the wood iscomposed of cells of different types, sizesand in different structures – like rays andgrowth rings. If you can’t seeindividual vessels (seelater), it is probablybecause the cut isnot clean enough.It is just possiblethat the vesselsare just toosmall to be seenindividually at10Xmagnification.

The next step is to learn what differentcell types look like.

Ian is aformerForestry Officer, a keenwood collector and wasAustralAsian RegionalTrustee (2007-2010).


Different cell typesR. Bruce Hoadley ‘s book IdentifyingWood, published by Taunton Press, isthe best book I know of to help withcell identification, and a whole hostof other stuff.Hoadley deals with the identificationof mostly North American softwoodsand hardwoods, but the principlesinvolved are much the same for allwoods.Examining softwood usually involvesthe use of a microscope, and this isdifficult and expensive if one has tobuy a microscope.

Start with hardwoodsIt is best to start on hardwoodswhere a simple hand lens and asharp knife are adequate—andHoadley’s book deserves closereading. This is because, byreference to his drawings and colourpictures of transverse sections ofhardwoods, the reader should be ableto identify the important basicstructures :• pores—or vessels• soft tissue—which is parenchyma• and fibres.Another type of cell is:• the tracheid.However, it is difficult to identify,and for practical purposes need notbe separated from fibres which theyresemble.

What do you see?With a hand lens one can seeindividual vessels, but rarelyindividuals of other cell types. Onecan think of the vessels andparenchyma being imposed on andin a background of fibres—this is notstandard wood anatomy, but itworks for me— In most instances,one cannot see individual fibres cells,because they are too small to see at10X magnification, but because theyusually have thickened walls, theyappear darker than the other cellsand are usually aggregated together.

Parenchyma cells which do not havethickened walls, make up the rays(there can be ray tracheids too) andothers may be alignedlongitudinally, along with fibres andvessels in various ways.They can be identified, eitherindividually or in various patternsby their lighter colour; when manyparenchyma cells surround a vessel,or many vessels, they appear as apale halo/s around the vessel/s.There is really only one way to learnwood identification and that is—like many things in life—you need towork at it. I suggest examining asmany transverse sections as one canreasonably achieve—and then onlyof hardwoods for a start. And thewhole purpose of this work is to beable to distinguish between thedifferent cell types—to be able to tellone from the other. If the pieces ofwood are of known identity —good—because you will start torelate your observations to it. Apiece of wood of unknown identitypresents a problem—how do yourelate your observations to what?

Identification aidsWood anatomists—their peak bodyis the International Association ofWood Anatomists—have compiled aset of facts regarding many species,numbering perhaps 10,000 to 20,000

out of a worldwide total of at least50,000. A lot of their findings arehowever not readily available.The facts can be assembled into adata base, and with the aid ofcomputer programs, a selection ofpositive features may lead one toidentification. Remember thoughthat if your piece of wood is not onthat data base, there is no hope of acorrect identification.A better way to go, for the amateur,is to obtain texts depicting, withcolour pictures of magnifiedtransverse section, a limitednumber of species. One such text is‘CSIRO Atlas of Hardwoods’, by JugoIlic, an Australian wood anatomist.The book, ISBN 1 86333 0003,contains 1284 such colour picturesand a ‘micro atlas’ of 1600 speciesat microscopic level. When firstpublished in 1991 its price was$A300, but could be obtained verymuch less now, second hand.Apart from Hoadley’s book, theremay be others and I would be gladto hear of them.If the reader is inspired to ‘have ago’, it’s the start of a journey ‘downthe road’. In a future article I willattempt to illustrate standarddescriptions of the various waysthe different cell types areaggregated in wood structure.

Diagram of a cube of hardwood.Source: Wood in Australia by K Bootle.

pores or vessels.

fibre.

soft tissue - axil parenchyma.

soft tissue - ray parenchyma.


South Africa ranks third in the worldfor its diversity of plant and animalspecies, and is also noted for itsremarkable tree heritage. More than1,300 indigenous tree and shrubspecies occur here through all climaticranges, from arid to high rainfall areas.Less well-known is the surprising factthat more than a thousand tree andshrub species have been introducedfrom other parts of the world, many ofwhich are closely associated with thehistory and sense of place of towns,cities and rural landscapes. Whatwould Stellenbosch be without itslanes of English oak (Quercus robur)trees, or Pretoria without its jacaranda(Jacaranda mimosifolia) trees?Indigenous trees too, contribute to oursense of place, such as the camel thorn(Acacia erioloba) of the Kalahari regionand the stately baobabs (Adansoniadigitata) of the northern Bushveld.

Champion Trees –an African MilestoneWorldwide there is a movementtowards protecting remarkable trees,and as a result more than thirty so-called Champion Tree projects wereinitiated, mostly in the developedcountries. In this country one can findsome of the largest and oldest trees onthe African continent, including thetallest trees in Africa, also claimed tobe the tallest planted gum trees in theworld. These are Sydney gum trees(Eucalyptus saligna) planted in 1906 onthe Woodbush Forest Estate nearTzaneen. In 2008 professional treeclimbers measured the tallest of thesetrees at 79 metres, about 26 storeyshigh! No wonder then that SouthAfrica initiated the first (and so far theonly) Champion Tree project on theAfrican continent in 2004. Its aim is toidentify and protect individual andgroups of trees of nationalconservation importance.Many trees of significance have beendestroyed in the past, and theDepartment of Agriculture, Forestry

Saving Remarkable TreesThe Champion Tree Project of South Africa

and Fisheries endeavors to protect themost important trees pro-actively. Thisis done by declaring such trees asprotected in terms of the NationalForests Act, No 84, of 1998. At the endof each year trees nominated by thepublic for Champion tree status areevaluated by a panel of experts. Theshortlist of trees compiled is thenpublished in the Government Gazetteand newspapers for comment, beforetheir final declaration as protected. Noone may cut a declared ChampionTree without a license, and such alicense might only be issued if a treeposes a danger to life or property.The selection process is very strict, andso far only 56 trees and groups of treesthroughout the country have beendeclared from hundreds ofnominations, with another seven treesrecently shortlisted. Many of the treesnot making the grade as nationalChampion Trees may still be of localor regional importance, andpossibilities for a delegated list of localChampion trees are beinginvestigated. The main obstacle tosuch a list appears to be the capacity oflocal or regional authorities to monitorand protect such trees.

The “Wow” Factor

Trees capture the imagination ofpeople, who attach certain values totrees of outstanding size, beauty orhistoric value. It is these values thatthe Champion Tree project embodies.Two centuries ago the writer WilliamBlake said that “The tree which movessome to tears of joy is in the eyes of othersonly a green thing that stands in theway.” With a tongue in the cheek wemay refer to developers as people thatremove the trees and then name thestreets after them. Yet in up-marketareas developments are now oftenplanned around mature trees, for theseadd to the landscape and propertyvalues. Attitudes are changing, andmore people are beginning toappreciate trees and the role they play

in our lives. Creating awarenessabout the tree heritage is animportant aim of the Champion treeproject.Thomas Packenham who is knownfor his book Remarkable Trees of theWorld said that a tree, to qualify as aChampion Tree, should have the“wow” factor. Reportedly he onlyincluded a tree in his book when hiswife said “wow that tree is big”, or“wow that tree is old”. But how old isold, and how big is big? For theChampion tree project we have setvarious criteria with benchmarks,which are strictly applied by thepanel of specialists. Size criteriainclude the height, trunkcircumference, crown size, and all ofthese combined through a formulafor overall size. There are also criteriaof age, cultural and landscape value.The human fascination withexceptional trees is universal, andthat is why there are Champion Treeprojects or similar programmes inmany overseas countries. Trees havecaptured the human imaginationsince time immemorial. King Attalusof the ancient kingdom of Pergamum(located in present-day Turkey) had agiant pine tree on Mount Idameasured and recorded more than2000 years ago. That must be theoldest Champion tree on record, forwe can convert the measurements ofthat time and know that this treestood about 72 metres tall.

Some Remarkable Trees

In the time of King Attalus the basicscience of triangulation to measureheight already existed, but todayheight measurements are made easywith a range of height meters, someusing laser technology. The tallestindigenous trees measured anddeclared to date are Matumi(Breonadia salicina) and Outeniquayellowwood (Podocarpus falcatus)trees. A trio of three Matumi trees inthe Politisi Valley of Limpopo

by Izak van der Merwe, South Africa Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.


province, dubbed the “Three Queens”stand about 40 metres tall. In theKnysna and Tsitsikamma Forests theOuteniqua yellowwoods attain similarheights and reach ages of more than 8centuries. The most famous of these isthe Tsitsikamma Big Tree which drawsabout a hundred thousand visitors peryear.The largest indigenous tree in SouthAfrica based on overall size index isthe Sagole baobab in Vendaland, witha trunk circumference of more than 33metres. Fifty-five Venda school kidstook hands around the tree during thefilming of a 50/50 programme onChampion Trees. Another well-knownbaobab champion is the Platland Treenear Modjadjiskloof, with a pub on theinside complete with barstools andcounter.Wild fig trees also attain great heights,the biggest of which is theWonderboom Fig (Ficus salicifolia) ofPretoria, with a crown width of 61metres. This tree actually consists of amother tree and rings of daughtertrees, which sprouted wherever thebranches touched ground. Legend hasit that the prolific growth of this treecan be attributed to a local chief lyingburied in its shade.An indigenous Milkwood (Sideroxyloninerme) tree at the Diaz Museum inMossel Bay, known as the Post OfficeMilkwood Tree, ranks among the toptrees of historic value in the country.According to historians Portugueseseafarers left messages in an old shoeunder this tree in the sixteenth centuryfor other ships rounding the Cape tothe Far East or back.Most declared Champion trees ofhistoric significance, however, areintroduced species. In the earlyeighteenth century Governor W.A. vander Stel planted a row of camphor trees(Cinnamomum camphora) on theVergelegen Estate near Cape Town.This stately row of gigantic trees standsclose to the largest and oldest Englishoak tree in the country, also planted byvan der Stel, with a hollow trunkmeasuring more than 10 metres aroundat breast height.

In Auckland Park, Johannesburg, is aLombardy poplar (Populus nigra) ofmore recent historic significance. Thistree stands close to the site whereRuth Fischer, daughter of BraamFischer (a prominent founder memberof the SA Communist Party) ran asafe house for fugitives of theApartheid security forces. The treeserved as landmark for those seekingrefuge in this house.The tallest trees on the ChampionTree list is also dominated byintroduced tree species, mostly gumtree species such as the tallest trees inAfrica already mentioned. Redwoods(Sequoia sempervirens) can also attaingreat heights, and a grove of 90 yearold trees in Grootvadersbosch NatureReserve already stands at more than60 metres tall.

Fertile Ground for Champion Trees

When looking at a map showing theChampion tree locations, the moststriking feature is that two thirds ofthese trees are concentrated in fourlocations. These are theMagoebaskloof, the KwaZulu-Natalmidlands, the southern Cape and theCape Metropolitan area andsurrounds. On closer analysis thereappears to be some similaritiesbetween the sites, which may explainthese concentrations of remarkabletrees. Benign climates, particularlyregular rainfall and mist appears to bea common feature shared by the firstthree areas, while all of them had theadditional benefit of tree-plantingpioneers.In the Cape Town area GovernorSimon van der Stel promoted theplanting of oak trees in the eighteenthcentury, and in later years tree-lovingpioneers such as John Arderne andhis son imported tree seeds andplanted seedlings in the ArderneGardens. In the midlands ofKwaZulu-Natal the Scottishimmigrant John Geekie planted manytrees in the Benvie Arboretum, whileJoseph Baynes planted trees in the1880s on the now historic BaynesfieldEstate, including a tulip tree

(Liriodendron tulipefera) which has nowreached massive dimensions. In theMagoebaskloof area the eminent Dr.Hans Merensky and the forestrypioneers A.K .Eastwood and A.J.O’Connor planted gum trees which allreached heights not surpassedanywhere else in the country.Gauteng has begun to emerge asanother concentration of Championtrees, with five declared trees andanother pending. The Champion treeproject was initiated when a historicoak tree in Sophiatown was mutilatedby a resident, and later died. This sitehas been kept on the list in the hopethat it will eventually bememorialized. When Champion Treesdie, they are generally de-listed. Thishas happened to the second largestbaobab on a farm near Hoedspuit,which collapsed in 2009. InBloemfontein a group of cedar trees(Cedrus deodara) planted more than acentury ago by eminent persons suchas Lord Alfred Milner had to bedelisted after the trees died more thana year ago. Experts are stillinvestigating the cause of death, but itappeared as over-watering might havecaused root-rot.

A Living Programme

To say that South Africa is the primespot on the African continent to visitoutstanding trees, may not be anexaggeration. But it is a vulnerableheritage, which may be eroded if notbe protected. Trees are fragile, and anaxe or bulldozer can terminate theexistence of a giant that grew forcenturies at the wink of an eye. Suchwas the fate of the Sophiatown oak,and many trees of nationalconservation value before it. TheChampion Tree project is a livingprogramme, and new trees will beadded to the list as time goes on.Sadly, some will die and fade from thelist, but that is the inevitable fate thattrees share with humans.


As with many plants, there havebeen numerous name changes bytaxonomists since this tree was firstidentified. Used here is thecurrently-accepted botanical orscientific name.The Tabebuia genus comprises over100 species of trees and shrubs nativeto the tropical areas of the Americasand Caribbean. They may be “brieflydeciduous,” deciduous, or evergreen,with simple or compound, three- toseven-fingered leaves. All havelarge, crowded, showy, trumpet-shaped flowers in a variety of colors.The flowers are followed by bean-like seed pods.Derivation of the genus name,Tabebuia, is from words used by thepeoples of Brazil to describe the treesof this group. The epithet or speciesname, heterophylla, is from theGreek—for having leaves of morethan one form. For a bit more of(helpful?) clarification, the species ofTabebuia are divided into four sub-groups: roble, white-cedar, lapacho,and miscellaneous.The roble blanco Tabebuia heterophyllamay also be called white-cedar, pinkmanjack, pink tecoma, trumpet tree,mayflower, pink trumpet tree, orsimply roble. Roble is nativethroughout the West Indies, from

Roble blanco tree in flower .

by Ron DeWitt #6037 SURoble Blanco Tabebuia heterophylla (DC.) Britt.A Deciduous HardwoodBignoniaceae – Bignonia or Trumpet-Vine Family

Syn. Bignonia pallida Lindl., Bignonia pentaphylla L., andTabebuia pentaphylla Hemsl.

Cuba to Hispaniola, PuertoRico, and Grenada. It is alsofound from southern Mexicoto Venezuela, Equador, andBrazil. Although it is notnative to North America, ithas been planted successfullyin southern Florida and hasbecome naturalized inBermuda. It has been or isbeing cultivated in much ofthe rest of the world’stropics.Roble is described asworldly, growing well inalmost any sub-tropical zoneof soil or soil conditions. Itthrives in sand, limestone, orheavy, deep clay soils, acidor alkaline, wet or dry, from wetlowlands to dry mountainsides. Onpreferred sites annual rainfall variesfrom 39 to 98 in. (1000 to 2500 mm).Mean temperatures vary fromseasonal lows of 61 degrees F (16 C)to highs of 88 degrees F (31 C).Roble does not tolerate frost. It issaid to be an aggressive pioneer,readily adapting to any growingcondition.Roble is considered a medium-sizetree, 40 to 60 ft. (12 to 18m) high, occasionallyreaching 90 ft. (27.5 m).Stem diameters arecommonly 18 to 24 in. (46to 61 cm) dbh, sometimesto 36 in. (91 cm) dbh.Stems on some sites arebuttressed for 7 to 10 ft.(2.1 to 3 m) above the

ground. Trees maintain singlestems over well-developed rootsystems, with narrow, irregularcolumn-like crowns, even whenopen-grown. Trees may live to 200years.Twigs and small branchlets arebrown and smooth. Branchesspread upward almost from theground. Bark darkens with agebecoming silver-gray, thenfurrowed as the tree matures.

Flowers and five finger leaf.Roble blanco flowers.


Leaves are opposite, palmatelycompound, usually with three to fiveunequally-sized leaflets radiatingfrom a central stem. Leaflets arenarrow, blade-like, from 2.5 to 6.5 in.(6 to 16 cm) long, bright green,smooth and leathery. Leaf size,shape, and number of leaflets varyconsiderably with growingconditions. On very dry sites leafletsbecome singular and rounded.Although classified as deciduous,leaves are evergreen throughoutlarge portions of its range. Leavesdrop just before flowers emerge.New leaves appear with the firstflower flush in spring.The showy display of 3 in. (7.6 cm)white to light purple trumpet-shapedflowers may be borne in terminal andlateral clusters or individually. Thefruit is a narrow, dark brown, bean-like pod, 3 to 8 in. (8 to 20 cm) longand .25 in. (6.5 mm) in diameter(pencil-sized), containing many longwinged seeds. Seed dispersal is bythe wind.Many of roble’s technical propertiesand its appearance resemble both ashand oak. Sapwood is pale tan,heartwood is light brown or golden.Growth rings are distinct. Grain

Bean-like seed pods. Standard specimen of robleblanco Tabebuia heterophyla.

6x transverse view of wood.

varies from straight to interlocked,occasionally providing interestingfigure. This wood is fine-textured anddiffuse-porous. Specific gravity is about0.55 at 12% M.C. and weight is about 38lb/ft3 (609 kg/m3) at the same M.C.,about the same as red maple, Acerrubrum. This wood air-seasons or kilndries rapidly with little tendency towarp or check. Shrinkage from green tooven dry is relatively low.Roble works and bends quite well, is fairin planing if careful, excellent fordrilling, routing, and sanding, good forboth turning and carving. It takes andholds fasteners moderately well, glueseasily, and finishes well. Unpaintedwood develops considerable checkingand is only moderately durable whenexposed to the weather or in contactwith the ground. Overall, roble isclassified as tough and strong for itsweight. It has no noticeable taste orodor.Although this species of Tabebuia wasnot found to have toxic properties,many species of this genus are listed.As when working closely with anywood, appropriate protection for skin,nose, eyes, and throat is advised.Roble, because of its very attractiveflowers and long flowering period, ispopular as a landscaping ornamentaland as a shade or streettree. The flowers alsoproduce a pleasanthoney. Its rapid growthin almost any growingcondition makes it usefulin reforestation projectsas a timber tree and forland stabilization orrehabilitation. In someareas it is cultivated as ashade tree for crops suchas cacao and coffee.In its native areas roblelumber is usedextensively for flooring,furniture, cabinet work,interior trim, and boatbuilding. It is also usedfor veneer, tool andsporting goods handles,millwork, and coffins. Insome applications it is

suggested as a substitute forash or oak. Lower qualitymaterial goes into boxes, crates,poles, and posts and is used asfuel.Unfortunately, roble ofteneasily out-competes native andother exotic trees, earning it the

distinction of beinglabeled highly invasiveand prohibited in manyof its naturalized areas.Such is the case on theisland of Mauritius andthe Pacific areas ofIndonesia, Micronesia,Samoa, the Solomons,Hawaii, and others.Except for asusceptibility to dry-wood termite andmarine borer attack, thistree has few naturalenemies.


When searching for appropriatearticles for this column in pastissues of the IWCS Bulletin andWorld of Wood, I am oftendistracted by book reviews sinceI collect books on trees andtimbers.Most of the reviews are short,what I would call basic and notsuitable for reprinting. Recently,however, one caught my eye. Itis quite a bit more than basic anddefinitely worthy of reprinting.It is was written by our prolificcontributor, Jim Flynn, whoalways seems to write a goodstory.The review is of the book LiveOaking, Southern Timber for TallShips. In today’s world live oak(Quercus virginiana) is known as aparticularly beautiful shade treeacross the gulf coast states. Thatwas not always the case. Itsimportance to shipbuilding in theage of wooden ships was huge.It provided our early navy withsuperior materials often givingthe resulting ships an advantageover their British foe. The bookwhich I also have in my libraryoffers a very readable historyabout a formerly importantindustry and an interestingAmerican wood. I too canwholeheartedly recommend it. Itappears that the book is readilyavailable on the used bookmarket for about $30.This review was first publishedin the May, 1990 World of Wood

Ken Bassett#543

Growth Rings: The IWCS Record by Ken Bassett #543.

Book ReviewLive Oaking, Southern Timber for Tall Ships; Virginia Steel Wood;Northeastern University Press, Boston.

by Jim Flynn, #3975HLLate one evening we were hanging around the summer shack up at SawdyPond in Rhode Island and I got to talking about wood collecting and Ihappened to mention how I came about a piece of live oak, Quercusvirginiana. My nephew John and his wife Catherine (a Novia Scotia gal)reacted immediately as live oak was the subject of a clog dancer’s ditty andthey both knew it well, being practitioners of this form of art.There are lots of verses to the song which is known as “Pounding Live Oak”,and here goes number 7:“Pounding live oak is nothing like fun,Especially the dry ones will make the sweat run;It will make your axes glitter and smoke,You’ll need iron handles to pound this live oak,Derry down, down, down, Derry down, down, down.”Now I was interested in this story, as a true wood collector would be. Johnnyhad a recording of the song on a disc “The Boarding Party, Fair Winds and aFollowing Sea; Folk-Legacy Records FSI-109. With Johnny and Catherine’shelp I dug deeper into the story and found the title of the book referenced inthe heading of this report. Now to get a copy of the book.Back home in Virginia our local library did not have a copy nor did theyhave any record of it being available in any other Country libraries. I have ahunch that Mary got the Vienna librarian’s interest in the subject tweaked upa bit and they started a search for the book in other State libraries. A copywas found at the Randolph-Macon College, outside Richmond. A good placefor it even though it was a bit outside the normal range of this species theQuercus. The book was in mint condition as it had never been opened. Butlet me tell you, my fellow wood collectors, this book is a tale of woodcollecting with vigour and purpose. The first thing I looked for were theverses of the sea chanty (and I hope that I am calling it a chanty correctly)“Pounding Live Oak”. They were there and what a story it told!The author, Virginia Steel Wood, became interested in the live oak story asan incidental by-product of some research she was doing in coastal Georgia.She was investigating the early influences of Ne England merchants in thedevelopment of that part of the south. It appeared strange to her that shecould find old-timers in places like Ne Bedford, Massachusetts who heardtell of live oak parties going south for the winter to gather the wood but, onthe other hand, could find no one in the south who had recollections orheard tales of these expeditions. Small wonder as these New England boysoperated mostly in the offshore islands and in the wilderness on their own.As the author dug deeper into the records and uncovered volumes of data onthe subject she realised that it was a neglected study and that she was onlyhitting the surface with her literary explorations. The subject remains so tothis day.At any rate, during and after the Revolutionary War we had a real need toembark upon a naval shipbuilding program to protect our sea lanes andmerchant ships. Northern shipbuilders knew the unbeatable merits of liveoak timbers such as knees and ribs, for the major structural parts of thesewooden ships they were commissioned to build. This tough stuff didn’tgrow up north though. They had to organize or contract with others,expeditions to the south during the winter months to get this material.


This was big business. For example, frigateConstitution required 23,000 cubic feet of timber for theframes alone . . . approximately 460 trees! The vessel’splans were drawn out on earthen floors of buildingsheds and patterns (which were then called “moulds”)for the timbers to be fabricated of live oak were sentalong with the cutting crews. The big name in thebusiness was the Swift Brothers out of Falmouth,Massachusetts. They get more than a cursory mentionin the sea chanty.The live oak camps were set up near the coastal areaswhere deep water could be found to load the cut andshaped timbers. Whole “saw logs as we call themcould be taken and loaded aboard ship because oftheir weight and the problem of crossing the beachline. So all the timbers have to be cut and shapedaccording to the patterns as a means of reducing sizeand weight and, to a significant extent, to hack awayat the wood when it was wet. A lot of this wood waskept in the water until ready for shipment and greatpains taken to prevent it from drying too fast andchecking. As an added tid-bit the Navy used the lastof its hoard of live oak in the rebuilding of Constitutionin 1927-31. The timbers were stored underwater at thePensacola Naval Station since before the Civil War. It is hard to imagine in this day and age the hardwork that went into cutting and shaping this woodwith the primary tool being a variety of axes. I’mlooking at a piece of this wood at the moment andLord.. . it is hard as nails and heavy. The ribs on someof our older frigates were spaced one and one-halfinches apart. Wow! No wonder Constitution wascalled ‘”Old Ironsides”.

The author does a magnificent job describing the liveoak camps and the men who manned them. She cites alist of references knee-deep which are begging for amore scholarly investigation and the piecing together ofa more colorful and richer portrait of this woodcollectors story.Oh yes, I began this story by attempting to tell the taleof how I acquired my sample piece of Quercusvirginiana. May as well finish it off. Several years agoMary and I were attending an Annual Convention ofthe Balalaika and Dorma Association of America at RiceUniversity in Houston, Texas. This campus is coveredwith well-cared for and groomed live oaks. In myspare time I sought out the grounds keeper and madeenquiry about acquiring a piece of live oak that mayhave been taken from a storm damaged tree. No dice,there was none around. I kept talking with him andexplained the International Wood Collectors Society tohim and I could see that he was interested. He thenremembered a tree that had been trimmed and thewood was placed on the wood pile of the President ofthe University for use in his fireplace. He said that hewould look around and see if he could find a piece forme. I gave him one of my cards and told him where Icould be found if he was successful. Low and behold , afew hours later a worker walked into a posh, carpetedconference room with a large, grubby piece of firewoodand asked where he could locate Jim Flynn. I wasn’tthere at the time so the folks there told the agent toplace the wood in the corner for me and the ExecutiveDirector was heard to say “What the ‘beep’ is Jim Flynnup to now” This wasn’t just a piece of grubby oldfirewood. . . it was a real piece of live oak!

A Guide to More Useful Woods of the WorldEdited by James H. Flynn, Jr.

The book includes 71 additionalwood data sheets (WDS) bringingthe total of published WDSs to350, PLUS two comprehensiveindexes. It also contains fourteenarticles from highly respectedprofessionals in wood-relatedmatters: Richard Crow, Alan B.Curtis, Mihaly Czako, EugeneDimitriadis, Robert Goldsack,Ernie Ives, Siegfried Klotsche, andRegis Miller.A Guide to More Useful Woods of theWorld was launched at the 2007.Softcover, 376 pages. $29.95 pluspostage to members.

A Guide to Useful Woods of the WorldEdited by James H. Flynn, Jr. and Charles D. Holder

Published in 2001, the first printing soldout! Reprinted in 2007, here’s yourchance to have a copy of the definitivestatement on 279 woods of the world.The description for each wood includes:scientific and family names, commonnames, distribution, the tree, the timber,seasoning, durability, workability, uses,and supplies, along with a line drawing,a photomicrograph, and a colorphotograph of the wood. Also includedare common name, scientific name, andfamily name indexes and 3 appendices.This is a second edition, softcover, 640pages. $39.95 plus postage for members.

These publications are marketeted on behalf of IWCS and are available through:Forest Products Society, 2801 Marshall Court Madison, Wl 53705-2395Phone: 608-231-1361 ext. 202 Fax: 608-231-2152


Shrubwoods of the World

The leaves, flowers and bark of allspiceare sweet and pleasant scented, evenwhen working on the seasoned wood.Other features are a zig-zag vesselarrangement, and four woody bundlesin the bark.A member of the Calycanthaceae family,which has four genera. Allspice isnative to south east USA, and has oneother species Calycanthus occidentalisHook. & Art. (California allspice,native to SW-USA). Other commonnames are Carolina allspice andsweet-shrub. Older books show morespecies, all of which became variaties.The closely related genus Chimonanthusconsists of six species, native to China.Carolina allspice, who’s wood isshown here, is a dense, bushy,deciduous shrub, up to 2 m high, withopposite, dark glossy green, aromaticleaves, downy beneath. It flowers overa long period from late spring to earlyfall. Flowers are brownish-red, withnumerous petals, about 5 cm indiameter, sweet scented, followed bylarge, capsule-like, dry fruits.The genus Calycanthus is derived fromthe Greek kalux = calyx and anthos =flower, alluding to the fact there is noclear transition between calyx andflower. The calyx is large andconspicuous, and apparently part ofthe flower. The specific epithet floridusmeans free or abundantly flowering,occidentalis means western.Allspice wood is light brown and light

by Nelis Mourik #7460LAllspice

weight. Stems availablewere never over 5 cm across.Growth rings are onlyslightly visible to the nakedeye. On a rough crosssection the earlywood zoneis only little darker than thelatewood. Using a handlensand a clear cut endgrain thewood shows (semi-) ringporosity. There is a higherconcentration of vessels inthe earlywood, as well as widerdiameters (50 μm) as there is in thelatewood (down to 15 μm). Moredistinct feature here is the flame-like,or rather oblique arrangement of thevessels groupings in the latewood,regularly changing in direction, as isclearly visible on a smooth sandedendgrain.Parenchyma is very scanty,paratracheal, consisting of only a fewcells around the vessels. Rays aresmall and almost all lower than 0.5mm, 1 to 2 to occasionally 3 cells wide,except for a few. In the wider rays theray bodies consist of procumbant tosquare cells, the uniseriate rays andtails consist of square to upright cellsonly. Two other important features inAllspice wood are found in its bark: 4narrow woody strands are runninglongitudinally through the bark ofyoung stems on about a 90o distance,visible on the outer side as narrowthickenings, visible in cross section asan almost white spot in the darkbrown bark tissue. The strands havetheir own cambium (growth layer),but inversely oriented: they formwood and bark tissue to the innersides. The bark also has a verypleasant, eucalypt-peppermint-likeodour. The wood itself has no specificodour.

Allspice wood is moderately hardand light weight (specific gravity450-500 kg/m3 airdry), it ismoderately fine to fine textured andstraight grained. It seasons easilywith little risk of cracking if endsealed, even when not cut over thepith. It works easily with all kinds oftools, while it spreads a nice smellwhen cutting, planing or sandingthrough the bark. It is a little brittle.It glues well. The wood looks notdurable, although no fungi norwoodworms ever affected it whendrying, possibly due to the fragrantbark only.Because of its small dimensions andno figure the wood is not used. Theshrub is sometimes planted for itslong lasting, sweet scentedflowering.

Disc of Calycanthus floridus wood ofabout 5 cm across. Note the four strands

in the bark.

10 x magnification of Calycanthusfloridus wood, bark and barkstrand endgrain.

Longitudinal surface of a glued upCalycanthus floridus and woody branch.


A genus, closely allied to barberry,heaving the same colored brightyellow wood, but in contrast to thatgenus mean spiny leaves and spinelessstems.Mahonia is also the Latin genus name,a genus comprising of 70-100 speciesnative to Asia from the Himalayanmountains to Japan and Sumatra, andnorth- and central-America. A well-known species to most Americans andEuropeans is Mahonia aquifolium(pursh) nutt., the Oregon grape, nativeto NW.-North-America andnaturalized in Europe, where it iscalled mahonia. Two other quite well-known species, especially tohorticulturists and gardeners, are M.japonica (Thunb.) DC. from China, longcultivated in Japan, and M. x mediaC.D.Brickell, a hybrid between M.japonica and M. lomariifolia. The familyis the Berberidaceae.Mahonias are all evergreen shrubs,often with quite sturdy, brenchlessstems. M. aquifolium is up to 1.8 mhigh, although quite often half so,leaves are compound, consisting of 5-9pinnate, almost stalkless leaflets, set onthe upper half of the stem. Flowers aregolden yellow, fruits are almost blackberries. M. japonica has a very stiff,sturdy, erect habit, bearing a roundcrown of 30-45 cm long compoundleaves around the top, each consistingof 7-13 hard, stiff, deep green, spine-armed leaflets. Flowers are yellow,fruits are purple berries.The genus name Mahonia is in honor ofBernard MacMahon, born in Ireland in

Shrubwoods of the World

by Nelis Mourik #7460L.Mahonia

1775, who settled in Philadelphia,Pennsilvania (1796- 1816). He was agood horticulturist, and author of ‘TheAmerican Gardener’s Calendar’(1807).The specific epithet aquifolium is theclassical name for Holly, from the Latinacus = needle and folium = leave. Thespecific epithet japonica means ‘fromJapan’.The wood of mahonia is bright yellow.Exposure to sunlight however willquickly turn the surface to a lightbrown. Unfortunately it also easilystains to brown if left wet for too long.It has quite a wide, soft pith. The woodoften shows thick, triangular, corkybark ribs, an important feature formahonia. Stems over 5 cm across arerare in cultivation.The wood differs not much or none tothat of barberry. Growth rings arevisible to the nacked eye, because thewood forms a (discontinuous) ring ofvessels at the beginning of each ring.Vessels are very small, 25 - 50 μm indiameter. Within the growth ringvessels tend to form groups in obliqueto radial, or dendritic alignment, thegroups on their turn tending to form anapparently zig-zag oriented pattern.However, this is not always as clearlythe case. Parenchyma is very rare toabsent. Rays are wide and high,sometimes even over 5 mm, clearlyvisible on the radial surface, containingnumerous cristals, an importantdifference to barberry wood onmicroscopic level.Mahonia wood is quite hard, dense,and quite heavy (specific gravity 800kg/m3 airdry). It is fine textured andstraight to little wavy grained. It lookslike there is less tendency to split whendrying than barberry wood. Smallerdiameters usually dry without‘cracking open’, even after planing orcutting the bark off on two sides.Nevertheless over about 2 cm acrosswill split, so cutting along the pith isnecessary for the thicker stems. Also

sealing the ends is necessary. Thewood dries slowly. It is good toseason it for a couple years, the finaldrying to be done indoor at roomtemperature.The wood is not easy to work,especially not by hand. Whenmachining sharp edges are a must.When quarter cut it shows itsconspicuous rays. It can be gluedwell, and sanded and polished to avery smooth surface. It is of amedium to low durability.The use of this wood is equal to thatof barberry: it can be used in inlaywork, and in small turnings andcarvings.Editors note: Botanists havedissagreed for some time on the 70species in the genus Mahonia, and itappears that GRINN has nowreclassified them in the genusBerberis.

Disc of Mahonia japonica about 4 cmacross, showing the typical bark ribs.

Longitudinal surface of a glued upMahonia japonica wood specimen.

10 x magnification of Mahoniajaponica wood endgrain.


From my earliest attempts at woodsectioning, once I found a woodthat cut reasonably easily, I wastempted to wind the handle a fewmore times just to see the sectionsslide neatly on the microtome knifeand, of course, made these intoslides for sale. I quickly found aniche market. Currently there are32 subscribers, wood collectors andmicroscopists, who get four boxesof 24 slides a year. Over runs ofslides are sold at microscopymeetings and at a calculated guess,I have now produced in excess of70,000 wood slides and have nearly2,200 slides of different woods inmy own collection. These arehoused, filing card-wisealphabetically under family andgenera so a slide can easily befound. I know most members storetheir samples under genera butstoring them by family, keepsrelated genera together.

How long I can keep going maydepend on IWCS members. I needto replenish my supply of samplesand hope that members who do notthrow away their offcuts can help. Ionly need small pieces with aminimum end grain size of 25 x 13mm and a length of 13 mm (1 x ½ x½ inches) or if it is of branch orshrub wood, 25 mm diam x 20 long(1 x ¾ inches). The end piece youtrim off a standard sample, is fine.If you can help, please contact meto see the list of woods I’ve alreadycut and avoid duplication.

arranged, I abhorred the scrappylooking wood section slides I’d seen.They showed the detail in the threecutting planes but many looked as ifthey’d been torn off the block and Iwanted neat, rectangular sectionscompactly arranged—generallyunder a 22 x 22 mm coverglass—andcame up with what is now mystandard arrangement that givesprominence to the transversesection. Branchwood and burr (burl)sections are arranged slightlydifferently.

As all IWCS members know, woodsvary enormously in density, thearrangement of the vessels andstraightness or interlocking of thegrain, therefore the techniques forcutting very thin sections differwidely too and no one techniquewill cover everything. Soft woodsmay need embedding in wax orPEG, many medium density woodscut without any processing butharder ones need softening inethylenediamine for several days orby boiling in 10% glycerine for eightor more hours. Experience helps tomake the right choice but even then

the results are not alwayspredictable which is whyI’m still learning.Nowadays I can cut mostof the woods I receiveunless they havestructural faults; shakes,rot, etc., but always someprovide a challenge to myskills and judgement anda few are put aside as‘uncuttable’ – as yet.

“Well you’re a microscopist so you canmake slides like these.” Cyril Pilcher, apast president of the IWCS, handedme a box of microslides when I’dsuggested there was no way I couldamass and store 3,000 standard woodsamples like I’d seen at his home.Little did I realise that over 20 yearslater, I would still be cutting woodsections and still learning new anddifferent techniques.I quickly found it wasn’t as easy as Ianticipated. My rocking microtome—fine for botanical sections—wastotally unsuited for wood except forthe most amenable ones and in thedays prior to my having Internetaccess, my researches found littlepublished information on the subject.The information I found stated thatrather dangerous chemicals wererequired. However, in 1990 I couldstill order them from my localchemist whereas now I need alaboratory address and if I orderthem online, I’d likely be the subjectof an investigation by the terroristbranch.A friend loaned me a small sledgemicrotome that enabled me to cut awider variety of wood andencouraged me to continue and tolook for one of my own. In 1996, Ibought the huge Junk K made inHeidelberg in 1928 and still inregular use. I adapted it to take a 250mm long microtome knife and all mywood sectioning is done with it.Being a microscopist and makinginsect slides where I try to get all theparts neatly and symmetrically

A Wood Microtomist’s Life by Ernie Ives #3345L

My Junk K.


As wood collectors, we usually havemost interest in the heartwood, asthis is commonly available, and it’sthe ‘real’ wood anyway. In theheartwood we see a species in all itsglory, or sometimes, lack of it. By‘lack of it’ I mean — many specieshave a heartwood colour and texturewhich can be embraced in the phrase‘light brown, medium texture’ — notvery interesting. This article is moreabout species having distinctlydifferent coloured heartwood c.f.sapwood – and they are interesting.We should be interested in thesapwood, because it is that part ofthe tree which, with metabolicchanges, becomes the heartwood.This phenomenon was studied backin the 1950’s by Dr. Mary MargaretChattaway, PhD.Margaret Chattaway worked as awood anatomist at the CSIRO’SDivision of Forest Products inMelbourne in the 1940’s and 1950’s,in collaboration with Dr. H. EricDadswell and others. She was theauthor of a paper, The Sapwood-Heartwood Transition, which wasprinted in the journal AustralianForestry, Vol XVI, No.1, 1952. Shestudied many hundreds ofmicroscope slides of wood sectionstaken from selected trees, searchingfor clues as to the difference betweensapwood and heartwood, and themethod of transition from the formerto the latter. The broad distinctionbetween the two types is that:• sapwood cells (vessels,

parenchyma and fibres) are living,• whereas heartwood cells (the

same) are dead—and thatprobably comes as no surprise.

transition zone is about 4mm wide,and has its own colour.The transition zone in Photo 2,tulipwood (Harpullia pendula), and inPhoto 3, black bean (Castanospermumaustrale), is so narrow as to be notdiscernable.Whereas nearly all trees developheartwood though the above processthere are a few which do not. Theyhave been called ‘sapwood trees’.Chattaway cites two in this category– the Illawarra flame tree(Brachychiton acerifolius), and whitecheesewood (Alstonia scolaris). Itwould be interesting to know ofothers.So, when I select a specimen for mycollection, I prefer to choose a piecewhich has some sapwood in it, evenif there is want in size. And maybe,those species which have ordinary-looking heartwood could be moreinteresting when their sapwood isthere for comparison.

Wood of the Judas tree (Cercis siliquastrum).

By Ian McLaughlinThe Sapwood-heartwood Transition

Parenchyma cells are thin walled,and make up all the tissue of rays,and in many woods make up somepart of the axial wood structure.Sapwood cells have a nucleus andprotoplasm, contain and transportsap, mostly water, in which aredissolved minerals, and substancesnecessary for the health and growthof the plant, and on the outer fringeis the active cambium by which theplant grows in girth.Frequently but not always, theparenchyma cells contain starchgrains, and dissolved tannins. Whena nucleus, starch grains anddissolved tannin are present in a cell,it is definitely in the sapwood, butthe key ingredient is the nucleus.By contrast, the parenchyma cells ofthe heartwood do not contain anynucleus or protoplasm or starchgrains, and the tannins have changedto a less soluble form. Chattawayconcluded that there was a transitionfrom sapwood to heartwood in azone sometimes very narrow, andother cases broad, when the starchgrains were absorbed, the nucleusdied and the tannins were changedand often spread through all othercells in the heartwood. It is thedeposition of tannins and othersubstances, so-called ‘extractives’ likekino, which gives the heartwood itsdarker colour and makes it moredurable. It is in that transition zonewhere those changed take place.The accompanying photos are ofspecies having a sharply definedboundary between sapwood andheartwood, compared with otherspecies where the transition zonemay be many centimetres wide, witha very gradual change in colour. Ispeculate that the character of thetransition zone would have a lot todo with the vigour of the tree and theclimate in which it grows.Photo 1 is of the wood of the Judastree (Cercis siliquastrum), where the

Wood of tulipwood, (Harpullia pendula).

Wood of black bean,(Castanospermum australe)


Member’s Listings and RequestsMembers with wood specimens for sale


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Letters to the EditorFollowing is a list of corrections for mistakes thatappear in the Jan/Feb issue of World of Wood.Following are the corrections for pages 26-27 —eachunderlined.Wood 23 - Cupressus lusitanicaWood 24 - Monterey cypressWood 27 - “ I have never been able to try it in a

woodworking job” I think he means.Wood 31 - Eriobotrya japonicaWood 35 - Grevillea banksiiWood 39 - Leptospermum laevigatumWood 41 - Ligustrum lucidumWood 42 - Liquidambar styraciflua = liquidambar aka

sweet gumWood 44 - Lophostemon confertusWood 50 - Think he means 18" not 18'Wood 52 - Olea europaeaWood 54 - Pittosporum angustifolium - but this

appears to be “poisonberry” in GRIN andyour book has Pittosporum phillyreoides as

Book Review

Ridiculously Simple Furniture ProjectsGreat Looking Furniture Anyone Can Buildby Spike Carlsen with photography by Bill ZuehlkePublication Date:April 2011. $19.95 ($21.95 Canada)Trade Paperback 8½” x 11" 122 pagesISBN 978-1-610350-04-4 Home Improvement /Woodworking. BISAC HOM018000/CRA042000Color photographs, diagrams.

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and Men’s Health magazines. Heis also the author of A SplinteredHistory of Wood: Belt Sander Races,Blind Woodworkers and BaseballBats, selected as an NPR BestBook of the Year.

native willow; it is also called “desertwillow” in GRIN.(Editors note: there have been recentchanges made to this species.)

Page 20:- Acacia melanoxylon = blackwood not backwoodPage 21:- Eucalyptus delagatensis sub sp tasmaniensis .

Editors reply:As Editor of World of Wood, I sincerely appologise to IWCSmembership for my lack of attention to detail in thepublication of this issue.In particular, however, I wish to appologise to mylongtime friend, Keith Hall, the author of the article onpages 26-27, for not having given his importantcontribution the quality time he deserves. These mistakeswere mostly of my doing in the preparation of his article,and I feel I did not give proper regard to his contribution.I appologise sincerely.Morris Lake, Editor.


Allocasuarina inophloiahairy oakDerivation: Allocasuarina from the Greek allo (other) andthe Latin casuarinus (Cassowary) in that the branchletsresemble the feathers of cassowaries. Inophloia is areference by F, M, Bailey, colonial botanist, to its threadybark.Family: Casuarinaceae, which superficially resembleconifers with wire-like foliage and cones, from whichthey are descendants. The genus Casuarina has recentlybeen split into Allocasuarina and Casuarina, to include theother casuarinas.Other names: Hairy oak is also known as flame oak, andflame sheoak which are references to the timber figuring.Also woolly oak and stringybark oak, which arereferences to its bark. In fact, most things about this treeare hairy and present difficulties. The hairy leavesplaced it into the casuarina family for some time, and thebark has some resemblance to marsupial fur as well asthe feathers of the cassowary.Distribution: It is found mostly in central westernQueensland from the New South Wales border toaround Rockhampton. The tree has a wide distributionand is found in small patches usually on sandy ridgesoften in association with budgeroo (Lysicarpusaugustifolius), Pilliga grey box (E. pilligaensis) whitecypress pine (Callitris glauca) and ironbark (E. crebra). It isfound mostly in association with poor sandy soils.The tree: It is a medium sized tree to about 15 metres,but rarely produces a straight trunk. The base of thetrunk in older trees is commonly buttressed thereforemaking it difficult to obtain large dimension timber. Thebark is stringy and fibrous with the medullary raysprotruding through the bark endingin razor-sharp protrusions. Careshould therefore be taken not to rubagainst a fallen log or branch as this islikely to result in severe lacerations.The bark peels away easily from thestem leaving the protrudingmedullary rays exposed. The greencylindrical branchlets, closelyresemble the foliage of casuarina, ofwhich it was once a family member,and upright appearance gives awhispy foliage effect. The tiny leavesform small whorls wrapped aroundthe nodes along each branchlet.

Australian Woods No 27by MorrisLake #7634

A group of medium-sized trees around Chinchilla.

The green cylindrical branchletswhich resemble casuarina with

minute scales for leaves at the nodes..The hairy bark.


Wood of Allocasuarina inophloiaThis wood is considered by many to be oneof the most distinctive Australian timbers.The sapwood is light-brown, and thehardwood is a deep red-brown, laced withthe chocolate coloured rays which areprominent and produce an exciting ‘oak’figure when quarter cut.It is a very hard wood with an air drydensity at 12% moisture of 945 kg/m3 , butit has been reported as high as 1011 kg/m3.

It has never been listed as a wood of anycommercial value and has really been anundiscovered species until wood turnersfound it and made it popular. It was nevercapable of being obtained in big quantities,and you have to be satisfied with straighttimber in metre or less lengths. This is one ofthe hardest timbers for workinghowever its beauty is very hard tosurpass. It is very prone tosplitting, particularly in the round,when it will split along the rays.End sealing is very important.There are big losses in milling dueto splitting and for this reason it isnot often found in commercial use.It finishes well and the patternscreated by the variability in thepresentation of the medullary raysadds great contrast.Hairy oak logs are dangerous toharvest. As mentioned earlier, themedullary rays protrude into, andsometimes through, the fibrousbark and are razer sharp. Becausethey run parallel with the trunk,and are invisible to the eye, anyrushed or exaggerated contact with the outerpart of the log is likely to result in cuts to theflesh. One IWCS member receivedlacerations to his shin which required adozen stitches while collecting timber inknee-length grass as he grazed a hidden log.

This platter has an interesting story attached to it. On a western trip someyears ago, we dropped in at our favourite spot for a mid-morning cup of teain Chinchilla, at a place where the locals also sell some of their handicraft,and there I spotted this delightful 36 cm hairy oak platter. It’s the largestsingle piece of hairy oak that I had ever seen and is a very deep colour—obviously from a mature tree, and no sigh of sapwood. However when I

turned it on its edge, the grain revealed that the centre of the tree stem is offto one side and it is a continuous piece. It was turned by T. Bruggemann of

Chinchilla, and I can only say, thank you T. Bruggermann, for this mostwonderful example of the beauty of hairy oak. I must assume that the

platter was turned from a buttress wing of a very ancient tree. It is one ofmy very prized pieces of natural history. It was also a very nice cup of tea.

This turned piece of fruit—possibly representing a fig—incorporates some sapwood as wellas heartwood, and it really highlights the beauty of the very pronounced medullary ray. Istill remember my first overseas International IWCS meeting in Calgary where I donatedquite a few specimens. The hairy oak specimen, which was slightly bigger than standardsize auctioned for $70. I was so surprised, I didn’t note down who purchased it.

An untreated hairy oak specimen.


Key to Members’ Interests1 Wood collecting- casual or

serious interest in acquiringwood specimens; interested infield collecting; interested incollecting crafted wood items;other.

2 Wood/wood technology -dendrology; study of trees;timber research; woodidentification; wood anatomy;microtomy; other.

3 Wood supplier - willing totrade or supply wood forspecimens or craft purposes.

4 Woodworking projects -boxes; canes; games; toys;puzzles; clocks; jewellery; craftitems; models; miniatures;musical instruments;furniture; cabinetry; other.

5 Woodworking techniques -carving, marquetry; intarsia;pyrography; spindle or bowlturning; ornamental turning;other.

6 Other wood, wood crafting, orwood related interests.

7 Teaching, writing, instruction- would write articles forIWCS or demonstrate/presentat IWCS meetings; other.

Regis-treeNew members of the International Wood Collectors Society

Members names removed


Wood Meets

Hey woodies wake up !winter is over its almosttime for the annual meeting. Contest time, Wewould like you to make a bird house or feeder

and bring it to the meeting. Located in themiddle of the hardwood forests of America.

Many kinds of wood will be available for sale atthe wood auction. Line up for a trip to the

Ropkey Armor Museum. It is one of the largestprivately owned collections of U.S. tactical

Registration FormIWCS Annual Meeting, Crawfordsville, Indiana

24-28 August , 2011Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IWCS #. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Spouse/Guest: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Address: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .City:: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .State: . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Zip: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Telephone : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E-mail: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Registration Fee $35 per person $ . . . . . . . .Entertainment(2 nights) and Banquet $25 per person $ . . . . . . . .One Day fee $15 per person $ . . . . . . . .

Total enclosed $ . . . . . . . .I have the following health/food concerns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .All meals except the Saturday night Banquet will be on your own. Good restaurant in the motel. YOUmust make your room reservation by calling Quality Inn, 765-362-8700. Reservations for room must bemade by JULY 1. For you campers, there is a KOA within a mile of the motel 765-362-4190.

Tours on offer on Thursday include:• Ropkey Armor Museum• Old Jail Museum (rotary jail cell)• General Lew Wallace Museum• Henry S. Lane Mansion• Antique Mall• Linden Railroad Museum.

Registrations must be sent by July 1, 2011Send to: Mrs Marilyn Nunan

military vehicles in the country. Everthing fromself propelled -155mm used in Desert Storm,

World War I tank, plus a wide variety of jeeps,tanks, plans, cars and boats. Just a lot of history.

Come enjoy the Hoosier Hospitality.Bob Chastain

Registration form below.

IWCS Annual Meeting24-28 August, 2011

Quality Inn, Crawfordsville, Indiana


Book review

International Wood Collectors Societyc/o Bill & Myrt Cockrell2300 West Rangeline RoadGreencastle, IN 46123-7875

NON-PROFITORGANISATIONU.S. Postage PAIDGreencastle, INPermit No. 24

I am not sure about this one. In manyways this is an admirable book, butstill it makes me uneasy. Nor am Ialone in this respect; the authorneatly summarizes my problems inhis Preface: “The objections to thisvolume are obvious and many.” Andindeed this is so.On the one hand, this might bedescribed as an overgrown FieldGuide, overweight, overpriced, withoversized pages, overly ambitious asto area of coverage—leading to alack of focus and shortage of detail.It is printed in too small a font, withsmallish pictures that are jammedtogether or on top of each other.On the other hand it might bedescribed as a wonderfully complete—with invaluable field notes,amazingly up to date —with thelatest insights of plant systematics—well beyond APG II—overview ofthe genera of trees —in the widesense of the word, of tropical Asia —west of Wallace’s line— with a well-balanced layout, printed on beautifulglossy paper, in splendid full color,and all in one handy volume. Itincludes an introduction tophylogenetic theory and the modern

Trees of tropical Asia: An illustrated guide todiversity. Author James V. LaFrankie Jr., 748pp., illustrated (color), 2010. Black TreePublications www.blacktreepublications.com,Bacnotan, Philippines. ISBN: 978-971-94794-0-6 Price: US $149 (paperback), Australia $280.

way of naming trees andmoves on to survey 157families and 887 generawith mention of 2,500species. Description ofvegetative and floralform with notes on field

recognition, ecology and economicuse included. Indexes to names inLatin, Malay, Filipino, Vietnameseand Thai. Illustrated with more than3,000 relevant colour photographsand drawings.The author is clearly very ambitious,very knowledgeable and verythorough and has produced a bookthat appears to have very few errors—the worst are the pictures of wood,which are very uninformative, evenof woods that are very characteristicwhen photographed from the correctangle. And clearly, he was facedwith the problem of how to put allthe information at his disposal into asingle volume; and made some quiteintelligent choices.It will vary from user to user howwell the book suits them. Somebodyin tropical Asia who has to carry thebook in the glove compartment ofhis car may well be extremelygrateful to have all this information—there is even an illustrated entryfor my old acquaintance Champereia,hardly a well-known tree— in onenot-too-big book. However, for mesitting in a reasonably comfortablechair it is irritating to have a book

that even with reading glasses isnot all that easy to read, and still isactually too heavy for me to holdwith one hand. I would be happierto have this information —expanded with more detail— in,say, three volumes, with a largerpage-size.But for anybody who has anythinglike a genuine need for thisinformation the book certainlyoffers value for money.PS: the publishers let it be knownthat they are considering theproduction of a hard-cover coffee-table edition, 50% larger in size.

by Paul van Rijckevorsel #8060

wow may june 2011

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