Denys and all, As a town planner I can appreciate your comment about the application of an Ecohome scheme with accreditation for house timbers, but wonder just how practical it would be to applied to a small_scale craftsmen industry. Any timber industry which caters for the housing market is of scale and size which would - I suspect - be easier to regulate. The matter of the quality of wood to be harvest is also to be considered. Here in Australia by far the major grown wood for the housing market is pinus radiata which is a fast growing variable quality wood known to be grown in monocultures because the nettles kills (high acid) soils, but fine for a mass market housing market comprising brick veneer constructed houses. This of course is quite a different issue to harvesting old growth forest especially trees hundreds of years old. In the Australin context we have created near irreversable damage to the land resulting in rising water tables, salinity problems, and destruction of rivers and the quaility of our very old soils by removing - say - Jarrah forests alone. This destruction is hardly the fault of the craft industry, but farming and agricultural practises totally inappropriate to this land. Respectfully, a broadbrush regulatory approach to woods which addresses the problem is what we need. regards, Michael Stitt
Denys Stephens <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Dear Tim, You wrote: "> Personally, I've wondered whether the increasing number of ribs on > lutes as you move into the 17th century is a sign that luthiers were > running out of easy-to-obtain yew in large slabs. If not, it would > have been a tremendous waste of wood to cut such narrow ribs to get > the dark/light contrast." > and "> But splitting large pieces > for lute ribs seems like a pretty big project. Has anyone on the > list done that? I know it will have to dry for a long time before it > can be used. Kiln-drying would seem to negate the ecological value > of using windfall wood." On the subject of yew, do I remember something about scarcities of the wood being caused by its use in the manufacture of longbows? If I remember correctly it was the combination of heartwood and sapwood that was crucial to the success of the longbow - the two components of the wood have different structural properties. It makes me wonder if lute makers were utilising these same properties in some way in their lute backs? Concerning trees blown down in storms, one of my own lutes by Stephen Barber & Sandi Harris has a back made from a hungarian ash that was a victim of the famous 1987 UK "hurricane" (I put that in inverted commas out of respect for list members in parts of the world where you get real hurricanes). There are references to their use of such wood, including exotics from Kew Gardens, on their web site. In my own profession (Architectural Technology) there is a much greater level of responsibility in the sourcing of construction timber than in the past. For example, to acquire "EcoHomes" accreditation in the UK housing market timber has to be sourced from one of the schemes that guarantees a sustainable well managed source. This is a very positive step towards respecting the world's more vulnerable forests. Hopefully this kind of thinking applies to wood for instrument making these days too. Best wishes, Denys --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing --
