Dear Denys and Michael, I'm old enough to find it fascinating that we are having a conversation while sitting in Australia, England, and the American Midwest, thanks to Wayne and the lutenet.
I suppose part of the answer to what you both are saying is for craftspeople to find and patronize hardwood dealers that deliberately carry only wood grown in a sustainable fashion. There is a hardwood dealer not too far from me that carries only domestic hardwoods, which largely means grown on woodlots (most of the old growth hardwood forests in the U.S. were cut down a long time ago). This is the kind of place that I would prefer to buy from, and the artists in the area whom I know prefer that dealer because the wood is nicer than that carried by the only other hardwood dealer in town. So sometimes, anyway, you can get what you need without raping the rainforests. But there still isn't anything grown in the U.S. that is quite as lovely as rosewood. Tim On Thursday, December 18, 2003, at 09:54 PM, Michael Stitt wrote: > 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 > -- >
