Australasian timbers
Introduction | Australian Timbers | Fijian Mahogany
INTRODUCTION
When the first British settlers arrived in Australia in the late 1700's they were faced by a need for timber and an abundance of new species to work with. In many cases they used the names of similar trees of European origin, and in others once they'd started working with the timber they used names of European timbers of similar workability and/or durability. A good example of this is the naming of some members of the genus Flindersia based on their resemblance to the maple and ash of Europe.

Bodies for solidbody electric instruments can be made from Australian Kauri Pine (Agathis australis),  Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), Tasmanian Blackwood (acacia melanoxylon), Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata), Australian Oak (Eucalyptus spp) and Bunya Pine (Auraucaria bidwilli).

Necks for guitars and mandolins can be made from Queensland Maple (Flindersia brayleyana), Australian Oak (Eucalyptus spp), Hoop Pine (Araucaria cunninghamii), Tasmanian Blackwood (acacia melanoxylon) and Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata). Obviously the softer woods benefit from steel or carbon fibre reinforcement, and all my necks incorporate a 6mm steel reinforcing rod set in epoxy.

Fingerboards for guitars and mandolins can be made from Jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) and Australian Oak (Eucalyptus spp), as well as the traditional rosewood and ebony.

I'm enjoying using Australian timbers to make my instruments. All it takes is some wood and some time to make the part and then test it for workability, durability, function, aesthetics and tone, and at the end of the process I've made something uniquely Australian to share.
AUSTRALIAN TIMBERS
Australian Oak | Bunya | Hoop Pine | Jarrah | Queensland Maple | Tasmanian Blackwood |
Australian Oak

Australian Oak, Tasmanian Oak and Australian Ash (Eucalyptus delegatensis, Eucalyptus obliqua and Eucalyptus regnans) are commonly marketed together as Australian Oak.

Australian Oak is typically straight grained with a fairly coarse texture. It's a moderately heavy, hard, stiff timber that's been used for everything from furniture to wharves!
 
 

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Bunya Pine

Auraucaria bidwilli is a native of Queensland, has been established in plantations on the north coast and grows over a range of topography from valley floors to ridgetops in deep well drained soils mainly of basalt origin. The timber is used for similar applications to Hoop Pine. 

Maton, the best known guitar making company in Australia, use Bunya Pine for many of their solidbody and acoustic guitars.
 
 
 

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Hoop Pine

Auraucaria cunninghamii - also called Colonial Pine and Queensland Pine. Hoop Pine is a rainforest native but also occurs in both native hardwood forests and plantations.

It can grow to 60-70 metres in height. Hoop Pine has a deeper and warmer tone than Radiata Pine (Monterey Pine for visitors from North America), but is similarly easy to work and finish.
 
 
 

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Jarrah

Eucalyptus marginata. One of the commonest and most well-known trees of the south-west of Australia, jarrah is a stately tree with a straight trunk. For many years it has been the principal hardwood tree harvested for timber in Western Australia. Jarrah is a richly coloured and beautifully grained timber.

Before the era of bitumen roads many roads in cities such as London and Berlin were paved with blocks of Jarrah, and until the advent of concrete railway sleepers (ties) Jarrah was used extensively throughout the railways of Australia.
 
 
 

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Queensland Maple

Flindersia brayleyana - also called Australian maple, maple silkwood, scented maple, New Guinea silkwood, red beech and warri. The tree is native to Queensland but it can also be found in New South Wales and New Guinea.

The wood varies from light brown to pink and it darkens slightly upon exposure. Maton, the only production guitar factory in Australia, use Queensland Maple for the necks of many of their solidbody and acoustic guitars.
 
 
 

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Tasmanian Blackwood

Also known as black wattle, Acacia melanoxylon varies from a mid straw colour through to a darker brown colour, sometimes with fiddleback figure.

Tasmanian blackwood is widely used in Australia for backs and sides of acoustic guitars, but it lends itself to solidbody instruments and necks as well.
 
 
 

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FIJIAN MAHOGANY

(Swietenia macrophylla)

Whilst Hoop and Bunya pine both make great bodies, I wanted to find a timber with similar properties to Brazillian mahogany to get a "darker" sound for some of my instruments. Plantation grown Queensland maple is available, but at present this timber isn't available in sizes suitable for bodies (typically 7" x 2"), and call me a silly old greenie but I don't want to contribute to the ongoing destruction of Queensland's old growth rainforest.
 
Wandering through the timber stacks at my favourite timber supplier I was telling one of the wood-gurus of my needs and he said they had stocks of mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) in all the sizes I wanted, that the timber is kiln dried to 8% moisture content, and that it was plantation grown Fijian mahogany, also known as big leaf mahogany, Honduras mahogany or Brazillian mahogany! I added a few pieces of this stuff to my order, and I have to say it's great. It's nice to work with, takes stain or paint well, and rings like a bell when accidentally dropped on a concrete floor!

I've taken the following info from a few websites, so if you're interested please read on... 

Fijian Mahogany is a unique resource in the world today. The plantations are over 40 years old and are naturally regenerating. In the forests, you'll find trees of all ages. The Fijian government has certified this product as a plantation wood, non-indigenous to Fiji and Fiji Hardwood Corporation Limited, the government organization responsible for overseeing the Mahogany development, has applied to SmartWood to undergo the forest management certification scoping process. 

The mahogany forests were planted in the 1950s by Fiji's former British colonial rulers. Those forests have grown into the largest mature mahogany stock in the world outside of Brazil. A spokesman for Fiji Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase said the forests measured about 100,000 acres (223,785 hectares) in all.

This plantation program is particularly special because of the Fijian culture. All the plantations lands are owned by local clans of the Fijian people, and those clans are extensively involved in the forest maintenance, as well as harvesting and processing of the material. The government has declared the forests a national resource, and has committed itself to seeing that the plantations are used for the greatest good for all Fijians. No logs will be sold overseas. All initial processing must be done in Fiji.

Fiji's mahogany plantations have matured in time to provide an alternative source after Brazilian authorities and European markets began clamping down on a huge illegal trade in the hardwood. Mahogany, listed under the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species treaty, can fetch up to $1,500 per square metre ($139 per sq foot). It is used in fine furniture, musical instruments and coffins in markets like the United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. Brazil outlawed the trade, transport and logging of mahogany in 2001 after finding 70 percent of the wood was being logged illegally. Authorities seized a record $29 million of illegally cut logs in June.

Greenpeace estimates a single mahogany tree can be turned into products with a retail value of up to $128,000, making it so valuable that illegal loggers will often hack roads through pristine forests just to cut down one tree. Brazilian environmentalists say more than four million cubic feet (120,000 cubic metres) of Amazonian mahogany reaches world markets annually, most of it illegal. They fear it will disappear from the Amazon in eight years at current deforestation rates.

So forgive me for straying from the pure path of Australian timbers, but if you can find a source of good quality timber that comes from a renewable resource and also helps the locals then it's all good! Perhaps we need to travel to the beautiful tropical islands of Fiji to research this resource at first hand! :-)