Goodbye Bubinga

[Peter Sefton]

Not all Bubinga is on the Cites list, you will notice a fair few tool suppliers will keep Bubinga handles on their tools as they have been getting their supply from sustainable sources for some time.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Saer Llongau]

When I started my company almost every yacht interior was made from Teak and the quality was great. I could get quarter sawn, thick teak planks with no rot with a nice straight grain for a good price. Nowadays it's mostly plantation Teak. It's too young, too green and when I get wide planks I often have to cut out a 10-20cm middle section because it's unusable. Teak in quality like we used in the old days is definitely in small supply. The last few years though there's been a big shift towards White Oak and Cherry. The quality is very good and it's sustainable so I don't foresee any problems for me.

 

[Droogs]

looks like we will be calling ourselves medefiworkers and veneerists from now one. Just think in 30 years no-one will be working wood unless they put it aside over the last few years, shame

Not at all. Wow, that really is missing the point. Europe and north America have vast amounts of sustainable timber, and it is really lovely stuff too. Use that and rest easy at night. I mean, much of the beech and ash (and even oak) felled in Europe goes for firewood!! We aren't getting anywhere near outstripping the supply. Third world/ tropical sources are all, in my view, entirely flawed, and should all be off-limits. I'd love to see a global ban in timber trading from the tropics, but until that happens, I simply operate my own personal version by boycotting such timbers.

MikeG, it was meant with toungue in cheek, hence the slightly silly names. But there is an ellement of truth in it as well with regards to having people on the hobby side of things taking up woodwork in the future. It may become so cost prohibitive to get decent quality stock that many will give up. Yeah, we have lots of lovely wood in Europe but given that we are about to probably leave the customs union as part of brexit this will have big cost implications for us. 80% of what I make is made with MRMDF/Ply purely for stability issues. I make custom PC/Laptop and games consoles and integrated home entertainment/gaming/computer units that are fully inbuilt to things like writing bureau and sideboards etc which are then veneered with marquetry.

The 20% is the timber used for frames on the bureau etc and they are made from Elm, Ash, Birch (all locally sourced in Scotland from wind-fall etc) and of course Oak. Unfortunately most of the Oak comes from France and the price is already on the rise purely due to brexit. Now, I am very much an eco warrior, I've voted Green in every election since I was allowed to vote since 1986, have been on Trees for Life planting holidays and planted over 3000 hardwoods personally. I very much belive that we should be severly limiting our use of tropical and where they are used they should only be used as veneers ore as small pieces like trim and not for full frames or boards.

My main concern is really with the impact all of this will have regarding the uptake/continuation of the hobby due to the restriction of cost and the hassle of getting things past over zealous customs officials when we do buy old tools or stock. A lot of people are going to be stung by this. And taking it to the extreme does this mean that every yacht that sails into harbour is going to be seized because of the trim onboard? No ofcourse not but then why are they siezing nearly every thing with a bit of figured or dark wood sent through the mail without even checking. There appears to be no sensible application of CITES and that is the problem