Unusual Hardwood

[Gower]

I've been making some Garden seats for my kids, mainly using scrap mahogany like hardwoods. I needed extra timber for the slats and bought some B&Q 'hardwood' decking boards, 2400mm x 120 x 20 @ £12.50 a board. Very pleased with the result - a nice yellow colour to contrast the red. I was a little concerned regarding their longevity and couldn't find the species so contacted customer services at B&Q who obliged with 'Almondrilla' from Bolivia. Anyone heard of it? Only a few mentions on a web search.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[Ironballs]

Never heard of it but then I'm no wood expert. What you do find is that some companies are almost giving some lesser known species of wood trade names. Common in the guitar world as good quality mahogany gets harder to find and more expensive

 

[DMD]

If the timber is not certificated then it is sure to be illegally logged, it is tropical rainforest at least.

 

[bjm]

Ask and you shall find......


Almendrillo (Dipteryx odorata) page 14


Brian

 

[Gower]

Brian, brilliant. B&Q gave me the incorrect spelling (honestly). DMD, it did pass my mind but I would hope that a large, international company such as B&Q would be mindful of the problems and ramifications of using timber from an 'iffy' source or am I being naive!
Cheers,
Jim

 

[slemishwoodcrafts]

Hi,

I work in B&Q and just thought I'd let you know that all our timber products are sourced from FSC certified forests. If you ever check your receipt after purchasing a timber product you will see an F between it and the price and this indicates that it is legally harvested. I'm just saying this out of interest in case anyone does care about what B&Q does!!!!

Im sure Greenpeace would have a field day if we were using illegally harvested timber products etc, we already get enough complaints about using peat in our compost and such lik

regards,

Michael

 

[Gower]

Thanks for info Mike. I felt sure that was the case.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[DMD]

B and Q are not 100 % reliable in my experience, CCA treated timber should always be dry when sold but i found times when it was still wet and therefore toxic. Now thankfully replaced by ACQ. As for FSC certification, how can a tropical rainforest timber be sustainable ? My suggestion is to use the timber native to the country e.g. oak, elm. saves on timber miles, and weathers to a beautiful grey.

 

[Gower]

DMD, when I posted the item about Almendrillo, I thought it might be of some interest to forum members and didn't intend to get a into 'green' issue debate but I would say that the boards I bought from B&Q were 'Decking Boards' and stored outside along with their softwood counterparts. Decking boards in this country, spend a great deal of time getting wet so your toxic argument looks a little dodgy. As to using native species, all my projects to date other than the garden benches (made mainly from what would have been firewood) have been from European ash, oak, pine and reclaimed timber.
Cheers,
Jim

 

[Grinding One]

B and Q are not 100 % reliable in my experience, CCA treated timber should always be dry when sold but i found times when it was still wet and therefore toxic. Now thankfully replaced by ACQ. As for FSC certification, how can a tropical rainforest timber be sustainable ? My suggestion is to use the timber native to the country e.g. oak, elm. saves on timber miles, and weathers to a beautiful grey.

Check around,we have some Groups over here that replant the Forrest in their native areas so they can harvest it at a later date.It cost a little more but no hard feelings about use if you can only wait till it grows up.They step in and buy the land,you get a cert. saying you own so much of this or that.