Thanks Andy and other folks for the kind words, most appreciated...!
It really turned out really nice, its interesting that, of all the resin colours I used to make those Resifills with, the black and white blanks, have been the ones left behind when, in reality, and after I made/finished them, I thought they would be the first ones to sell but, I was wrong...!
Another aspect of that pens you made is, the "human fingerprints" type impressions on some areas of that wood, its really impressive and beautiful. Great fit and finish, well done, mate...!
As far as my research goes, only Tasmanian produces the Huon Pine species, it rarity has to do with 2 factors, one was that, these are very slow growing trees and secondly, they were harvested almost to extinction so, government limitations were imposed to control what is cut
The main reason why we see little of it on sale is due to the fact that, the big veneer companies have purchase the right of selection when they are cut, this mean that, the tree value as quality veneers is not comparable to the value of the wood sold as lumber/logs to the general public so, 99% of all the best Huon Pine harvested, is never seen on the market, it goes straight to the vennear people. They also top dollar for top quality so, as the harvester point of view, any of the quality trees he/she is allowed to harvest, are already sold to the highest bidder, even before they are removed so, what is left for you and I to work with/buy, is the leftovers that they don't wont.
The exception to this rule, and the only reason why, you and I can still get some of the best Huon Pine can produce, is due to the fact that, some of the smaller mills in Tasmania, runned by the same family for a very long time, don't like what the big timber guys done to the exploitation of this tree species in the past, many of these small mill own they own land and whatever the trees that grow on it, and despite the government imposed limitations on what can be cut down, nature has ways to balance that and while they may not be able the cut their own Huon Pine trees, as they wish, trees are knocked down by nature events and those trees are never part of the imposed limitations so, if you own the land, the trees are yours to do what you want and in this case, they are brought to their mills and processed but never advertised not to create unnecessary suspicions or assumptions of how they got there (mill).
There are hundreds of people every year that visit Tasmania with the sole purpose to go to those small mills and buy some timber directly and them bring it with them/sent it to their locations. This alone accounts for a large volume of Tasmanian timbers that leave the country (most legal off-course), the small mill owners make their money by having these quality timbers available to these type buyers, most of them are wood turners and carvers most, with a good name and reputation on the art work.
So it happens that, and I clearly stated when I first offered some of this wood here on IAP, before I even listed it in my 2 stores (eBay and private) I have a friend visiting Tasmania for this very purpose to buy some local woods, I had asked him to look for some high quality Huon Pine burl, sold in fairly small chunks, no more than 20kg for the Australia Post weight limitations, and that is exactly what happened and the reason I received 2 small pieces that I immediately processed and offered to IAP members.
There is a lot more to it but, this will give you a general idea on why, you never seem to find Huon Pine on sale...!
Cheers
George
