I stand properly accused of not including pictures. It will not happen again!
The group shot is most of what I brought home. The back row is 2 pieces of walnut, Tasmanian Rose Myrtle, my new favorite coffee cup :biggrin:, a slab of Big Leaf Maple Burl and, the reason I went to visit, a 6.5"x6.5"x10.5 block of Amboyna. The next row is an Aussie seed pod that only opens after there has been a forest fire. I can't remember the name but will find it if you're interested. It is sitting on a piece of Lace Sheoak. The blanks are Afzelia Burl, Tasmanian Eucalyptus Burl and Corugatta.
The 2nd shot is a Box Elder Burl. The rest are just closer shots to see the beauty of this wood.
I really cannot say enough nice things about Rob. He taught me a lot about the wood I purchased, steered me away from some of the pieces which a newbie might have some trouble drying and let me play with the dogs! +1 to the comment that you can trust ordering thru the mail with him. In my opinion, the blanks I received were all 1st class. I really don't mean to be "over the top" but it was a great day!
Sorry the pics were late!
John
Thanks for the pic John, most appreciated...!:wink:
That pod name that you can't remember is Banksia, those are the "monsters" of the Banksia pods family...!:biggrin:
An interesting fact that most people don't know is that, most of what Rob has and gets from Australia, is rarely seen here in stores. There are 2 main reasons for that, first the US market pays a lot more money for these products than Australians would ever pay. There are many fellow out there collecting these burls, just for the US market so they never see the Aussie stores, unless in imported back to OZ. This as crazy as it can sound is true...!
Secondly, many of the Aussies can get burls themselves, just by going into public land or private for this matter, looking for any trees that have them and cut them down. Not all of these people have permission to do that, know how to do it or even suppose/allowed to be there, which is called "trespassing" but, the point I'm trying to make is that Aussies never pay much money for anything that they know as come from Australia, regardless if they have access to burls or not, the one way or the other, (local suppliers).
Off-course, there is a big market of burls in Australia and some people pay the prices asked for such product but the volume of burls sold here is in fact a small proportion to what is consumed in the USA and Canada, mainly...!
So, in many ways, you guys in the US and Canada are certainly getting the best and the most varieties of burls from this neck of the woods, no doubt...!
Unfortunately for many of us, burled woods species aren't something that grows everywhere, some states and areas are prone to produce the most and best burls from native trees that have been there for a long, long time. Finding them, requires country/terrain knowledge, lost of negotiating with property owners, paid Royalties, Council permits and many other requirements the "legal" burl collecting/removal may involve/require.
Despite of all that, one can not collect burls if their area don't have the tree species that normally produce them, which is the case with me here, few and far in between I may say, and certainly a lot more difficult to collect then those just hanging from the side of the trees, I wish...!
So, don't be surprise to hear that most of the burled woods/blanks Aussies have to turn, have come from the US, the one way or the other...!
:frown:
This is my story, and I stick with it...!:wink:
Cheers
George
