robutacion
Member
Hi peoples,
Some time ago, someone mentioned a place near Adelaide (Otto's Timber) where one will find all types of woods from all over the world, an old business that has been passed on from one generation to the next so, I knew that I would need to check it out and find out if these people import the wood in logs, slabs or semi-processed.
They have a web-site and from there I got their timber list of about 160 wood species many that I never heard or seen. I was hoping that they would process the slabs in there and have all the edges and other defected pieces that they would sell at fair prices but that endup not being so...!
I decided to visit the place the day Merissa got her second infusion, I had from 10:00am to 3:30pm or so to have a good look at the place and hopefully fill-up the wagon of nice bits (wishful thinking...!)
I found the place and I was amazed at the size of the building they are in, specially constructed for their purpose, 2 floors all made out of solid timber, tons and tons of equipment and wood on the top floor, amazing stuff, as far as the eye could see, there was timber and more timber, a paradise in my view.
I first spoke to an older fellow that gave me a quick run of the place and told me some interesting stuff from the old days and the people that started that business, he also told me that only recently they moved some wood that has been in storage and the old "shed" for about 80 years, the very shed where it all started but quickly became too big for the place, apparently, the location/land has had some tremendous value increase so they decided to get the wood out of there and sell the place.
Anyway, this older fellow was an old employee but he was not authorised to sell any of the unprocessed timbers nor he knew what half of them where so, he said that he needed to call the boss's son as the main boss was away for the day, a 22 year old smart cookie and it turned out to be.
He just didn't wanted to leave the office and show-room that are adjoined in there they have, small blanks and boards cut for wood turners but only from a very limited number of species, mostly Aussie woods, all ridiculously priced
I had spent the time to explain to the old fellow first and then to this young guy what I do and exactly what I was after, I wanted unprocessed pieces and pieces that they would not put in the shelves so, I asked if he would quote me some pieces I had seen when the older fellow showed me around, all upstairs.
He didn't seem that keen to do that so I asked what the problem was, he was too busy, had no time to show me around and price/identify stuff for me, unless I would spend at least $20,000
I don't think that this young guy wanted to get dust on him and dirty his hands I wasn't impressed but I kept trying to get a priced on some pieces, after all I was a customer and I knew that there were a few pieces of unprocessed wood/slabs/logs that I was interested on.
He really didn't wanted to "serve" me and I knew that we was going to give me totally crazy prices just to get rid of me and I wasn't wrong, I could almost say that he was giving prices 10 times of the true value and I knew then that, I wasn't going anywhere with him.
As we were coming downstairs the old fellow (nice guy) asked if I got lucky with the pieces he shown me in the beginning and then I overheard the young boss calling the old fellow aside and let him know that he wasn't suppose to show me any of unprocessed wood upstairs and the amount if info that the old fellow gave me in the short amount of time I spent with him, he seemed to understand what I was about and most willing to help and for that, he got his a$$ kicked, I was mad...!
I was far from leaving the place, firstly I felt sorry for that old fellow, secondly I wasn't going home with empty hands, (long way away from home) and thirdly, I was going to try help the old fellow a little or at least let him know that I appreciated the time he spent with me and the info he gave me and also let him know that the boss's son was an a$$hole...!
While the young boss though that I had left, I come back to the show-room where I knew the old fellow would be, the young boss was only 10 meters away in his desk and I knew he saw me again but this time going to the show-room and that is the old fellows job place so, he just watched...!:biggrin:
So, what was I going to do...? I didn't really needed to spend my money with them but I knew the old fellow needs to justify his job/wages so, I put him to work by walking around with him and selecting a few pieces/boards of woods I don't have and some of which I know you guys would like so, it didn't take me any time to spend $172.00 but while I was selecting the stuff, I was sharing my thoughts and feeling with the old fellow that apologised for the boss's son behaviour, apparently, and old friend of young boss granddad and father but the young fellow doesn't like that much...!
I don't know if I will bother going there again when I know the main boss will be there and see it the problem runs in the family or is just the young man, I don't really need to go there again, there is no point and as a timber man I'm quite disappointing with the young man's behaviour.
Looking at the prices of the processed blanks and making quite head calculations as to how many pen blanks I could make out of each piece, I quickly realised that each pen blank would cost me over AU$1, regardless of how I would cut it, indeed, some of the pieces, if wasn't for the fact that I decided to rip the piece in half knowing that I was getting a much narrower square pen blanks than my normal 21mm, some are only good for Slims or kits with a narrow barrel size.
It turned out that, cutting each piece to provide me with the most number of pen blanks, regardless of timber species, the number of dollars for each blank, was pretty much the number of pen blanks I would get, more or less, a $53.00 blanks gave me 50 pieces, a AU$32.00 piece, 29 blanks and so on...!
So, what did I get, as per labels;
*- Purple Heart
*- Turkish Walnut (so they say?)
*- European Elm (I never seen)
*- Silky Oak (Lauro Faia Stretched Figure)
*- Merbau
*- Zebrano
I didn't take many pics of the blanks/boards before I cut them up, I was impressed with this different Silky-Oak grain, the same for the European Elm, I would think that, these are small pieces within the slabs that look this way, the same happens to most other wood species making them sometimes difficult to identify as they don't look like anything you know/seen.
I feel sorry for anyone that have no other wood sources and have to pay these sort of prices to be able to do some wood-turning...!
I have turned a sample of the less unknown woods I got so that you can have a look, I have made 17 sets of mixed blanks from these wood species only and I will be making them available for sale on IAP first, they will be listed very soon...!
Pics;
-1,2 and 3 the different Silky-Oak
- 4 Zebrano straight cut
- 5 Merbau
- 6 Zebrano cross
- 7 European Elm
- 8 Turkish Walnut
- 9 mixed packs for sale
Cheers
George
Some time ago, someone mentioned a place near Adelaide (Otto's Timber) where one will find all types of woods from all over the world, an old business that has been passed on from one generation to the next so, I knew that I would need to check it out and find out if these people import the wood in logs, slabs or semi-processed.
They have a web-site and from there I got their timber list of about 160 wood species many that I never heard or seen. I was hoping that they would process the slabs in there and have all the edges and other defected pieces that they would sell at fair prices but that endup not being so...!
I decided to visit the place the day Merissa got her second infusion, I had from 10:00am to 3:30pm or so to have a good look at the place and hopefully fill-up the wagon of nice bits (wishful thinking...!)
I found the place and I was amazed at the size of the building they are in, specially constructed for their purpose, 2 floors all made out of solid timber, tons and tons of equipment and wood on the top floor, amazing stuff, as far as the eye could see, there was timber and more timber, a paradise in my view.
I first spoke to an older fellow that gave me a quick run of the place and told me some interesting stuff from the old days and the people that started that business, he also told me that only recently they moved some wood that has been in storage and the old "shed" for about 80 years, the very shed where it all started but quickly became too big for the place, apparently, the location/land has had some tremendous value increase so they decided to get the wood out of there and sell the place.
Anyway, this older fellow was an old employee but he was not authorised to sell any of the unprocessed timbers nor he knew what half of them where so, he said that he needed to call the boss's son as the main boss was away for the day, a 22 year old smart cookie and it turned out to be.
He just didn't wanted to leave the office and show-room that are adjoined in there they have, small blanks and boards cut for wood turners but only from a very limited number of species, mostly Aussie woods, all ridiculously priced
I had spent the time to explain to the old fellow first and then to this young guy what I do and exactly what I was after, I wanted unprocessed pieces and pieces that they would not put in the shelves so, I asked if he would quote me some pieces I had seen when the older fellow showed me around, all upstairs.
He didn't seem that keen to do that so I asked what the problem was, he was too busy, had no time to show me around and price/identify stuff for me, unless I would spend at least $20,000
I don't think that this young guy wanted to get dust on him and dirty his hands I wasn't impressed but I kept trying to get a priced on some pieces, after all I was a customer and I knew that there were a few pieces of unprocessed wood/slabs/logs that I was interested on.
He really didn't wanted to "serve" me and I knew that we was going to give me totally crazy prices just to get rid of me and I wasn't wrong, I could almost say that he was giving prices 10 times of the true value and I knew then that, I wasn't going anywhere with him.
As we were coming downstairs the old fellow (nice guy) asked if I got lucky with the pieces he shown me in the beginning and then I overheard the young boss calling the old fellow aside and let him know that he wasn't suppose to show me any of unprocessed wood upstairs and the amount if info that the old fellow gave me in the short amount of time I spent with him, he seemed to understand what I was about and most willing to help and for that, he got his a$$ kicked, I was mad...!
I was far from leaving the place, firstly I felt sorry for that old fellow, secondly I wasn't going home with empty hands, (long way away from home) and thirdly, I was going to try help the old fellow a little or at least let him know that I appreciated the time he spent with me and the info he gave me and also let him know that the boss's son was an a$$hole...!
While the young boss though that I had left, I come back to the show-room where I knew the old fellow would be, the young boss was only 10 meters away in his desk and I knew he saw me again but this time going to the show-room and that is the old fellows job place so, he just watched...!:biggrin:
So, what was I going to do...? I didn't really needed to spend my money with them but I knew the old fellow needs to justify his job/wages so, I put him to work by walking around with him and selecting a few pieces/boards of woods I don't have and some of which I know you guys would like so, it didn't take me any time to spend $172.00 but while I was selecting the stuff, I was sharing my thoughts and feeling with the old fellow that apologised for the boss's son behaviour, apparently, and old friend of young boss granddad and father but the young fellow doesn't like that much...!
I don't know if I will bother going there again when I know the main boss will be there and see it the problem runs in the family or is just the young man, I don't really need to go there again, there is no point and as a timber man I'm quite disappointing with the young man's behaviour.
Looking at the prices of the processed blanks and making quite head calculations as to how many pen blanks I could make out of each piece, I quickly realised that each pen blank would cost me over AU$1, regardless of how I would cut it, indeed, some of the pieces, if wasn't for the fact that I decided to rip the piece in half knowing that I was getting a much narrower square pen blanks than my normal 21mm, some are only good for Slims or kits with a narrow barrel size.
It turned out that, cutting each piece to provide me with the most number of pen blanks, regardless of timber species, the number of dollars for each blank, was pretty much the number of pen blanks I would get, more or less, a $53.00 blanks gave me 50 pieces, a AU$32.00 piece, 29 blanks and so on...!
So, what did I get, as per labels;
*- Purple Heart
*- Turkish Walnut (so they say?)
*- European Elm (I never seen)
*- Silky Oak (Lauro Faia Stretched Figure)
*- Merbau
*- Zebrano
I didn't take many pics of the blanks/boards before I cut them up, I was impressed with this different Silky-Oak grain, the same for the European Elm, I would think that, these are small pieces within the slabs that look this way, the same happens to most other wood species making them sometimes difficult to identify as they don't look like anything you know/seen.
I feel sorry for anyone that have no other wood sources and have to pay these sort of prices to be able to do some wood-turning...!
I have turned a sample of the less unknown woods I got so that you can have a look, I have made 17 sets of mixed blanks from these wood species only and I will be making them available for sale on IAP first, they will be listed very soon...!
Pics;
-1,2 and 3 the different Silky-Oak
- 4 Zebrano straight cut
- 5 Merbau
- 6 Zebrano cross
- 7 European Elm
- 8 Turkish Walnut
- 9 mixed packs for sale
Cheers
George
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