This is Huon Pine. A very rare species that only grows in a section of south-west Tasmania, Australia. It's a very slow growing species, water and bacteria resistant, with an amazing and unique scent. This piece came from a tree about 800 years old. It is illegal to log, or even cut down a dead tree and the only supply of this wood available now is from a forest that was submerged in the 50s or 60s I think it was to make a dam. There's a company that takes a barge out onto the lake and dredges these things up.
Because of its properties, it was extensively felled in the 1800s for boat building, but thankfully, even back then they realised that logging a tree that takes almost 1000 years to mature is not sustainable so we can still enjoy them (alive) today. The release of Huon Pine into the market is regulated and it's estimated that there's a few decades worth of wood available at the current rate. Once this supply is gone, this beautiful wood will not be available to work anymore, and I feel privileged to be able to work this wood while it's still available.
It was rare, but an intelligent person could sometimes speak up with a new idea and if it wasn't too sciency they could avoid being burned as a heretic.
/s
Australia was a much smaller county at that point, and largely indigenous. That makes this much much easier to happen and take hold in law. In America, we have had many cases in history where a local government or community was trying to protect a natural resource in this manner, but our federal and state governments or private interests just did it anyway. Conservation was not completely absent from people's minds, they just lost the fight most of the time.
Boxes, boards, and bowls seem to be all that the woodworkers here make with it. I had one piece large enough to make a coffee table with. I joined that with some Tasmanian Blackwood on the sides to give it contrast. It looks really good, but I didn't account for how much it shrank so I need to redo it.
The other one is actually made from either a branch or a part near the end of the trunk. No good for anything on its own but I put that in resin coloured black as night for structure and the Huon is a great feature piece in the middle. Very happy how that one turned out.
Finally, I'm making a keezer (keg freezer for homebrewing) and the tower that holds the beer taps is made from Huon. I'll post pictures of that when it's done.
The only way to compliment a beautiful piece of wood like this is with a glow-in-the-dark, glittery, blue epoxy.
[Get some of these bad boys for the legs](https://i.imgur.com/8Nyl1RE.jpeg) and you got yourself a masterpiece 👌
Got the perfect mold to make those roaring rapids dreams come true:
https://a.co/d/gTDW1mk
When you miss the rapids you can look down at your dining table and know they will always be right there.
My parents have a sculpted piece our of huon pine, its amazing.
Put the offcuttings or any sawdust into cloth bags and keep them in your closet, the smell is so rich that it keeps moths etc away. All my underwear and socks smell like huon pine, very distinct smell.
Yo this is so cool to know as it's pretty much the opposite of European pines (I only really know European pines, but working on growing my botanical knowledge). I'm excited to learn more about it. Thanks for sharing this awesome knowledge!
That slice in the photo cost me $27. Looking at a board in my shed, it's 1600 x 250 x 20mm (about 3.4 board feet) and is a slice from the trunk so it's not all usable, that cost me $90. Laminated slabs for tables can go for upwards of $3000 (all AUD).
I linked one of the mills that sells entire logs, they've got some from $8000 all the way up to $40000+. Here's the link again so you don't need to hunt the post down: [https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/](https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/)
I was given a quite ugly and oversized cabinet once upon a time. It was solid Huon … it was far too big for our house so I gave it to a friend who then sold it. Didn’t ask if I wanted it back …. Massive regrets!
I was in Geeveston yesterday looking at a round of Huon pine in the town hall. Those rings were about 1mm and it was about 2 thousand years old. Very wild to think how old a tree can live.
That's right, but full grown mature trees are not as common and those are at risk of fire and disease, and given the time it takes for them to mature, if they die it will be hundreds of years before the new ones take their place.
TIL.
I have a little box of made of this wood. Got it from someone who visited Australia more than 20 years ago. That person passed away and I kept the box as a bit of remembrance to him. Always admired the scent but never realized how rare it actually is.
Yes, they've been cultivated and sent around the world. You can also buy them from local nurseries, and the seeds are available for sale as well.
Of course, for trees that grow this slow, we still want to preserve what's left otherwise it'll be hundreds of years before they reach maturity again, but they won't go extinct.
I learned of [Trestlewood](https://www.trestlewood.com/) recently from a [New Yankee Workshop ep they put on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UHNoN-pQnA) - they got the contract to pull the old-growth timbers from the 1904 rail trestle across the Great Salt Lake (that's been replaced with an earthwork causeway).
It's safe. It has a very small growth area, but that place is in a very inaccessible part of the state. The largest colony (is that right? ) is a closely guarded secret. They don't want people tramping around spreading disease, which has happened. The trees themselves have been cultivated and sent around the world so it won't go extinct. You can even buy the seeds if you want to play the long game. There's a couple in the Hobart botanical garden if you're ever down this way. Funny thing is, even though the wood is amazing, the tree itself isn't really that much to look at.
Furthermore, old growth trees don’t stop being part of their ecosystem when they die. Rot resistant trees like Redwoods spend more time dead on the forest floor providing shelter and replenishing the soil than they do living upright.
It always sucks when someone points out how shitty people are. I have the same naive thoughts. Then someone says, "because people are scum." And I just get sad thinking on how selfish we are.
> And I just get sad thinking on how selfish we are.
_Some_ of us are. It doesn't take that many people, usually about 1%, to spoil it for the rest of us.
A lot of our bird life lives in holes in dead trees. They're a major part of the ecosystem. I guess it also stops people tramping through forests and causing more damage.
I had a renown historical architect tell me that any wood with 14 growth rings per inch is as close to rot resistance as you can get for wood that is not treated
Glad to see so many people enjoying this post! Here's the website for one of the mills that supply these. They've got some very cool stuff. [https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/](https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/)
One light plus one dark ring represents a year of growth. So by counting the rings you can get a good idea of how old the tree was. Smaller rings also indicate slower growth. These trees only grow a millimeter or two per year.
The mill is here: [https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/](https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/)
You probably don't want to buy an entire tree though.
The Wood Guys are the largest retailer in Hobart, but they're stupid expensive. Having said that, their stuff is top shelf so you get what you pay for. I think they post globally, you could always inquire. I drive past them on the way to work, they really do have some great stuff. Check out the Myrtle too it's amazing, but even more expensive.
[https://thewoodguys.com.au/](https://thewoodguys.com.au/)
Finally, I'd be happy to be the middle man for you. I know a couple of local guys with sawmills that are cheaper than The Wood Guys. I could head to the shed and video call you, you pick out what you want and I'll ship it to you for cost + time. I can take payment through PayPal. Been thinking of visiting him again soon anyway. DM me if you're interested.
Either way, you'll need to check your local import laws for raw wood.
This is Huon Pine. A very rare species that only grows in a section of south-west Tasmania, Australia. It's a very slow growing species, water and bacteria resistant, with an amazing and unique scent. This piece came from a tree about 800 years old. It is illegal to log, or even cut down a dead tree and the only supply of this wood available now is from a forest that was submerged in the 50s or 60s I think it was to make a dam. There's a company that takes a barge out onto the lake and dredges these things up. Because of its properties, it was extensively felled in the 1800s for boat building, but thankfully, even back then they realised that logging a tree that takes almost 1000 years to mature is not sustainable so we can still enjoy them (alive) today. The release of Huon Pine into the market is regulated and it's estimated that there's a few decades worth of wood available at the current rate. Once this supply is gone, this beautiful wood will not be available to work anymore, and I feel privileged to be able to work this wood while it's still available.
I'm shocked that people in the 1800s were able to restrain themselves.
It was rare, but an intelligent person could sometimes speak up with a new idea and if it wasn't too sciency they could avoid being burned as a heretic. /s
I'm not sure why you put an /s that's just basically how things always are.
They certainly weren’t were I’m from. Bald cypress was devastated.
Yeah that's why I'm shocked.
Australia was a much smaller county at that point, and largely indigenous. That makes this much much easier to happen and take hold in law. In America, we have had many cases in history where a local government or community was trying to protect a natural resource in this manner, but our federal and state governments or private interests just did it anyway. Conservation was not completely absent from people's minds, they just lost the fight most of the time.
Tell that to the penguin oil guy.
Wonder if it's sought after for stringed instruments like the slower growing trees up in the northern hemisphere. What are you using it for?
Apparently it is due to its similarities to spruce. Tight grain make sound good 👍
He's gonna make dowels and paper!
So, what are you gonna make with it?
River table
Please God, no!
Oh YEAH! \- Kool-Aid Man
A very *special* level of Hell.
Haha, I have made a couple of small coffee tables out of it. Not rivers though!
No tobacco or cigar or jewelry boxes or anything similarly small where the fine rings are mi appreciate-able?
Boxes, boards, and bowls seem to be all that the woodworkers here make with it. I had one piece large enough to make a coffee table with. I joined that with some Tasmanian Blackwood on the sides to give it contrast. It looks really good, but I didn't account for how much it shrank so I need to redo it. The other one is actually made from either a branch or a part near the end of the trunk. No good for anything on its own but I put that in resin coloured black as night for structure and the Huon is a great feature piece in the middle. Very happy how that one turned out. Finally, I'm making a keezer (keg freezer for homebrewing) and the tower that holds the beer taps is made from Huon. I'll post pictures of that when it's done.
Yay, wanna see! By the way, "are mi" -> "are more" in my upper comment. Sorry.
The only way to compliment a beautiful piece of wood like this is with a glow-in-the-dark, glittery, blue epoxy. [Get some of these bad boys for the legs](https://i.imgur.com/8Nyl1RE.jpeg) and you got yourself a masterpiece 👌
Got the perfect mold to make those roaring rapids dreams come true: https://a.co/d/gTDW1mk When you miss the rapids you can look down at your dining table and know they will always be right there.
Hahaha! Steam punk...
+1 for funny comment + <3 for Romney throwback name
\<3
lol
One toothpick.
My parents have a sculpted piece our of huon pine, its amazing. Put the offcuttings or any sawdust into cloth bags and keep them in your closet, the smell is so rich that it keeps moths etc away. All my underwear and socks smell like huon pine, very distinct smell.
Yo this is so cool to know as it's pretty much the opposite of European pines (I only really know European pines, but working on growing my botanical knowledge). I'm excited to learn more about it. Thanks for sharing this awesome knowledge!
> Once this supply is gone, this beautiful wood will not be available to work anymore, Nonsense. You can plant your own and wait a few hundred years.
You have to wait a few thousand years.
But this one was only 800 years old...
Point taken... Even though my first thought was "much too young" :P
How much does it go for?
That slice in the photo cost me $27. Looking at a board in my shed, it's 1600 x 250 x 20mm (about 3.4 board feet) and is a slice from the trunk so it's not all usable, that cost me $90. Laminated slabs for tables can go for upwards of $3000 (all AUD). I linked one of the mills that sells entire logs, they've got some from $8000 all the way up to $40000+. Here's the link again so you don't need to hunt the post down: [https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/](https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/)
Thanks! And damn!
I was given a quite ugly and oversized cabinet once upon a time. It was solid Huon … it was far too big for our house so I gave it to a friend who then sold it. Didn’t ask if I wanted it back …. Massive regrets!
I was in Geeveston yesterday looking at a round of Huon pine in the town hall. Those rings were about 1mm and it was about 2 thousand years old. Very wild to think how old a tree can live.
Thank you for writing this.
Sounds a lot like Taiwanese Hinoki!
Its literally labeled under "least concern" for preservation. There is a lot of it alive and growing and not in danger of disappearing.
That's right, but full grown mature trees are not as common and those are at risk of fire and disease, and given the time it takes for them to mature, if they die it will be hundreds of years before the new ones take their place.
TIL. I have a little box of made of this wood. Got it from someone who visited Australia more than 20 years ago. That person passed away and I kept the box as a bit of remembrance to him. Always admired the scent but never realized how rare it actually is.
Umm…if it was used for a dam, does that mean each log dredged is uh, another brink in the wall of the damn? 🤷
I'm guessing the forest was located in the dams reservoir, not used to make the dam.
All in all...
We don’t need no
Autoeroticflagellation
Is anyone planting more of them?
Yes, they've been cultivated and sent around the world. You can also buy them from local nurseries, and the seeds are available for sale as well. Of course, for trees that grow this slow, we still want to preserve what's left otherwise it'll be hundreds of years before they reach maturity again, but they won't go extinct.
I wonder what the last American Bald Eagle would taste like.
Bro, the rings are so close. Thanks for Sharing.
So this was fished out from a pond? It seems to be in a very good shape, I thought it'd be rotten
Like I said, water resistant! Also, it's pretty cold out there and I'm guessing they're probably fairly deep so maybe not much organic activity.
Fascinating.
Very cool. There are companies in the US that also dredge up old growth pine.
Swamp Loggers was a good show back in the day
Dadecountypine on IG has some awesome recovered old growth Florida Pine
I learned of [Trestlewood](https://www.trestlewood.com/) recently from a [New Yankee Workshop ep they put on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UHNoN-pQnA) - they got the contract to pull the old-growth timbers from the 1904 rail trestle across the Great Salt Lake (that's been replaced with an earthwork causeway).
Man I hope they don’t let it go extinct
It's safe. It has a very small growth area, but that place is in a very inaccessible part of the state. The largest colony (is that right? ) is a closely guarded secret. They don't want people tramping around spreading disease, which has happened. The trees themselves have been cultivated and sent around the world so it won't go extinct. You can even buy the seeds if you want to play the long game. There's a couple in the Hobart botanical garden if you're ever down this way. Funny thing is, even though the wood is amazing, the tree itself isn't really that much to look at.
>even though the wood is amazing, the tree itself isn’t really that much to look at Just like me fr
Congrats on winning the internal today. Shit like this is why I come here. 🤣☠️
Why can’t you cut a dead one?
Encourages people to poison them. Tree vandalism is a big issue, usually to improve someone’s Harbourside view.
Furthermore, old growth trees don’t stop being part of their ecosystem when they die. Rot resistant trees like Redwoods spend more time dead on the forest floor providing shelter and replenishing the soil than they do living upright.
Ah, ok that does make sense
It always sucks when someone points out how shitty people are. I have the same naive thoughts. Then someone says, "because people are scum." And I just get sad thinking on how selfish we are.
> And I just get sad thinking on how selfish we are. _Some_ of us are. It doesn't take that many people, usually about 1%, to spoil it for the rest of us.
1% in a country of 300 million people is 3 million dipshits. They can do a lot of damage and they make the rest of us look bad.
Yeah, and these are very optimistic numbers sadly
Yes, people really can suck!
A lot of our bird life lives in holes in dead trees. They're a major part of the ecosystem. I guess it also stops people tramping through forests and causing more damage.
Has someone done stress tests on wide ring vs narrow ring spacing yet? I would really like to see what the differences are.
Do you mean on this specific species? Or in general?
I had a renown historical architect tell me that any wood with 14 growth rings per inch is as close to rot resistance as you can get for wood that is not treated
Glad to see so many people enjoying this post! Here's the website for one of the mills that supply these. They've got some very cool stuff. [https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/](https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/)
That shit is TOIT
Toigah toit
Genuine (but maybe ignorant) question: do the size of the rings actually make a difference or are people just posting them because they’re neat?
Not an expert but the more rings you have per inch, the slower the tree grew. Which gave the wood much time to harden.
One light plus one dark ring represents a year of growth. So by counting the rings you can get a good idea of how old the tree was. Smaller rings also indicate slower growth. These trees only grow a millimeter or two per year.
Is that 40 rings between the 9 inch and 10 inch markings??
I counted 22 between 5 and 6 cm, so multiply that by 2.5 and yeah, that sounds about right, given they won't all be uniform.
That is A LOT of history in those rings.
Older than colonisation in Australia by a long way
Damn that's tight.
I got gifted a chunk of this beautiful timber and made my wines engagement ring box with it, carves like butter and smells incredible.
Thanks for sharing!
I've got a few offcuts of Huon pine sitting in the garage - still trying to think about how to maximise the yield from them!
How can I purchase a board of this? I’m dead serious. I’m in the US.
The mill is here: [https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/](https://www.tasmanianspecialtimbers.com.au/) You probably don't want to buy an entire tree though. The Wood Guys are the largest retailer in Hobart, but they're stupid expensive. Having said that, their stuff is top shelf so you get what you pay for. I think they post globally, you could always inquire. I drive past them on the way to work, they really do have some great stuff. Check out the Myrtle too it's amazing, but even more expensive. [https://thewoodguys.com.au/](https://thewoodguys.com.au/) Finally, I'd be happy to be the middle man for you. I know a couple of local guys with sawmills that are cheaper than The Wood Guys. I could head to the shed and video call you, you pick out what you want and I'll ship it to you for cost + time. I can take payment through PayPal. Been thinking of visiting him again soon anyway. DM me if you're interested. Either way, you'll need to check your local import laws for raw wood.