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Aust. lacewood v S. A. lacewood
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Author:  bob J [ Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:05 pm ]
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Have any of you used the two different lacewoods for B/S?
I know that the Aust. is not really lacewood but a silky oak.
What differences have you found in:
Workability, beauty of wood, sound of diff. wood.
I seem to see much more AUST. Lacewood-more common or available?
Thanks,
Author:  PaulB [ Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:41 pm ]
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There's two types of silky oak (lacewood) in Australia. Grevillia robustusand Cardwellia sublimis. I understand (though I've not built guitars with either) that Cardwellia is the superior tonewood. I don't know much more about lacewood than that I'm sorry to say. But I'm keeping an eye out for a slab of the good stuff My brother inlaw has a huge one in his front yard, I've been waiting for years for a friendly storm to come along and blow it down for me. The thing must have a 4' - 5' diameter. I plan on offering to take it away for him, for free.
Author:  Kim [ Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:26 am ]
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Another type of Australian "lace" wood is WA Sheoak (Allocasuarina fraseriana) it's a winner as a tonewood, bends easily, looks stunning, and is rock stable.

I made a small chest from this stuff using just hand tools a few years back, I call it "the sunset box" because the figure, when sawn this way, looks somewhat like clouds lit by the sun reflecting upon the sea as it sinking into the horizon on a hot West Australian evening.

Hmm, sounds like a brochure

This is from my back door taken with a lousy .75meg handicam.



Here is my box, pretty common figure for WA Sheoak, plenty of this stuff around.(box is sort of disapointing after that sunset huh.)





And this is some "Lace Figure" WA Sheoak. I believe Tim Spittle from Australian Tonewoods gets some of this stuff in from time to time, but, ya gotta get lucky, it rare wood this lace.



Cheers all.

Kim
Author:  CarltonM [ Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:58 am ]
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Kim,

Nice bit of woodworking, there! Beautiful sunset!
Author:  PaulB [ Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:38 am ]
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I made a four poster bed out of sheoak years ago, had a bit of a problem with checking on the ends of the posts (very small cracks, and not a big deal). I figured it isn't the most stable of woods
Author:  Serge Poirier [ Mon Jul 31, 2006 10:03 am ]
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Thanks for sharing the nice pics Kim, i'm gonna know what tree to look for if i make it to Aussie land one day!
Author:  John Lewis [ Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:56 pm ]
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Hi-

John Greven is the builder that got most interested in Aussie lacewood as a tonewood here in the US. He got a batch of Grevillia robustus that was exceptionally light and stiff. He has discontinued using it because he can't find any more like it.

It's kind of funny that his quote of this wood making a guitar sound vintage right away has been used about any other wood that looks similar. That being said, I have heard some exceptional guitars made from Cardwellia sublimis, American sycamore, SA lacewood (leopardwood), ect. I wonder if having those massive ray flecks helps the structure of the wood somehow - better stiffness to weight ratio maybe?

I have two sets of the Cardwellia that Allied sells and it is pretty and stiff/light. It looks just like local sycamore but has streaks of pink and blue in it. Cool stuff and nice price too.

Kim-
That sheoak is pretty stuff. I always wondered if it worked as a tonewood. The lace variety would look great on a guitar.

Peace-

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