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I recently picked up a years worth of Woodcraft mags for $10 from 2005.

There was an article on Royal paulownia Paulownia tomentosa that was very interesting.

It is of Asian origin and its seeds were used for packaging delicate exports from Japan and China in the mid 1800's and spread unoticed until Japanese woodworkers demand outstriped supply in the 1970's and japanese buyers came here paying prices rumored as high as $20,000 for a single good sized log. None of these had really been raised comercially at this point but those prices got some attention in the forestry industry.

The article claims many appealing features for woodworking and instrument building;
- highest strength to weight ratio of any known species
- low shrinkage ( 2.2% radial plane and 4.0% tangential plane.
- Can be ready to work in as little as 30 days air drying!
- unusually high ignition point that is almost twice most domestic species.
- fast sustainable growth and environmentally freindly.
Goes from seedling to harvest in 15 years - up to 2' diameter and 50' heigth. A bunch of comercial plantations were started in the 1990's meaning there should be some domestic production hitting the marketplace soon in North America.



Sounds interesting.... I am curious if it can give spruce a run for the money in instrument building?

Anyone here familiar with this wood?

Sounds too good to be true...you sure this wasn't the April issue?

i think it was john Calkin who mentioned this wood a couple of years ago while writing an "alternative tonewoods" type articale for the GAL.
ill see if i can find this one...

Udi.

Interesting, i look fw to hear more on that!

Pawlonia grows here in southern Illinois at Crab Orchard Lake. It was planted about 40 Years ago, and is now considered a pest. When the Forestry service cuts one new trees sprout from the roots. Mabe I should grab some the next time that I see them cutting some down.

Al

I've heard about this species, I was going to buy a sapling to plant in the back yard - it's the fastest growing tree in the world or so I understand (15' in the first year). There's a few people promoting this species on the net asking for investors in their plantations.

It might well have the highest strength to weight ratio of any known species, but as the timber is so fast growing it doesn't have much density and therefore not much strength either, however the ratio may look on paper.

I'm not 100% sure of it's suitability as a tonewood, my guess is it's going to be too soft and not stiff enough.

I've seen it sold for electric guitar bodies. I really don't know if it's any good though.

Al

Take a look at this link. Look at the links at the bottom of that page.

Paulownia vs Balsa

[QUOTE=A Peebels] Pawlonia grows here in southern Illinois at Crab Orchard Lake. It was planted about 40 Years ago, and is now considered a pest. When the Forestry service cuts one new trees sprout from the roots. Mabe I should grab some the next time that I see them cutting some down.

Al[/QUOTE]

Yeah the article mentioned a few locations had it listed as a pest due to its high resistance to disease and insects, fast growth and ability to spread.

Man if you can grab a free log or two and season it that would be pretty cool.

There was a Japanese tradition that when a daughter was born you planted one of these and by time she approached the age of marriage you would have a tree to cut and build their equivalent of a hope chest.

I made a Nylon string classical with Paulownia a few years ago. The tone is really great. The sound is somewhat between Spruce and Cedar. I am currently working on a Steel String version.

The key is to get wood cut from a tree that grows at a high altitude. Most Paulownia at lower elevations grows so fast that the grain lines are at least 1 inch apart. High altitude trees can have up to 10 grain lines per inch. This may not seem like a lot but due to the cellular structure of the wood, it is very stiff. I leave the top a lot thicker than normal and use a flex text to get the stiffness I am looking for. Thickness can vary between .175 to .250 of an inch.

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Does anyone know where you can get instrument quality examples of this?

Graham,

I do not know of any wood supplier that carries instrument grade Paulownia. A buddy of mine and I purchased a log from a guy in South Carolina and cut up some sets ourselves.