Del, A number of years ago I bought some excellent musical grade quarter sawn Sitka Spruce from Western Aircraft supply. This guy is very secretive about where he gets the wood from, but I do believe he has a source in B.C. He supplies this wood for the homebuilt and experimental aircraft industry all over the world. He is very particular over the quality of his wood, I have seen him send a whole shipment back to the source because he was not happy with it. About five years ago it was costing me about 300.00 CAN for the wood for a board. I would give him him a pattern and he would saw the wood and match the panels ready for gluing. Definetely the nicest tone Sitka that I have seen. You can tap a panel and hear it sing. Violin makers love this stuff. The guys name is Jean and the phone number is 403 250 1955. I have not been in touch with him in a while, so I cannot say what his present situation is like. Maybe there is a similar outfit to this in your neck of the woods. Chris At 10:11 PM 1/17/2001 -0800, you wrote: > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Erwinpiano" <Erwinpiano@email.msn.com> >To: <pianotech@ptg.org> >Sent: January 17, 2001 7:08 PM >Subject: Re: sources for sitka panels ? north hudson?Anybody???? > > >> Hi David >> It wouldn,t surprise me to know that all the best AMERICAN grown sitka is >> being sold to the not necessarily highest bidder but the one who has the >> biggest boats, cash on hand and demand.We all know that big business must >> have big contracts to survive.That being said I think our esteemed >> politicians should be lobbied to pass a law outlawing the wholesle export >of >> one particular spiecies of tree without providing citizens the oppurtunity >> to purchase some ( namely me!)You know some kind of hold back or >........And >> the law should also prevent spruce abuse ,cement forms for crying >> outloud!So you see DELS not the only one who can RANT!DOES ANYBODY KNOW >> WHERE I CAN BUY SOME SPRUCE!!!I,m done for now.Dale Erwin >> --------------------------------------------------------------- > >To the best of my knowledge there is no more commercially available Sitka >spruce of musical instrument grade that is grown in the continental US. >There are still a few stands of Sitka spruce, but they are young and not >grown in a manner that will result in the type of wood we are used to >seeing. They are grown 'plantation style' as a mono-culture as opposed to >having been part of an old-growth forest ecosystem. Even if they are allowed >to grow to an old age the quality of wood will not be what we want. They >will have very loose grain as a result of being grown very rapidly. When a >Sitka spruce receives lots of light and water and has good space to grow, it >grows like a weed. > >The Sitka spruce wood we have grown to love -- and expected to last >forever -- over the years came from trees that had to struggle some for >their existence. They were part of a delicately balanced ecosystem that >simultaneously nourished them and retarded their growth rate -- hence their >tight, even grain. Because of its intermingling within the old-growth forest >ecosystem these trees were protected from fire, high winds, insect >infestation and the various blights and diseases that otherwise attack them. >They were also shielded from much of the already limited sunlight by a thick >year-round forest canopy. They were thus able to grow slowly and steadily to >enormous heights and girths over several hundreds of years. No attempt is >being made by anyone to provide this kind of ecosystem any longer. Indeed, >there are still many who would willingly destroy what little old-growth rain >forest still exists. Already emboldened by cabinet appointments being made >by the incoming Bush administration there is talk of trying to open up some >of the remaining stands of old-growth forest to commercial logging. > >The North American temperate rain forest was an eco-system unique to the >world and today all but slightly less than 11% of the original forest has >been destroyed. And even this is in danger. The old-growth forest is such a >delicately balanced system, and so much of it has been destroyed, it is now >questionable as to whether there is enough forest mass left to ensure >sustainability even if no more old-growth logging is done -- ever. > >The Sitka spruce we are getting now is coming from the coastal regions of >Canada -- where they are still cutting trees of any species, type and age as >rapidly as possible to support BC's general budget -- and Alaska. They are >coming out individually as they are found. Because of the extremely high >price reasonable -- not great, just reasonable -- quality old-growth Sitka >spruce now commands, less is being wasted and much of it is ending up at >specialty wood processors such as Fred Tebb & Sons (206.272-4107) and NW >Specialty Woods (360.482-6724). (To the best of my knowledge, neither uses >E.mail or has a web site.) > >Tebb's supplies just raw lumber, bandsawn to thickness, roughly graded (but >not selected for color or grain density) and either kiln dried or not. NW >Specialty Woods is run by some of the old Posey people (ask for Frank >Johnson and tell him I sent you) and supplies both lumber and glued up >soundboard panels. Since we make up our own panels I've not looked at any of >the recent NWSW product, so you're on your own. But they do have a good, >long history. Both charge about the same amount and both are very expensive. > >Del >Delwin D Fandrich >Piano Designer & Builder >Hoquiam, Washington USA >E.mail: pianobuilders@olynet.com >Web Site: http://pianobuilders.olynet.com/ > > > http://www.cadvision.com/cgregg
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