I have an old chest, probably Chinese, made of solid Camphor wood in wide boards. I love the way it smells, much nicer than cedar! Does anyone know of a source for this stuff? Or has it gone the way of so many other woods of yesteryear?
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” A. Einstein
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All the camphor I've seen in So. Calif. has been in slabs, from urban or rural trees. Where are you?
I'm on the North Coast of California, near Mendocino, about 3 hours north of San Francisco. (And we are having a classic coastal winter storm right now! Buckets of rain, gales of wind! Woo-hoo!)
I'd like to make another blanket chest out of camphor, say 18" x 18" x 30" or thereabouts, so I don't need long pieces. Urban lumber would probably work fine.
Even just strips for a lining would work, although the wood is actually kind of pretty on the chest I have.
Thanks for the help!"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." A. Einstein
http://www.albionworks.net
I think that Jim and Shawn Fleming on Maui have some for sale now. Nice wood, nice folks.
808 572-8178
There's some going around here in hawaii right now. How much are you looking for and where are you?
Albion,
I was just looking through your website - interesting stuff, and your prices seem very reasonable. Just curious how long you've been doing this and if you're doing this "fulltime"?
Dave Barker
Dave,
I've been doing this as a business for 3 years, as a hobby long before that! I'm full-time part of the time, if that makes any sense... Like a lot of people in my neck of the woods, I do several different things for a living. Part of the time I am a consulting hydrogeologist, part of the time a furniture maker.
My prices are too low for the time I put into the work. Initially I started in a price-conscious market with the idea of developing skills and paying back the equipment cost. I'm steadily moving away from the tourney-furniture market and into more custom work and home furniture, and prices are coming up to where eventually I might eke out a living at this. I'm not looking to put kids through school or anything, just pay for groceries and the occasional road trip!"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler." A. Einstein
http://www.albionworks.net
Ian from Oz posted pics of a camphor wood chest last June or July. He showed them to me when I visited Brisbane in August and they were truly beautiful. Camphor makes a very attrqactive yard tree and they naturalize readily and have become something of a nusance tree along the water courses in Ala and Fla. Obviously, that is not close to you, but there may be trees that California farmers need badly to get rid of. Maybe Jon Arno knows where they have naturalized.
Go to 'advanced search' and type in 'camphor'. There's a lotta good stuff there.
BJ
Edited 2/17/2004 9:46:20 PM ET by TGF
BJ, I haven't seen much camphorwood available in the trade. You occasionally see it offered via mail order from companies that cater to the craft and turning crowd, but I'm unaware of any significant domestic supply of it.
This species has long been an important cabinetwood in the Orient, from southern China north to Japan and it sort of made a big splash with 19th century American sailors who would bring back fancy, carved seachests from over there. By the early 20th century, supplies of the timber were already getting scarce within it's native range. However, because distilled camphor oil was an important commodity in medicine and cosmetics, camphor was planted on a plantation basis in warm temperate climates around the world. I think for awhile it was grown in our southeastern states and it was also used as a landscape cultivar throughout the south and even out on the west coast.
It's use in medicines has declined. Camphor belongs to the same family as sassafras (Lauraceae) and some of the extractives produced by this family are suspect of being carcinogens. Camphor won't tolerate extreme cold, but it's otherwise pretty hardy and agressive. It's become a weed tree in many regions, including Australia and Florida...So, it's not as rare as it used to be, but it really hasn't become a commercial timber...at least not as a result of our naturalized, domestic supply.
I've only worked with camphorwood a couple of times. The wood is very attractive and has good shaping properties. The scent is pleasant in small doses, but as Jim Macmahon mentioned, if you get a face full of the fine dust, it's enough to make your eyes tear and your nose run.
I can attest to the power of the large dose of camphor. I'm fortunate enough to have several sliced logs drying out in the back of my shop here in Japan now. When the lumber guy and I sliced them up last year, it was a real crying jag. Felt like we were in a mentholatum factory.
But it sure is a pretty wood. Here is a TV cabinet I made a while back with camphor in the door panels. Very creamy stuff.
Scott
Nice cabinet, Scott. What is the other wood used for the stiles and rails? Looks like maple (?)
Thanks. The color is not quite so good in the picture, but it is red alder. The pulls I carved from walnut. The doors hinge andslide back inside the cabinet.
Scott
You might try http://www.recycletrees.org/site_map.html next time you are down here in the Bay Area.
I have some nice camphor boards from the tree in my folks front yard in Walnut Creek - it was pulling up the driveway so had to go. Sawed it in my friend's shop and his place smelled like it for days afterwards. Wonderful wood. Still thinking about what to make with it - I don't have enough for a large chest though you have gotten me thinking...
Gilmer Wood Company has camphor.
Camphor is fairly common in and around Central Florida (Orlando area), but I'm not familiar with any sawmills that cut or dry it. Occasionally a turner will whack off a branch or piece of trunk and make a bowl out of it, but it's really very strong smelling and you have to be awfully motivated to work with it in a closed space. Surfacing would be the worst, I would think, but maybe working in an open space would be OK. My suggestion would be to try some before making a major purchase.
You might check with The Woodsman in Stockton. The number is 1-888-712-3594. I was there a couple of years ago and he had a good selection of different woods. Hope this helps. Rod in Appleton, WA
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