DonkeyHody wrote:
Have you ever actually worked with US-grown paulownia? I have. It
is
far closer to balsa than it is to poplar -- soft and porous and
light. The paulownia that is favored in Japan for tansu is much
different, not in species but in growing conditions. They harvest
slow-growing wood from the mountains. But even in Japan paulownia
was favored in some specialized niches, not for general furniture
building. For example it was used for interior compartments in sea
chests because the wood would swell if it got wet and effectively
seal the lid protecting the contents of that compartment. Tansu was
far more likely to be made of pine, cryptomeria, cypress, or
chestnut. And paulownia, if present at all, would be for interior
dividers and such. From what I've read, US-farmed paulownia is
considered inferior in Japan and seems to wind up as a filler in
plywood when it is used at all.


Reminds me of a conversation I had about 15 years ago with an emu
farmer. He went on at length about the unique virtues of that large
flightless bird.

"You can use every part of the bird. The meat is delicious and very
healthy, and they make this oil that is highly prized in the perfume
industry, and even the feathers are used to make fishing lures and
ladies hats."

I asked him how much a bird was worth.

"I get three thousand dollars for a breeding pair!"

"But how much does a bird bring for slaughter?"

"Oh, nobody's slaughtering any yet, 'cause they're too valuable.
But
once the grower's market is filled, they'll be worth about five
hundred dollars a bird."

A few years after that, I saw several articles in the newspaper
about
the problem emus caused when farmers simply turned them loose rather
than continue to feed them. When the grower's market was saturated
there was no other market.

I predict the paulownia tree will be the emu of the plant kingdom.

If one has visions of planting paulownia and getting rich selling the
timber, that appears to be most likely the case. Seems to be
interesting in its own right though--I've got a spot in my yard where
there used to be a dogwood that gave up the ghost after the kid who
used to mow the lawn whacked the bark off it one too mamy times with
the lawn mower. I'm tempted to put a Paulownia there--let's see ya
kill _that_, kid.


DonkeyHody
"Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then."

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)