Mystery wood solved (again!)

There have been a lot of great books on my nightstand lately, but one of particular interest was The Big Burn by Tim Egan.


It is about the worst fire in our county's history. It is also a painful look at our country's debate on starting the National Forest Service, under Theodore Roosevelt. I had never heard of Gifford Pinchot before, but if you're a fan of our nation's public parks and forests, you can thank him.

So when I received this envelope in the mail, it's return address wasn't lost on me, as it was the first time. Gifford Pinchot was a pretty interesting fellow, way ahead of his time in terms of his vision for the forests that covered much of our nation. It's very cool to see that he's been remembered over the years.


Do you remember a while back, when I sent a sample of wood to be identified?


I finally received the answer, and - once again, I'm a little surprised. The wood was identified by professionals, who slice a thin slab of wood and identify it on a cellular level, in a microscope.

They can't make mistakes, right?

All those boards I have in the loft are Eucalyptus diversicolor, commonly known as Karri. It primarily grows in Australia, in the wetter south west regions. With all that moisture, this tree grows to be quite large.


You can read more about it here.

Or here, just click on the image below.


The bigger question is.. how the hell did those boards end up in Las Vegas?


Since I only have a few boards, maybe 50 board feet total, it will be a challenge to design and build something that will suitably honor this wood. That might sound silly, but boards like this are once-in-a-lifetime finds. Sort of like this wood I worked with last year.

Anyone have an interesting piece in mind?