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 ****ous 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 fi****ng 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)
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