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Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

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Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

Postby Woodbloke » 02 Jan 2019, 13:34

A long awaited parcel from the other side of the world was delivered by the postie on the last day of the year and inside was the bowl that Rick Taylor turned for me from a large chunk of ancient or 'swamp' (as the locals say) kauri, which should be pronounced 'kohri'.

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(313.35 KiB)


This figuring on this particular piece was quite rare. It's olive green and yellow with 'whitebait' streaks running through it; Rick estimated that he found just one chunk like this each year which is reflected in the eventual price I paid for the bowl :shock: The blank came from the crown of an ancient kauri with a swamp age of 3,850 years. It was also incredibly heavy as it was full of resin. The core which Rick also extracted and sent to me...

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(206.05 KiB)


...weighs in at 560g. When we were in NZ, the High Court passed a law preventing the export (to the Chinese!) of ancient kauri logs and slabs, unless they made into a finished object; hence the reason why Rick turned the core blank into a 'paperweight' :D .

Rick has a 'substantial' :eusa-whistle: amount of ancient kauri; this is the interior of one of FOUR shipping containers filled with the stuff....

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They're still extracting large logs of ancient kauri and it's now a limited resource, but we did have a drive up to the remnants of the old Kauri Forest (just 3% remaining which once covered almost the whole of North Island) to see Tane Mahuta (and others)...

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...which is about 2000 years old, growing fatter at a rate of around 1mm each year.

On the way up to see the big trees, we stopped at another establishment by the side of the road selling ancient kauri stuff and planks. A lot of the tables etc were finished with a hideous, thick, gloopy coat of polyester lacquer...

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(316.5 KiB)


...but some of boards in an adjoining shed were very tasty; note the price in NZ$ and divide by two to see it in Sterling.

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(224.43 KiB)


Rick only uses TWO turning tools for all his bowls and I also bought a set as well.

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(275.13 KiB)


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...and sometimes it's good to take a break :lol:

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The bowl is held here on Rick's home made vacuum chuck and I'm part way through making one...dead easy and a thread to follow later. If you're ever touring NZ and North Island in particular, call in to see Rick and Sue at Dargaville on your way up the 'Kauri Coast'; just make sure you've got a healthy balance on the old CC :lol: - Rob
I no longer work for Axminster Tools & Machinery.
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Re: Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

Postby Mike G » 02 Jan 2019, 14:52

Hmmm. There's an Australian wood called kauri (rhymes with dowry)....which is completely different. Very hard and red/ brown in colour. This Kiwi stuff looks fantastic.
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Re: Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

Postby Woodbloke » 02 Jan 2019, 15:22

Mike G wrote:Hmmm. There's an Australian wood called kauri (rhymes with dowry)....which is completely different. Very hard and red/ brown in colour. This Kiwi stuff looks fantastic.

The same stuff as kauri grows in Oz as well, but the Maori forest guides (pronounced 'Mohri') told us about their way of pronouncing 'kauri'. Look on the linkie for Rick's web page to see the 'standard' red/brown coloured bowls and platters. The blank he used for my bowl was pretty rare and unique; ancient kauri is mostly a red/brown colour - Rob
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Re: Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

Postby Andyp » 02 Jan 2019, 16:44

How big is your bowl Rob? I am struggling with scale. Will you leave the “paperweight” as is or turn another bowl?
I do not think therefore I do not am.

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Re: Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

Postby Woodbloke » 02 Jan 2019, 17:13

Andyp wrote:How big is your bowl Rob? I am struggling with scale. Will you leave the “paperweight” as is or turn another bowl?


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(154.81 KiB)


There you go Andy :D The 'paperweight' will eventually get turned...

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(162.76 KiB)


...into another little bowl. These came from previous cores; the one in the foreground came from another piece of yellow/olive kauri but without the distinctive 'whitebait' streaks. Note also the price for a little bowl - Rob
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Re: Ancient or 'Swamp' Kauri

Postby Mike G » 02 Jan 2019, 20:53

:lol: I'm not sure I'd ever take a Kiwi's pronunciation guide too seriously. These are the people who say "fush 'n chups"....... :lol:
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