I recently visited a property in North East Tasmania after the owner asked me to come and assess his blackwoods.
What I saw was 8 ha of some of the best private native blackwood forest I’ve ever seen.
The owner had only recently bought the property and was wondering what to do with the blackwoods.
Although the forest is unmanaged it has obviously been logged in the past and even now contains some first class blackwood sawlogs ready to be harvested, with plenty of good quality young trees coming on.
The forest clearly has tremendous blackwood growing potential, with opportunity to increase the commercial productivity 10-20 fold with some active management.
And what’s more the owner seems genuinely keen.
If we had 50 properties like this we could double the total blackwood production in Tasmania.
The problem is we have Government and industry policy that does not support and encourage profitable private blackwood growers.
Recent Island Specialty Timbers log tender results have shown good quality plain-grain blackwood logs achieving (mill-door equivalent) prices up to $900 per cubic metre for individual logs.
What would the market pay for 10 truckloads of such logs?
https://www.islandspecialtytimbers.com.au/
Would the industry and the market support and encourage landowners to do this?
Certainly the Tasmanian Government has absolutely NO intention of supporting and encouraging landowners to grow commercial blackwood.
One possible scenario could have this north east landowner harvesting 200 cubic metres of premium blackwood sawlog every five years in 30 years time, with no major investment and a small amount of annual labour input.
At $900 per cubic metre that equates to $180,000 every five years from those 8 ha of blackwood forest.
So far this landowners enquiries into the market have not been encouraging.
It is truly amazing how hard log merchants and sawmillers work to discourage tree growers and hence destroy their own future. It has been this way for generations!
If the forest industry is to have a future it requires a complete cultural change – nay a revolution!
I’m looking forward to helping this landowner achieve a positive outcome for his native blackwood forest.
If anyone wants to help support this landowner please contact me.
PS. In the 2017 Private Forests Tasmania “Tasmania Primary Wood Processor Directory” there are 15 processors listed as buying blackwood logs from private growers. Are any of these processors interested in supporting this NE blackwood grower? Or are they all just thinking about themselves and tomorrow?
As I’ve said before selling timber is easy! Getting people to grow timber is way more difficult. Who’s for the challenge???
Tasmanian Blackwood Growers Cooperative 
Tasmanian blackwood makes it to the top of the Taylor tree
The latest Taylor Guitars Wood & Steel magazine (Vol. 93 2019 Winter, p. 28) shows us that Tasmanian blackwood has finally made it to the peak of Taylors model range.
https://www.taylorguitars.com/wood-and-steel
Fifteen years after introducing Tasmanian blackwood into their limited production and three years after introducing blackwood into their regular production in the 300 series models, Tasmanian blackwood is now included in Taylor’s top-of-the-line Presentation Series (PS) models.
The Presentation Series are an annual limited edition series of guitars that feature premium woods and premium appointments.
Our Presentation Series celebrates the finest in materials and craftsmanship detail. This year we’re thrilled to introduce the wood pairing of figured Tasmanian blackwood and Adirondack spruce to the collection. Tonally, we love blackwood — it’s loud, responsive and warm, yet with a clear focus. The sets we’ve selected boast a beautiful blend of variegation, figure and grain structure reminiscent of Hawaiian koa, featuring golden-brown and dark amber ribbons of color. Together with a top of creamy Adirondack spruce, this guitar is no mere showpiece; its dynamic voice is ripe for the picking (or strumming). Or, if you prefer the rich, dark variegation of a sinker redwood top, the option is yours. We’ve also shifted from a beveled armrest to our radius contouring, which ensures comfort for players of all sizes. Our elegant suite of aesthetic appointments saves the understatement for other models, tracing the lines of the guitar with sparkling paua and other eye-catching ornamentation, including our intricate Nouveau fretboard/ peghead inlay. From every angle, these guitars deliver stunning aesthetic appeal.
Tasmanian blackwood Presentation Series models to become available are: PS12ce, PS12ce 12-Fret, PS14ce, PS16ce, PS56ce, PS18e.
These guitars are so new they haven’t yet made it onto the Taylor website. Stay tuned!
https://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/acoustic/features/series/presentation
Prices for Presentation Series guitars start around $US9,000. These are top-shelf guitars for people with deep pockets.
Even despite the inevitable “koa’s poor cousin” comparison, Taylor are obviously confident they are making progress getting Tasmanian blackwood accepted into world guitar markets.
Congratulations Taylor Guitars!!
For Tasmanian farmers to get their product into the top of the market should be an occasion for recognition and celebration.
Unfortunately that is not how wood markets operate.
Is this extraordinary market achievement resulting in more Tasmanian blackwood being planted by Tasmanian farmers?
Surely it should!
Utilising market forces (price, supply, demand, achievements, etc.) to help drive the future of the blackwood industry should be the backbone of industry and Government policy.
Unfortunately market demand just helps the Tasmanian Government/Parliament justify logging native blackwood forest in our Conservation Reserves.
Thankfully this is not where Taylor Guitars source their blackwood timber, which comes from Tasmanian Tonewoods salvaged from Tasmanian farms.
https://tasmaniantonewoods.com/
But in the opaque world of the global timber trade politics and greed often confound good intensions.
So here’s the take home message:
Tasmanian blackwood timber achieves another major international market milestone (thanks Taylor Guitars!!!), but no Tasmanian farmer will learn anything about this achievement, let alone be moved to invest in planting blackwood for the future.
Are you beginning to understand the problem we face?
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Posted in Commentary, Markets, Taylor Guitars, Tonewood