New Zealand Silver Beech

[different]

Any Kiwi's used NZ Silver Beech for a guitar back or sides?
It should have very similar propertied ti Tas Myrtle given the relationship.
One of my favorite timbers but have not been able to buy it for years


Ross

[kiwigeo]

PM Graham Wardrop, hes a kiwi luthier and might now something about silver beech.

I do know they did a good job of milling alot of it out for pulp up until the 80's.

[James Mc]

I’ve used it a couple of times on boat restoration projects. It is a little softer and lighter than Tas myrtle (much faster growing tree). Stuff I used didn’t have any of the figure or flame you sometimes get with myrtle but that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t find some that did, it had a nice even salmon colour that looked great against black trim. Takes a great polish, no pores and about the same density as maple, so would be worth giving it a go. There is heaps of it in NZ plantations so could well be one of the budget guitar woods of the future.

[kiwigeo]

There is heaps of it in NZ plantations so could well be one of the budget guitar woods of the future.

Im not aware of any large silver beech plantations in New Zealand. As far as I know most of it comes from native forest mainly in the South Island. Alot of the stuff used to get milled on the west Coast of the South Island but milling of the stuff has largely stopped there.

[kiwigeo]

Common Name(s) : Silver Beech, Southland Beech

Botanical Name : Nothofagus menziesii

DISTRIBUTION

Silver Beech is a native of New Zealand.

The species grows over a wide area from the central North Island down to Stewart Island.

The major forest areas are in Southland and the west coast of the South Island.

QUALITY STANDARDS AND GENERAL PROPERTIES

Silver Beech is graded to clear appearance grades, grades suitable for remanufacture, and knotty grades. There is no grade differentiation between sapwood and heartwood.

The heartwood varies in colour from white to a salmon pink, while the sapwood is white in colour.

The timber machines very well, and is one of the traditional timbers used in the manufacture of high quality furniture.

TYPICAL END USE APPLICATIONS

Furniture, dowel manufacture, ro manufacture, brush manufacture, bed slats.

TECHNICAL DATA

Density At 12% mc 585 kg/m3
Shrinkage Tangential 2.7%
(Green to 12% mc) Radial 2.6%
Durablity Heartwood Non durable
Sapwood durable
Stability Green Prone to shrinkage and distortion
At 12% mc Stable

AVAILABILITY

Supply is limited but ongoing from a sustainable managed forest resource.

Silver Beech cannot be exported without a licence.

[James Mc]

A greenie mate in NZ is having all kinds of problems with a couple of large plantations of it that were planted about 20 years ago, it is stuffing up the local water table. They planted a lot of it around that time to replace pine plantations in the hope getting a better return, but the early growth rate didn't live up to expectations. It comes up ok on the capture of co2 in temperate areas if you harvest at around the 30 year mark, so maybe it will become popular again.

[kiwigeo]

Sounds a bit strange to me.....Silver Beech is a New Zealand native. Most of the plantation wood in New Zealand is Pinus Radiata...not a native.

Any chance of a reference for these large silver beech plantations?

[different]

AS you can see it has quiet some colour variation and can have some wild figure too. The bulk of what I have used is easily the equal of Tas myrtle or at least that which I have been able to get my hands on recently.


Ross

[Graham W]

Hi Ross

I have heard Silver Beech (Southland Beech) could possibly be a good wood for luthiery, but only by hearsay. I did put out feelers to get some at one time, but with no success. This is not to say that there is none available, but more an indication of my not following up. I don't have a lot of time available for guitar building and tend to stick to using woods that are tried and true, which of course, are all imports here. If I had more time I'd experiment more with local woods. One that I have seen used for finger boards and bindings is Black Maire. I think it would make great back and sides, but once again it's quite rare… Much of our native forests are protected or logged very carefully - good for 'Clean, Green NZ', but difficult for guitar builders! Also a lot the forests have been passed back into Maori hands via the Treaty of Waitangi settlements and these forests are once again protected by the tribes.

Guess I'm not a lot of help here - sorry. NZ has been so heavily logged over the last 150 years that I'm quite happy to see our forests protected and I'm happy to scrounge around and search out recycled native woods, which one day I'll get around to experimenting with.

Cheers

Graham

[kiwigeo]

Paddy Burgin in Wellington uses a bit of native wood on his acoustics.