Re: Pernambuco, the wood not the state on the bulge of Brazil (long again)

Not just the link, the rest of the d... post didn't work either. Four things commeth not back: the sped arrow, the spoken word, the departed breath _and the rcw post. Sorry for another mistake. Arch

Fortiter,

I am a string player, double bass. Never really appreciated the woods in my instrument until I started turning.

Luthiers (not to be confused with Lutherans*) have some very definite ideas about what woods should be used for which parts of whatever instrument they are building. They seem to have it figured out, too. When I finally sold enough hubcaps to buy a good bow my instrument sounded far more robust than ever and I could control articulations I could only imagine before. Pernambuco is hot stuff!

As an amateur turner and professional cheapskate I am careful to turn only those woods I can get for free. Stuff like pernambuco and rosewood and ebony and other violin woods are, therefore, largely beyond my turning experience.

I wonder at times, though, what other woods are essential to some product. When I waste Mesquite or Pecan in a 800 rpm blow-up, am I threating the future of some craft I never heard of before? Is there any wood left in modern archery? Are looms still wooden? Is major league baseball at risk of running out of bats?

Archetiers (thanks for that, Arch!) need to find a way to cultivate woods that are critical to their trade. There is demand for pernambuco. Someone should see that as an opportunity and act.

For my part, I'm starting very personal control burns with dull tools on materials gathered from the local right of way ... one stick at a time.

Bobalew

• I did meet a guitarist who nailed a chord chart to the back of a cheap Tele knock-off, but there were only 87 chords listed and the guitar was maple. By chance his name was Marty.