Camphor Laurel inquiry

[vandenboom]

I did a search on camphor laurel to see if anyone uses it, but no hits. Any commernts on suitability for back & sides? I am seeing someone in northern nsw on sunday that has some big slabs drying in the shed they are keeping for possible use in furnitutre 'some day'. If i can find a q'sawn slab, it might be a goer. Any views on this? thanks. Frank

[TimS]

Frank

I have seen some at a wood show and believe it shows great potential. Tap tone sounded fine and you can get some good figure although quite a lot does have a bit of discoloration. The boards I saw that looked promising had a golden quilt/flame with a red heart.

regards

Tim

[John Maddison]

Hi Frank
Micheal Connor (ANZLF moderator 'Localele') brought a couple of ukuleles with Camphor Laurel back, sides & tops to Playmakers in Albany a couple of years ago; very nice crisp sound and they had lovely grain pattern (the oils in CL give it a nice aroma too). Haven't seen Micheal very active on the forum in recent times but it might be worth a PM to him re build qualities.
Cheers

[P Bill]

I've used a lot of Camphor for furniture. Availability is no problem, it's considered a pest in N.NSW. I think for that reason people are a bit snooty about it. It can have fiddleback, strong stripes, and it's tan with red and sometimes black stripe. It takes stain very well and can be made to look like almost anything. It's a medium weight timber and it's known for very wide slabs. I haven't considered it for luthiery til now, just because of the bias I mentioned above. I've never even tapped it. I have a bit in the shed, I'll try it today.

[Clancy]

Here's some links

(near the bottom of this one for Michael's 3/4 Style 5)
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1538&hilit=laurel&start=100

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1710&hilit=laurel

Cheers
Carig

[P Bill]

Thanks for the link, it only takes one pioneer to get the ball rolling.

The avatar I used when reregistered mysteriously popped back up. Maybe a kink in the system still. I'm going change it back. No pm about a change.

[stopper]

I am cutting some camphor at the moment. I'll slice some some sets and rack them out to see how it goes.

cheer
Steve

[J.F. Custom]

Hi Frank.

Camphor is stable, moderate in weight, has good tap tone, displays a variety of figure, can vary in colour quite dramatically - within a single piece and like many other species, the older growth trees often possess the best figure and colour (it grows very quickly so large timber does not necessarily equate with old). In short - it does possess all the qualities one would look for in tonewood.

As has been mentioned, it is a declared weed in some states. I used to live in Northern NSW and farmers couldn't give it away there. You would sometimes be driving in what appeared to be natural forest only to find the only species you were looking at was camphor - it is that vigorous and dominant. As far as I know, a "declared" weed means you are obligated to remove it once identified from your property. I think they are a little lax on this law in NNSW though as there are areas that would have NO trees left if they cut it down and the birds and other animals love them. Slabs used to be piled on many farms around the area.

Would I use it for a guitar? Probably not personally. That is due to two things. The colour/s don't really do it for me but that is very obviously a personal taste issue. Mainly though is the smell. The camphor oil is potent and while it can be pleasant to some or at first, I find it too much very quickly. Unlike other timbers, it tends to retain its potent fragrance for years too which is off-putting for me. I knew a man who had slabbed his own trees up and thought it would be a perfect interior boat cabinet timber. So he duly refurbished his boat entirely (inside) in it. Well, he finished it and had to sell it thereafter - he couldn't walk into it any more for the smell was overwhelming. Shame.

Jeremy.

[blazemite]

i've built an electric guitar from camphor, it seems fairly stable and easy to work with. tonewise it has a very sharp snap when the string is first hit and then it mellows out to a fairly warm midrange, but i've only built the one so i guess it probably varies alot.

The fragrance is very strong, but having a camphor guitar wont stink out your house, especialy if its fully varnished.

[stopper]

As promised I have cut some veneers from the centre billet of a very straight camphor laurel log. I thought it best to get stable straight grained quarter sawn material. I'm not sure that the smell is a big problem. In my experience it leaves the wood to a large extent after sawing. If the timber is enclosed in a blanket box the smell is strong but if it is left exposed it fades away.
regards
Steve