Friday, June 15, 2012

One man's tree is another man's treasure

 Cryptomeria Japonica: : "Sugi" is the national tree of Japan, commonly planted around temples and shrines, with many hugely impressive trees planted centuries ago. Sargent (1894; The Forest Flora of Japan) It is also extensively used in forestry plantations in Japan. The wood is scented,  and often reddish-pink in colour, lightweight but strong, waterproof and resistant to decay. It is favoured in Japan for all types of construction work as well as interior panelling, etc.  In japan,  exemplars on Yakushima island have grown to 53 ft in diameter and have an estimated age of between 2000 and 7000 years old. In Hawaii Sugi is desired as a fragrant panelling and furniture wood with a spicy almost peppery aromatic fragrance.  We have recently milled a few trees including a much younger exemplar multi-trunk tree that was removed along the highway. Interestingly the multi-trunk specimen we milled is abnormally very very dark making it very unique and unusual. The tree was on a fence line and we suspect that the tree drew up iron from the fencing material and as a result is a beautiful dark purple color. Come check it out!!