Martin-IT Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 I find many commercial outdoor furniture made with acacia, but I cannot find any lumber to make my own furniture. Is it like teak, so pricey buying furniture pre-maid is cheaper than to buy the lumber ? With the current price of spf or ptl, exotic are becoming more affordable ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 For general information on "acacia", I recommend: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/acacia.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 Acacia is a name for a species of tree that has a lot of subspecies 20-25. It's like saying Oak, not red oak or white oak that narrows the species down just oak. Could it be pin oak Northern red oak, Swamp white oak, burr oak? While Oak has a lot of sub species the wood is generally the same across them. Acacia varies widely and can have properties similar to cherry in hardness and went all the way to some of the heaviest hardest wood. Acacia is mostly grown in Africa though some species exist in Australia and other places but it tends to be a genus that needs more refinement. Interestingly enough Koa is an Acacia species as is Australian blackwood, so it's likely that you have seen, heard, or even used an Acacia species and didn't know it. The reason it's probably not widely found in a lumber setting is because there hasn't been much push to import it. There may also be high import restrictions from the regions that it originates from. It all comes down to demand of which there is little for it in lumber form. Generally people that buy premade furniture don't give a dang what it's made out of. They could put wood on the sign and it'd still sell. Beings that Phinds beat me to a link to his site I'll also say that wood database has a decent write up on the species and outlines some 20 examples as well. https://www.wood-database.com/hardwoods/fabaceae/acacia/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 21 minutes ago, Chestnut said: Acacia is a name for a species of tree that has a lot of subspecies 20-25. No, acacia is a GENUS and it has a LOT of species (not subspecies). 20-25 isn't even getting started. Try 400+ just in my incomplete database and David Clark tells me there are over 900 Acacias in Australia and more spread around the world. Eric (the Wood Database that you linked to) says over 1,000 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin-IT Posted April 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 anyone sell acacia lumber ? ...the same way 'soft maple', is anything maple except hard maple. You cannot buy red or silver maple, just soft maple. Currently in the living room, made from the top of of koa tree which got snapped by a hurricane. The tree was in the backyard of the sculptor (Oahu): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 Sorry i'm not a biologist. I stand corrected don't really know the terms and definitions just blundering through. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 4 minutes ago, Martin-IT said: anyone sell acacia lumber ? I'm sure it's sold somewhere. Prices are high as it's a low demand exotic https://www.cookwoods.com/collections/acacia https://www.keimlumber.com/exotic-wood-library/acacia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin-IT Posted April 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2021 It seems just like teak, buying the finished outdoor furniture is cheaper than buying the lumber, then making it. Per bf, it could be cheaper to buy used furniture online, and take them apart Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted May 9, 2021 Report Share Posted May 9, 2021 On 4/25/2021 at 10:20 AM, Martin-IT said: It seems just like teak, buying the finished outdoor furniture is cheaper than buying the lumber, then making it. Per bf, it could be cheaper to buy used furniture online, and take them apart This episode addresses Acacia specifically and will explain why a lot better. https://www.lumberupdate.com/51-teak-embargo-bright-future-for-iroko/ TL:DL No commercial import. Furniture is made where lumber is grown and harvested. Because it's not commercially imported it's not pulled off the commercial orders and sold to lumber retailers. Again it's a low demand overseas wood volume is low and shipping costs are therefore relativly high causing it to be expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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