Siam Oak

[bohemian]

I have seen this wood in many of the descriptions by
the various drum makers and was curious as to what it is.
Having been a professional woodworker for many years and an exotic wood broker before that, never heard of it. So I did some research.

Many of you may already know this:

There is no such wood as "SIAM OAK". This is a marketing name for parawood or the common rubberwood tree. I have also seen descriptions for drums made of rubberwood.

Here's the facts.
The botanical name is havea brasiliensis and was originally from Brazil and as the name rubberwood implies, it is the tree from which we get latex to make rubber.

So parawood or rubberwood trees start giving off the latex at about 6 years old and produce for about 30 yrs.. then the stop producing and or die. AT this time the trees are harvested and used as lumber for anything from flooring to furniture to musical instruments.

Rubberwood trees failed mass cultivation in Brazil but they were sent to other parts of theworld among them Malaysia and Thailand where they grow to 75 ft tall and 3 ft in diameter. They produce the rubber sap then die.. and this is the cool part.. the trees don't end their usefull life, but are recycled. So for the eco freaks among us this is good news.

Bad news... (sorta) there is no such thing as SIAM OAK
Siam became Thailand ( King and I and all that)
and the marketeers wanting to have a more exotic sounding name than rubberwood gave you a
term that does not sound like the stuff will bounce..

So now I know...

SIAM OAK = RUBBERWOOD = PARAWOOD

FYI

[Chupacabra]

Thanks for the info. I've seen Siam Oak referred to as "environmentally friendly" before and wondered why. Now I know! I'll be the life of the party now, I can't wait!

[taikonoatama]

This same sort of thing happened years ago with mahogany, where, for marketing purposes, Philippine lauan / luan was sold as "Philippine mahogany." It's a completely different species of tree, and the wood only bears a superficial resemblance to real mahogany from the Caribbean, Central America, Brazil, or Africa, being a lot lighter and softer than the real deal. It was the standard wood for Gon Bops all those years. That and the less common (for GB) N. American oak.

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[Chupacabra]

Taiko, this is fantastic info for me as it validates an argument that I had with a so-called "reputable" supplier of hardwoods here about just this very subject!
I work as a storesman in a trades school that has woodworking as part of it's curriculum so I buy all the wood there. Some of the suppliers around here think that as soon as a purchaser from a federal government branch calls they can assume that he/she is a rube who will just pay whatever they demand and carry on. Needless to say, I wasn't satisfied with the outcome so I had the owner on the phone. Then I went there with a sample of real mahogany and got them to show me a sample of their Philippine "mahogany" and I might as well have been talking to the piece of wood! My only point was that if they are selling something for what it isn't, then at least don't try and rip people off by over-pricing and lying. It's still fairly decent wood especially for what we use it for, but at $9.50/bf I'm just not into doing business with these clowns!

[bohemian]

Mahogany reality check

There are over 200 timbers that wood hustlers ( I mean dealers/merchants) represent as being mahogany

Only 1 comes from Africa and there are arguments about it.. known as Khaya

Sapeli another wood from Africa is called mahogana, but is not.. it is characterized by stripes.. See Martin Guitar website..
nothing wrong with it.. it just is not a mahogany

The real stuff such as Cuban Mahigany is all but gone
"honduras" mahogany is now on the endangered list along with brazilian rosewood

Europe has called mahogany "acajou" for many years and is has now become any brown wood

Originaly this term came form another tree in brazil "acajou" or the cashew tree ( which was later planted in India and grew like crazy) The wood had a medium brown, even color with small pores... and the term was applied to anything similar.. hence the word "acajou" for mahognay or anything like it...

$9.50 a baord foot for phillipine is insanity piink balsa wood

Another one of my favorites is Ramin also from Asia I have seen this called anything from maple to beech... think cheap TV trays

If you ever need facts about wood... call Miles Gilmer of Gilmer wood in Portland Oregon... knows more than anyone I know in the trade..

Other stuff to be on the alert

C A V I U N A ... this is used for anything that lloks like brazilian rosewood

and Bolivian rosewood is not a rosewood.. it is also known as Morado, Pao Ferro, Ironwood... good looking stuff but not a true rosewood

Or more favorites Carpathian spruce or German spruce or Romanian spruce or Italian spruce it's all the same stuff,,, nice but by calling it something else prices go up

And Royal Spanish Cypress... it is passed off as having growen on the Spanish monarchy properties.. same tree as Spanish Cypress good stuff and used for flamenco guitars