CITES listed timbers

[seventhdevil]

just curios to know if anyone still buys CITES listed species if they are unsure of their provenance?

do you stay away from them all together or will you buy a bit if it comes your way?

is everyone aware of the species added as of january 2nd???

[Les Symonds]

Since opening my shop I've come to realise that there is a very strong demand for local timber, and this applies to both local and tourist customers. As a general rule, most of my raw material grows within a few miles of my workshop, although I do buy some timber from a saw-mill in my neighbouring county, on condition that it grew within about 20 miles.
Les

[bodrighywood]

Most wood I use is either locally sourced indigenous or garden wood or recycled. I do get woods such as old mahogany and parana pine through recycling but wouldn't consider buying listed timbers. I do buy from a local timber merchant occasionally for commissions but am careful what wood I buy.
Pete

[Derek]

The majority of the wood that I use is from local trees, I think we are fortunate to have a reasonable selection here. I however do use exotics but this is recycled woods but that is normally in plank form IE shelf units of old furniture.
I still have the odd bit from when I first started of new wood but because I became aware of the problems of certain woods being on the CITES and the illegal logging I decided to only use what I do 

[seventhdevil]

using reclaimed woods is fine as far as i'm concerned and do it myself but i'm wondering if people are still tempted to by certain wood because they are so nice to turn.

african blackwood is a good example as it is often used for finials but what will people use from now on as it's been listed.

[APH]

is everyone aware of the species added as of january 2nd???

No.
It would be useful to post what has changed and what it means to us in practice.

[Paul Hannaby]

CITES has three lists, which are there to control trade through legitimate channels. The way I understand it, the rosewoods (Dalbergia) family has been placed on appendix 2, which means "not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled" so movement of these timbers across country borders can only legally take place with CITES certification. What this will undoubtedly mean is that those species of wood being controlled will get more expensive.

Where I think this gets interesting is that re-export is also controlled so a permit would need to be applied (and paid) for to export anything containing wood listed on appendix 2, so if you made a hollow form with a blackwood finial or a cocobolo pen, it would be costly to export. This still applies to wood purchased before the 2nd of January 2017!

This article might be of interest https://reverb.com/uk/news/new-cites-regulations-for-all-rosewood-species

Here's a link to the CITES appendices https://cites.org/eng/app/index.php

I sometimes wonder if perhaps more thought should be given to the sustainability of some of the woods being sold for woodturning. A more responsible approach from importers, dealers and ultimately users could remove the need for intervention by organisations like CITES.

[seventhdevil]

it's not just the rosewoods.

dalbergia species have been blanketed with appendix II but added to the list were also the 3 species usually cited when selling bubinga and a rather obscure species of the paduk family "pterocarpus erinaceus".

[Paul Hannaby]

There are others too, including ebonies, monkey puzzle, lignum vitae sandalwood etc. but I don't think these are new ones.

[Derek]

There are others too, including ebonies, monkey puzzle, lignum vitae sandalwood etc. but I don't think these are new ones.

Does this mean that I can't chop down the Monkey Puzzle tree I have in my garden and use it for turning

[seventhdevil]

There are others too, including ebonies, monkey puzzle, lignum vitae sandalwood etc. but I don't think these are new ones.

nothing has changed there as far as i know paul, those species have been on there for years.

the ones i am referring to are amendments and have now been added.

to be clear these are all dalbergia (rosewood) species along with the three species sold as bubinga, guibourtia pellegrini, guibourtia tessmannii, guibourtia demeusei.

also pterocarpus erinaceus which is a west african form of padauk.

[seventhdevil]

There are others too, including ebonies, monkey puzzle, lignum vitae sandalwood etc. but I don't think these are new ones.

Does this mean that I can't chop down the Monkey Puzzle tree I have in my garden and use it for turning

you can use it no problem but you would not be able to send it overseas. the lists are there to generally stop movement of timber which in the end should have the effect of lessening the demand as people will have to put too much effort in to procuring it in the first place.

its not all crystal clear as there are different circumstances regarding each timber hence the footnotes at the bottom of the lists.

once you read the species it becomes clear that on the most part the additions don't have that much bearing except on trades that use those species like the music industry who use alot of rosewoods and especially blackwood that is preferred by bagpipe makers.

there are timbers that can be used in place of these protected so most turn to those as a replacement but it can be tricky as i've found out trying to find a suitable replacement for lignum to use as skittle balls.