{"id":546,"date":"2009-09-21T19:23:33","date_gmt":"2009-09-21T23:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/?p=546"},"modified":"2010-01-06T19:34:24","modified_gmt":"2010-01-06T23:34:24","slug":"making-your-projects-special-with-exotic-wood-and-supporting-sustainability-at-the-same-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodworkerssource.com\/blog\/woodworkers-source-featured-specials\/making-your-projects-special-with-exotic-wood-and-supporting-sustainability-at-the-same-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Exotic Woods Take a 10,000-mile Journey Down the Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Down in the Amazon, we have a long time connection who keeps us informed about interesting woods and timber projects.<\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>

Keith Stephens steps off a water taxi after checking out logs in Peru<\/p><\/div>\n

Before you think that sounds like a great job, consider the heat, the bugs, the bureaucracy, the red tape, the “we’ll get to your requests ma\u00f1ana<\/em>” culture shock, the joys of long flights, delayed boats, slow buses, and then the half-dozen or so immunizations via needle<\/em> you need to get before embarking on an Amazon wood expedition.\u00a0 Glamorous?\u00a0 I don’t know about that part.<\/p>\n

\"Gorgeous<\/a>

Gorgeous milled exotic woods from Peru are neatly wrapped and labeled<\/p><\/div>\n

Jim deserves a good pat on the back for this latest find in the Peruvian jungle.<\/p>\n

This time around, he’s found several unusual, yet very beautiful, types of wood for which we’ve had a difficult time getting species data (many of these woods are virtually unknown), and (the best part!<\/strong>) all of them are superbly trimmed to uniform sizes, individually wrapped in plastic, and labeled.<\/p>\n

\"Exotic<\/a>

Exotic wood loaded on the Yacu Puma and ready for passage down the Amazon River<\/p><\/div>\n

About two years ago, the wood started out in Peru as logs – and before that, you know, those logs were trees.\u00a0 It was all sawn, dried, milled, wrapped and labeled near Iquitos.<\/p>\n

I think this part’s really cool.\u00a0 They loaded it all into a container, which took passage by the mighty Yacu Puma, an ocean going vessel,\u00a0 down the Amazon river to the Atlantic Ocean where it hung a left.\u00a0 Northbound!<\/em><\/p>\n

Some time later, the Yacu Puma arrived in Houston, Texas to little fanfare.\u00a0 This is where I make some conjecture: I picture the customs agent crunching his eyebrows at our 19 crates of bizarre wood and ordering in pizza for the night. He and his underlings pointed at our container and stamped the paperwork for inspection: INTENSIVE<\/strong><\/span>. Probably with big red letters and yellow highlighter.<\/p>\n

The inspection held up the final delivery by a couple of weeks, but the wood arrived at our back door in good shape after being hauled in by flatbed trailer.<\/p>\n

Check Out This Google Map of the Whole Journey:<\/h3>\n