Sourcing, Conservation and Sustainability

Sourcing timbers

The foundation of Tasmanian Tonewoods is the process we go through to source our timber. We need to ensure our timber is not just ethical and legal, but that it has superior acoustic properties.

Over 85% of our timber is salvaged. Salvaged timber is timber that hasn’t been cut down. It’s left over from historical harvesting, such as stump wood, which is ideal for music instruments. It’s trees that have blown over in the wind, washed over in the river or been left behind by unsustainable practices.

One of the few instances where we do harvest live timber is blackwood. It is one of the best tonewoods in Tasmania where it grows prolifically. When we do need to harvest this timber we  do so on private land, and in such small quantities that the landowners barely notice. This encourages regrowth.

We are dedicated to preserving the spectacular natural beauty of Tasmania and none of our timber is sourced from old growth or native forests.

Protecting the giants

Under the Giant Trees policy (August 2002), Forestry Tasmania seeks to identify, manage,and protect giant trees on State forest in Tasmania. Giant Trees are defined as trees that are at least 85 metres tall or at least 280 cubic metres estimated stem volume.

The Styx Valley

This famous region contains some of the world's tallest hardwood trees, these trees can be seen in the Styx Valley Big Tree Reserve alongside the beautiful and tranquil Styx River. The Styx Valley contains Swamp Gum known to be four hundred years old and over 90 metres high. A giant Swamp Gum in the Styx Valley has been recorded at 134 metres in height.

The Florentine Valley

A forest reserve of tall Stringy Bark Eucalypts, with some of these large trees standing almost as tall as the Eucalypts growing in the Styx Valley Big Trees Reserve. The Florentine is home to a larger variety of tree species than the Styx Valley. Amongst the other commercial timber species, Sassafras, Leatherwood, Horizontal Scrub and Myrtle can be found in the Florentine Valley.

A royalty is paid to Forestry Tasmania for all timber removed from logging coupes.

Conservation

As committed conservationists we take pride in collecting timber in ways that will conserve the environment.

It is deplorable what has happened to the world's old growth forests over the past decades even here in Tasmania.

With the worlds exotic traditional tonewoods dangerously depleted and close to extinction now is the time to discover what Australian luthiers have known for years that Tasmanian tonewoods offer excellent sound volocity and density required for your custom build musical instruments.

Here at Tasmanian tonewoods we work with private land owners and friends with the same environmental views and only harvest and selective log sustainable managed working forests this way the forests will go on forever.

Sustainability

Being part of an industry that is solely dependent on wood as its precious resource it would be inconceivable for us not to advocate and support the protection and responsible management of the worlds forests in anyway possible.

It is our conviction and duty to individually as well as professionally assume responsible in this field. Individually we can not stand idly by, and see the planet’s natural renewable resource to be exploited on a scale that would ultimately come back to haunt us and future generations. Professionally we need sustainable management of forests to ensure the regeneration of our valued resource.

With unique tonewoods and speciality veneers plus high figured timbers of exceptional quality being our main focus, we are always doing our best to utilize a tree to the full extent by select harvesting only mature trees and manufacturing them into the best possible yield process, we firmly respect our products and the resources behind it and are genuinely excited by the incredible beauty and variety which wood has to offer.