Rarity of wide 9"-22" wide paulownia wood boards

General Discussion
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Was curious if anyone has ever seen or heard of 9"-22" wide by 8' single piece paulownia boards? I have started to shape my first board, and feel like I may be butchering something impossible to get.

I bought and processed a 50+ year old paulownia monster. I am one hell of a wood worker but have never shaped a board in my life. How rare are wide boards like that?

I appreciate beautiful and hard to find woods a lot and am just curious if I'm killing the last of something special?

I am new to the site and would appreciate any feed back.**Paulownia Single Slab 5/4 X17 1/2" X 8'**

I enclosed a photo of my first attempt, please be kind it's still a work in progress.

Thanks,

Thomas

450×600 35.7 KB

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If you can get wood that wide, the problem would be cupping, that is why most of the all wood boards have been multiple glue ups. John Wegner works in the south portion of our building and flips the grain from plank to plank as he glues up his blanks

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Whenever laminating a wide piece for a project it is a MUST to alternate the growth rings to prevent or minimize cupping. This is what Jim the G is saying. If you place the boa

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Thanks for helping with my post, 

I’ve bee a wood worker/cabinetmaker for 15+ years and fully understand the importance of alternating the grain of woods. What I was more interested in knowing is about paulownia boards that wide. I have seven 8ft long 5/4 18"-22" wide boards all one piece, and probably another 50 5/4 boards 9"-11" wide, and 20 or so boogie board sized slabs.

This may sound kinda funny, but I really, really love wood and appreciate it’s beauty as few others seem too. I just wanted to know if what I have might be better off with a pro instead of me trying for the first time. It’s not about money and selling the boards It’s about my appreciation for something rare and beautiful.

If you say that it’s not a big deal to see boards that wide than I’ll feel fine trying to get it right with them.

On the other hand if you say I’ve never seen or heard of 50 year old 11"-22" wide paulownia, I might think about finding someone who could appreciate it’s uniqueness.

I just don’t want to find out that I goofed up something unheard of and rare. That’s all.

 

Again thanks for reaching out and giving me some advise, I really appreciate your thoughts and experience.

Thanks,

Thomas S

 

 

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size-wise:  found this on a blog

http://paulowniatree.blogspot.com/

 

Size: Elongata and Fortunei up to 80 feet.

Canopy
width will average 20 to 25 feet.

Trunk diameter will average 18 to 24
inches.

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Chambering will reduce the weight of a board by half.
There are a few cham

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bered boards on rthe T

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ree to sea

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