Once it was just a small seed . It landed in the ground and grew …weather , rain , sunshine…seasons…many years…birds lived in it and bees made honey from it’s flowers . It has a family and a long long history . It has mystic energy . It’s the same as us .
Here’s the beginings of my Paulownia project. They’re doubling in size every week or two at the moment. I have a couple of friends with a bit of land. They grow like mad here in NZ. Hopefully in about five or six years I’ll have something worth milling.
Very very nice
In 1989, A buddy had ten acres of open land and I talked him into planting Paulownia knowing there was a ready made market for it. At the time, surfboards didn’t enter into the equation. They were/are using it for windmill blade substrate instead of more costly and harder to get Balsa. Also in Japan when a couple has a daughter, it is tradition to purchase a small wooden jewelery box for her at birth. The species of choice is Paulownia or, Queen’s wood. They do grow remarkably fast but it is paramount to keep them double (at least) or triple staked and judiciously prune them to stay straight. It was a constant fight to keep them from bending or twisting and cutting down the amount of usable lumber from each tree. In the end, we made wages with a very small gain. Long term goal and must go big to turn it into a profitable business. As a hobby, a very enjoyable pursuit. We left one grandfather tree on the property to see what it would do. After 15 years of growth it reached close to 80 feet tall until a wildfire claimed it. It was sad to see the old friend go out that way. Best of luck Spud.
a thing of beauty it is, and even half a hack can make something pretty, exhibit A.
The first board i ever made.
My friend lives on 7 acres in Kona, HI. He planted Wiliwili and Balsa on his property about 6 years ago. Not sure if he’s added Paulownia yet. He recently made a board and gave it to Shane Dorian to use in big surf. One day, I’ll be getting a blank from him.
Holy shiznitz, 55 lbs? Wow, beautiful board, but I’d need a Sherpa to carry it down to the water for me.
Thanks for the input on the Paulownia. I’m fairly casual on what eventuates as at the very least they are pretty cool looking trees. My outlay on the seeds was $20 and I think I used about $5 worth of potting mix.
My secondary obsession other than surfing is planting trees. The hill/cliff that I live on was pretty bare when we moved in 15 years ago, but about 2000 trees later and it is looking pretty good. I grew nearly all of them from seed. I managed to get a heap of pots for next to nothing from the local recycling centre.
Here’s a photo of our place in 2001, and another taken today. The green house is mine and the grey house below it is my brother’s. The shed down the bottom is where I make my boards. Also there is a photo of our hill in 1971. Absolutely massive earthworks. That’s how they rolled back then. Our place is at the far right of the earthworks.
Very cool, I planted some about 4 years ago and they have gone alright But need really free draying soil like volcanic or similar to get the best out of them . unfortunately clay here and they are a bit slow but still fun to watch your surfboard grow:)
about 3 months in:
one of my early lams
“wood is good”
