Parana Pine Find

I try to avoid hoarding wood but I will make an exception. In a recent project we replaced a flight of stairs. The old stairs were most likely of a 1970’s vintage with what is known in the trade as “ranch” balustrade. That is to say no turned spindles but horizontal slats that look a bit like a fence panel. Parana Pine (it’s actually not a pine) was a favorite for stair work for a while. It is cleaner than European Redwood and worked well with interior styles of the time. A strong but brittle species, wedges required for stair work would normally be made from European Redwood as the abrupt driving in of wedges around treads and risers would mean Parana Pine wedges could break apart.

Sadly the stocks of this timber were decimated and it has been a threatened species long before I started work. It has been a banned export from it’s home country of Brazil and it’s future is still not certain.

So this is how I find myself in the unique opportunity to hoard some wood. The wood always reminds me of the beach, a sandy colour close grain with flashes of red and green. It is highly likely I will take myself out of my normal comfort zone a make something from the later part of the 20th Century in style. Until I am ready I’ll churn ideas over in the back of my mind.

I hope to see the Parana survive and thrive again and if you any unique old timber around allow them to become your hoarded gem and not condemned to the refuse skip or bonfire. Sorry about the poor photos!