My piece of A. julibrissin<\/em> was sourced from Florida. Although a common landscape tree, A. julibrissin<\/em> tends to be short lived and I would imagine my piece came from an ornamental specimen that was removed.<\/p>\n A. julibrissin<\/em> is considered invasive in many parts of the country. It propagates easily from seeds that can cover amazingly long distances on the wind in their pods, which tend to open during windy conditions.<\/p>\n Albizia julibrissin Distribution in the US<\/p><\/div>\n For the sake of simplicity and common understanding I will hereafter refer to A. julibrissin<\/em> as Mimosa.<\/p>\n The color of the Mimosa heartwood varies from light brown to deeper golden or reddish brown. The sapwood of the Mimosa is pale yellow and is demarcated from the heartwood. The color darkens with age.<\/p>\n Mimosa has a coarse somewhat uneven texture with good natural luster.<\/p>\n There are no data available about Mimosa’s ability to resist rot or insects.<\/p>\n As Mimosa is not generally traded commercially there are no standard reports about its working characteristics but I will report my own experiences at the end of this post.<\/p>\n It is reported that Mimosa has no distinctive scent when cut or worked.<\/p>\n As noted above, Mimosa is not typically harvested commercially for lumber. Pieces of Mimosa are occasionally available for sale from hobbyist or small custom sawmills. Prices should be in the mid to upper range for a domestic hardwood.<\/p>\n In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NCWood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>. Note: ALWAYS green turn wet blanks from NCWood as their wax will not hold for extended drying periods.<\/p>\n None of these fine vendors is currently offering Mimosa, but Wood Turning Blanks 4U has offered Mimosa in the past and may do so again. This vendor was the source of my piece.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Mimosa, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.<\/p>\n A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!<\/p>\n When used for wood working, Mimosa is known for small turned items and some furniture.<\/p>\n Mimosa is not listed as being endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices<\/a> nor does it appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. <\/a><\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, there are no special restrictions placed on Mimosa by the United States government.<\/p>\n I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n It is important to note that in addition to the usual hazards posed by wood dust, Mimosa has been reported to cause respiratory irritation. As always, caution is essential until you are certain you are not sensitive to Mimosa.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.<\/a><\/p>\n I can attest to the respiratory irritation reported by others when working with Mimosa. During sanding I noticed a burning in my throat and a strong need to sneeze and cough. I had to stop periodically to drink liquids to keep the coughing to a minimum. The irritation wasn’t incapacitating but it was noticeable.<\/p>\n It was immediately obvious that Mimosa was soft since my rougher simply zipped right through it, but upon stopping the lathe it was also immediately obvious that the wood was of a very open pore coarse texture and as I would expect from such a wood the cross grain cut area were a mess. But, the Mimosa is so soft that the sanding process was as fast as could be. The appearance of the wood is, well, interesting, but it isn’t what I would call exceptionally beautiful. It does show nice streaking and some figure through the growth rings. It took a nice finish as well and I had been worried because oftentimes a soft porous wood will not take a finish evenly.<\/p>\n Mimosa Interior View<\/p><\/div>\n I am glad I had the chance to work with Mimosa but given the respiratory irritation and lack of what I would call WOW factor, I don’t think I would seek Mimosa out in the future. But at the same time I wouldn’t discourage a curious wood turner from trying it out. It is easy and fast to work with, sands super easily, and takes a nice finish, so that is a lot going for it from the perspective of a wood turner.<\/p>\n Mimosa Side View<\/p><\/div>\n All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck,<\/a> while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is Shellawax<\/a>.<\/p>\n As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It was immediately obvious that Mimosa was soft since my rougher simply zipped right through it, but upon stopping the lathe it was also immediately obvious that the wood was of a very open pore coarse texture and as I would expect from such a wood the cross grain cut area were a mess.\u00a0 But, the Mimosa is so soft that the sanding process was as fast as could be.\u00a0 The appearance of the wood is, well, interesting, but it isn’t what I would call exceptionally beautiful.\u00a0 It does show nice streaking and some figure through the growth rings.\u00a0 It took a nice finish as well and I had been worried because oftentimes a soft porous wood will not take a finish evenly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[148,154,168,171,181,183,188,200,210,217,230,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Working Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Pricing and Availability:<\/h2>\n
Common Uses:<\/h2>\n
Sustainability:<\/h2>\n
Health Hazards:<\/h2>\n
My Personal Experiences:<\/h2>\n