For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to A. araucana<\/i> as Monkey Puzzle from here forward.<\/p>\n
If you are curious, the common name Monkey Puzzle came about when the tree was grown from seeds in the United Kingdom the spiny bark was speculated to puzzle monkeys as to how to climb such a tree.<\/p>\n
General Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
The heartwood of Monkey Puzzle is a light brown, sometimes with a yellow or red hue. The paler sapwood isn’t clearly defined. Monkey Puzzle is sometimes afflicted with blue\/gray fungal staining, particularly if not dried properly. In certain applications this staining is considered decorative, particularly when the wood also features contrasting reddish knots.<\/p>\n
The grain of Monkey Puzzle is usually straight, with a fine to medium uniform texture. Monkey Puzzle demonstrates a moderate natural luster.<\/p>\n
Monkey Puzzle is rated as non-durable to perishable in terms of rot resistance and it has poor insect resistance. As noted above, Monkey Puzzle is also susceptible to fungal staining.<\/p>\n
Working Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Clear sections of Monkey Puzzle are easy to work with hand and machine tools. Sections of Monkey Puzzle with knots can be problematic and result in tearout or uneven sanding due to the difference in density of the two regions.<\/p>\n
Monkey Puzzle glues, finishes, and turns well.<\/p>\n
Monkey Puzzle has no characteristic odor.<\/p>\n
Pricing and Availability:<\/h2>\n
International trade in Monkey Puzzle is highly restricted, with no trees being harvested from its natural range. Occasional blanks are available from downed ornamental trees planted outside its natural range. Expect prices to be moderately high for a domestic softwood.<\/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>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of these vendors, Wood Turning Blanks 4U is the only one offering Monkey Puzzle at this time. They sell a range of bowl blank sizes ranging from 4″ up to 12″ x 4″ for $32.00.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Monkey Puzzle 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 Monkey Puzzle is commonly used to make furniture, plywood, paper (pulpwood), turned objects, and small specialty wood items.<\/p>\n Monkey Puzzle is in CITES Appendix I (including finished wood products), and is on the IUCN Red List. It is listed as endangered due to having a natural area of occupancy of less than 500 square kilometers (less than 193 square miles), and the IUCN also estimates that the area is also severely fragmented and declining.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any restrictions on Monkey Puzzle.<\/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 Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, wood in the Araucaria<\/em> genus has been reported to cause skin irritation, however, severe reactions are quite uncommon.<\/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 Fortunately, I experienced no significant difficulties while working with Monkey Puzzle.<\/p>\n Monkey Pod is very soft, about 300 Janka Units, so don’t expect it to cut clean. In fact, it was so soft that it didn’t hold the screws on the face plate and came off when I first started turning it. I fixed this by using 8 1.5″ screws instead of 1″ screws like I usually use.<\/p>\n Monkey Puzzle<\/p><\/div>\n This piece measures 7.5″ x 3″.<\/p>\n Monkey Pod cut sort of chunky although I have certainly experienced worse softwoods. The positive to this softness is that it sands out very easily indeed to a very smooth silky finish, which isn’t typical in my experience of softwoods. There was even a small degree of chatoyant effect on some areas.<\/p>\n This piece has some light but obvious black fungal staining which I think enhances the otherwise very plain wood.<\/p>\n I didn’t realize how endangered and restricted Monkey Puzzle is before working with it, but no worries, as mine came from an ornamental tree in Florida and is thus legal to own and trade within the confines of the United States.<\/p>\n All major cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe, although I do use Robert Sorby bowl gouges<\/a> for light final passes before sanding. 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 as well as Abranet screens<\/a> from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is Odie’s Wood Wax.<\/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":" Geographic Distribution: The wood commonly known as Monkey Puzzle is known to botanists and other scientists as Araucaria araucana. A. araucana is native to the Chile and Argentina. A. araucana has also been widely planted as an ornamental tree outside of its native range. For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to A. araucana as Monkey Puzzle from here forward. If you are curious, the common name Monkey Puzzle came about when the tree was grown from seeds in the United Kingdom the spiny bark was speculated to puzzle monkeys as to how to climb such a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,168,171,181,183,188,200,226,230,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nCommon Uses:<\/h2>\n
Sustainability:<\/h2>\n
Health Hazards:<\/h2>\n
My Personal Experiences:<\/h2>\n