My local carpenter friend here in Hualien Taiwan has recently been trying to source more local tree for furniture making after the Cultural Affairs Department asked him to promote local woodworking and wood. I helped him sort through which trees would work and we got a whole bunch of interesting local wood including local cinnamon (Cinnamomum osmophloeum). The wood is actually incredibly lovely and displays ribbons all throughout the grain as well as having a light cinnamon smell about the wood. The only issue is grain tear out. Very difficult to plane. The second is a slab of 100+ year old Long'an I had found for him some time before. He used local Zelkova for the the back and legs. Incredibly beautiful and sadly my phone just can't make it look the same.
