The local wood worker who is my friend and teacher here in Hualien, Taiwan has recently been commissioned by the city government to produce furniture to showcase indigenous Taiwanese woods that are readily available and often overlooked in favour of illegally collected endangered species. He's been showcasing a lot of tables, benches, stools and creative chairs made out of Zelkova, Acacia Confusa, Cinnamon, Camphor, Long'an and Chinese Elm. A lot of this wood has issues seasoning in our humid and hot climate and checking is sort of part of the game. He has been doing a lot of butterflies to stop checks. I recommeded him trying our some local chrysanthemum vine to replace unstable knots and checks. He quickly turned a bunch of plugs to replace the knots in a set of Taiwanese Fir tables he was making and then replaced the checked center of a Sumac chair with and originally shaped piece of chrysanthemum. Definitely a worthwhile pursuit. It has become one of the first things people notice about his furniture on display.
