Kauri trees, dice towers

[Actionjick]

I was reading on the Google about the Earth's magnetic poles shifting 42,000 years ago ( a topic I have been quite interested in ). A rough date for this shift had been available but scientists were able to get a more exact date from kauri trees that had been buried thousands of years ago in New Zealand.

I recalled a thread or post that mentioned dice towers made from a rare wood from New Zealand and wondered if this is the same wood. Any clues?

 

[bendizoid]

They take core samples out of the North Sea floor. They find repeating patterns in the N/S magnetism of iron atoms that float down. They think the cycle might be connected to our position in relation to the galactic plane. It’s a 26,800 year cycle if I remember correct.

 

[Actionjick]

They take core samples out of the North Sea floor. They find repeating patterns in the N/S magnetism of iron atoms that float down. They think the cycle might be connected to our position in relation to the galactic plane. It’s a 26,800 year cycle if I remember correct.

This data came from analysis of kauri trees pulled out of swamps. The scientists looked at the tree rings and carbon-14 data. I was aware of the sea floor core samples. Very interesting stuff.

 

[von Marwitz]

It’s a 26,800 year cycle if I remember correct.

Yeah, and it will happen on a Monday. I think...

von Marwitz

 

[Actionjick]

They call the reversal the Adam's Transitional Geomagnetic Event in honor of Douglas Adams and 42 from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

 

[RandyT0001]

So after the poles flip, does the US become a 'land down under'?

 

[Actionjick]

So after the poles flip, does the US become a 'land down under'?

I can already taste the vegemite sandwich!

 

[Actionjick]

So after the poles flip, does the US become a 'land down under'?

While magnetic pole shift wouldn't do it there is a geologic mechanism that can, earth crust displacement or shift.The theory was first proposed by Charles Hapgood in the 1950s. Einstein thought it was possible. Very cool stuff for me. Advances in geology and archeoastronomy point to the validity of Hapgood's theory.

I could ramble on about this but don't want to hijack another thread. Even my own!

 

[BattleSchool]

"Swamp Kauri" is a thing in NZ.

Our bedroom and living room furniture is crafted from 30-45K year-old kauri," what used to marketed simply as "swamp Kauri." Commerical (and residential) logging of Kauri trees has been prohibitted for decades, so some have turned to reclaiming wood from ancient swamps. This preserved wood has some unique characteristics, the most visible of which is the sheen or patina resulting from hardened sap. We have a chunk of this kauri gum in our kauri curio display cabinet/coffee table. It looks like a big lump of amber.

I have not seen any dice towers made from Kauri though. Like Rimu, another native NZ tree, Kauri is quite soft, more like pine than birch. Provided you didn't mind it denting relatively easily, Kauri would be easy to work with. It'd certainly be a unique dice tower. But unless you stained it, it would be a bit bland, like white pine, albeit with that unique sheen I mentioned earlier if it was "swamp" Kauri. Some regular Kauri does make it on the market whenever a tree is brought down naturally. So it is available through timber dealers.

FWIW, I'd probably go with the more readily available Rimu. It's a beautiful reddish-brown wood. My wife has a quilt rack made of it. Another fave is red "beech," which is native to the South Island. We picked up a stunning bowl made from a red-beech burl when we first visited NZ in '97. But if I were going to the trouble to make a dice tower out of a native NZ wood, I'd try to get my hands on a nice sample of Towai. Love the look of it on our cribbage board.

 

[Gordon]

Wow, quite the tour of NZ wood! Thanks!

 

[Actionjick]

"Swamp Kauri" is a thing in NZ.

Our bedroom and living room furniture is crafted from 30-45K year-old kauri," what used to marketed simply as "swamp Kauri." Commerical (and residential) logging of Kauri trees has been prohibitted for decades, so some have turned to reclaiming wood from ancient swamps. This preserved wood has some unique characteristics, the most visible of which is the sheen or patina resulting from hardened sap. We have a chunk of this kauri gum in our kauri curio display cabinet/coffee table. It looks like a big lump of amber.

I have not seen any dice towers made from Kauri though. Like Rimu, another native NZ tree, Kauri is quite soft, more like pine than birch. Provided you didn't mind it denting relatively easily, Kauri would be easy to work with. It'd certainly be a unique dice tower. But unless you stained it, it would be a bit bland, like white pine, albeit with that unique sheen I mentioned earlier if it was "swamp" Kauri. Some regular Kauri does make it on the market whenever a tree is brought down natuarlly. So it is available through timber dealers.

FWIW, I'd probably go with the more readily available Rimu. It's a beautiful reddish-brown wood. My wife has a quilt rack made of it. Another fave is red "beech," which is native to the South Island. We picked up a stunning bowl made from a red-beech burl when we first visited NZ in '97. But if I were going to the trouble to make a dice tower out of a native NZ wood, I'd try to get my hands on a nice sample of Towai. Love the look of it on our cribbage board.

Well that certainly seems to have covered all the bases!!! Thanks! I agree with Gordon, nice tour.

I wonder what the tower was made of that I vaguely recall?

 

[BattleSchool]

Wow, quite the tour of NZ wood! Thanks!

Pleasure.

Father was a cabinet-maker by trade. Gained an appreciation for exotic timber from a young age. Have several boxes of exotics downstairs. Wish dad was still around. He'd enjoy making dicetowers from the wood we've both collected over the years. And I could try my hand at laminating some of those exotics together again.