From our series of Profiling The Woods We Use
WHAT IS RED BEECH?
Red beech (Fuscospora fusca) is primarily found in the upper parts of the South Island of New Zealand, growing primarily in the foothills and inland river valley floors particularly where soils are fertile and well drained.
Red beech heartwood is a mixture of light to medium red-brown colours, with the sapwood introducing a lighter brown to grey tone. It has a straight zebra-like fine and even grain texture. Red beech is suitable for a range of uses and products such as joinery and flooring.
RED BEECH AS A FLUTE WOOD
Red Beech – or Southern beech – is a highly decorative hardwood with a natural sheen and lustre. This Southern Beech has a very resonance voice and a lovely medium weight. It has a variety of pink, red and yellow hues and flecks.
WHAT LOOKS GOOD WITH RED BEECH?
Oh my goodness, this wood has the glow of a sunset fire and the grain of a wild savannah animal. What could we add to this? Mostly we don’t, but if you’re feeling particularly wild, try it with the wild tiger-print grain of Rewarewa.
Tigers Eye and garnet look great with this wood.
HOW STABLE IS THIS WOOD?
Red Beech is an extremely stable and enduring wood, being hard, strong and heavy. The wood is straight-grained, evenly textured with an alluring red fleck.
SUSTAINABLE WOODS
We get our wood from Jon, a Trustee of New Zealand Sustainable Forests Products. Jon has 20-years’ experience in managing forests under sustainable forest management legislation and remains committed to the utilization of timber resources through the application of ecologically sensitive continuous-cover forestry. Jon sets aside some lovely pieces for Southern Cross Flutes.
WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS SAY ABOUT RED CEDAR
Hi Todd
I have had my new flute out of the box for an hour now and I absolutely love it, the tone is wonderful and harmonises accurately across the whole scale. The red beech is stunning. It is the clear and sonorous tone that marks you out as an outstanding master flute maker. I am going to have so many happy hours with this flute, and it presents so much variety with combinations on removing the pegs. Many thanks to you and the craftspeople in your workshop.
Jude, Red Beech Temple Drone Flute
A FEW RED BEECH FLUTES WE HAVE CRAFTED
LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?
Check out our Made to Order Red Beech Flutes
Or go to our Design Your Own Flute online form (scroll to the bottom the page) and let us know what you want.
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