Douglas Brooks recently forwarded an email from Vergennes, Vermont, with a query he had received from a New Zealand construction wood supplier who imports Japanese cedar (sugi) and cypress (hinoki). The supplier, knowing of Douglas’s knowledge of Japanese boatbuilding from a profile about him in WB No. 280 and numerous articles he has written over the years, asked about the boatbuilding potential for these woods.
“We are working with a company in Italy,” the query stated, “that caters to the design and build industry for luxury boats, both small and very large. Last month we sent samples of hinoki and sugi from Yoshino to them, which they took to a recent trade show in Milan. This in turn caused some interest, as the more traditional timbers such as teak and mahogany are now becoming too expensive and extremely hard to find in legal and traceable supplies. I have attempted to find creditable research that explains the properties of either sugi or hinoki in relation to marine use. I have found timber industry references to hinoki performing in damp and semi-wet areas such as bathrooms and kitchens, but nothing about the use of hinoki or sugi in the marine world.”
In response to this request for research findings, I corresponded further with Douglas, exchanging experiences that he and I have had in our visits to Japan, his as a scholar studying Japanese boatbuilding skills and mine as a collaborator with Japanese wood scientists.