> In most of the material I have read, including Nick's book, the timbers
> recommended are Western Red Cedar, and other species from Northern
> America. These are all prohibitively expensive here in Australia. At least
> on my budget. Enough Western Red is A$650.00, just over a weeks pay. Most
> of the timbers we have commonly available here are very heavy(most of our
> hardwoods won't float), but heaps strong. Most of our softwoods are harder
> and heavier than the hardwoods I've worked with from Nth America. In order
> to save weight, how thin can you go with the strips? If the timber has
> enough strength, could I safely go down to 4mm (5/32")? I realise
> that the timber is there to space the inner & outer layers of glass
> apart to gain strength, how strong does the timber have to be? There is a
> species available as an experimental crop called Paulownia. It is
> extremely light, about .28 specific gravity, but very soft, something like
> balsa.

This wood called Paulownia is very light in both weight and colour. I believe that it is used quite a lot in Japan in building dressers and drawers for clothing because of its ability to 'wick' moisture away from the clothes, thus keeping them from getting mildewed (is that a word??) and what have you. I wonder if this property might have some impact on how much resin it could soak up. If anyone has any info on this I would be interested to hear, as I have found a very inexpensive source.

Thanks, Kelly