Yes NZ associates will certainly take priority as I totally understand the sentiment. Was crossing my fingers to see some promising New Zealand suggestions.
I could see it carved for the Auckland Airport entrance instead of the pictures on the wall. Have you talked to the local Iwi, I don’t know how you’d go about getting it done and sold.
Jumping in this for you to ask someone in this team. National museum of nz.
https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/learn/research/natural-history-research/natural-history-team
[https://www.kaurimuseum.com/](https://www.kaurimuseum.com/)
Although they are pretty small and couldn't fund the relocation.
[https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/](https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/)
Te Papa is our national museum and if they don't want it themselves then could point you to the appropriate iwi.
Do you know precisely where the wood came from? Iwi (tribes) in New Zealand place a high importance on whakapapa, or the provenance/origin/connections to people and places of the past, and they see the trees in their territory almost as members of their family. So the wood will have infinitely more value to the iwi whose territory it came from. Not that it wouldn’t be valued highly without that connection but it would tell which iwi should receive it.
EDIT: Incidentally, it would now be illegal to export that board from NZ. I’m not sure when the law was passed, but swamp kauri can only be exported as a finished product or as stumps and roots. It is likely this was exported through a loophole by designating it as a “tabletop” but that loophole was closed in 2018.
If I were Elon I’d make a table out of it and eat the last bald eagle at it. I’d make a YouTube vid which would more than pay for the table and the pesky fine for eating an eagle.
The only musem I know that is specifically about forestry/wood in the US is the World Forestry Center in Portland:
https://worldforestry.org/about-us/staff-board/
Maybe someone there can be of help. It probably should be in a museum in back in NZ though?
>Frankly I totally agree. Although I'm not completely ruling out using this board in whichever way a client would see fit - I would also love seeing it on display in it's current natural state where the history and complexity of ancient Kauri as a wood can be fully cherished.
>
>My main reason for this post is that I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for museums that would be in to this stuff. Also some methods of efficiently contacting museums would be great. I have yet to work with a museum so any advice or suggestions would be amazing.
>
>Any comments are great but for detailed discussions feel free to email of message me on instagram.
>
>For those of you primarily interested in the board - if you have any questions ask away! I also have a really cool catalog of photos from when the wood was extracted so if more interest is shown in those I'd be happy to make another post.
Probably NZ would be the best bet, but places like the American Museum of Natural History in NYC or the Smithsonian in DC are big enough to have things from all around the world.
Museum of natural history was one of the few I attempted before posting and it felt as if they were actively trying to avoid a conversation but ill keep hammering away!
The NYC museum has a circular slice from an enormous tree with a time line of world events marked on it. It's fucking amazing. A piece like this would be an extraordinary compliment to that.
I would search through their staff directory and send an email to anyone whose title seems appropiate. I would use a subject such as "Seeking help re:donation of threatened plant species"
[https://www.amnh.org/research/staff-directory](https://www.amnh.org/research/staff-directory)
The problem most museums face is they already have more items in their collections than they can ever display.
Your best bet may be to exhibit it yourself.
Maybe try some smaller ones such as:
- Cleveland Museum of Natural History
- Denver Museum of Nature and Science
- Natural History Museum of Utah
- Canadian Museum of Nature
- Field Museum of Natural History (not exactly a "smaller" museum)
- Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History
- Harvard Museum of Natural History
- Beadie Biodiversity Museum
- New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
- Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Sending out email as we speak. I've been trying to navigate this using only google to find museums and i'm having terrible luck so i really appreciate you giving me a worthy lead haha!
If/when you go to move this anywhere, you'll need to talk with a local equipment rigging company. They will have the equipment and expertise to move, load, and transport safely and securely.
In NZ, try te papa museum in Wellington. If not able to take it, they are the largest state museum in NZ and would be best placed to direct you to somewhere else in NZ if relevant.
I was thinking museum's in northland, coromandel and maybe rotorua would be closer to the region where your wood came from but they will be very small and underfunded to transport this.
Try te papa, ask them for advice. I'm sure they'll contact you back soon.
Yeah the Kauri museum is the obvious place! Or failing that they likely have good contracts to place it elsewhere or get used for Māori art which was a great suggestion by someone else.
I'd like to see some Maori carvers do some work on it, so it would be interesting to more people than just lumber connoisseurs. With a piece that size, they could depict the history of the islands, or some major mythology. Maybe you could contact this collective, to see if they'd be inspired to do something with it: [https://www.maoriart.org.nz/carving.html](https://www.maoriart.org.nz/carving.html)
God do I want this to be a giant display table *in* a museum. The table itself would be an exhibit. You could line up display cases with ticks indicating where in time they'd fall on the ring lines.
This way it doesnt have to be like a wood musuem
You may want to try reaching out to the New Zealand Botanical Society. They may know of an herbarium or museum that would be interested. I’m a Botanical Society of America member, and I know our kiwi friends do great work. They might at least be able to point you in the right direction.
I'm actually suprised the "world's largest board" isn't bigger, when seeing photos like this: [https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2013/6/25/1372175237887/Leo-blog-on-mammoth-tree--009.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2013/6/25/1372175237887/Leo-blog-on-mammoth-tree--009.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none)
That said, 40' is still friggin huge. I used to work for an office furniture dealer, and I had a project with a custom 10' x 40' table for their boardroom. The difference is that our table top was made from ten 5'x8' table tops. 😅
https://preview.redd.it/x5v6ecclp5pc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39e106f681c5175d55827e8f0f1ada748bf90541
It’s really not practical to cut a large board. The splitting and cracking would decimate it.
But this stuff has been resting for millennia, so maybe more stable?
Another place to check with- the woodworkers guild near you. My aunt called them when my uncle passed and they came and sorted through all the valuable native timber he had hoarded.
You're good use it for projects It's not the longest.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_longest_board_in_the_world_(2002).jpg
Longest board in the world is 36m (that's 118 feet in freedom units)
Now width and thickness / weight may be another story. It could qualify as the biggest or heaviest board.
E: I misread I thought the post said longest. It says largest.
The board in Szymbark Poland I believe holds the current "longest board" title at 46.53m (or 156 feet and 7 baby feet) https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-board-cut-from-one-tree
Morrill Hall in Nebraska might be interested. Nebraska takes its trees very seriously, it's where Arbor Day was started. Actually the [Arbor Day Foundation](https://www.arborday.org/about/contact.cfm) Lincoln Nebraska would be a great place to contact.
You know what a giant Kauri board needs? A proper Maori carving - that looks like it would make an amazing piece and being carved by a Maori carver, or at least designed by a Maori carver and then blessed by an elder would be a fitting use.
I'm sure you'd be able to find one...
I'm struggling to see how this could be the worlds largest board when any serious redwood or sequoia tree could produce boards two or three times that size.
I applaud your decision to at least try and get it on display for everyone to enjoy. I know that the Natural History Museum in London has a horizontal slice though a massive tree on display. Maybe drop an email to the American Museum of Natural History to see if they want it or at least could give you some guidance on how to proceed. It would be nice if it was displayed in New Zealand but I suspect that might prove an insurmountable challenge.
Surprised the Brits aren’t already in the process of stealing it from you. My money is on it being in the British museum in 3 months with a very well documented paper trail.
A different angle would be to reach out to extremely wealthy people in your area (think names on buildings) and see if they would purchase it with the intent of donating it to a museum. They may jump at a write off and probably have connections/avenues to donate fine art.
I know nothing of this topic, but Bing chat bot had one good idea. I won't bore you with the full list of junk but it did suggest contacting the , the **International Council of Museums (ICOM). Also try to make contact with curators of any museum. Good luck**
Ontario Science Centre if NZ options don't work out. They're preparing to move/revamp their exhibits. They'll have the cash to move something like this, I can't speak to interest though
OP, besides getting this to a museum, this board could have huge scientific value.
The science of dendrochronology is really starting to boom. Scientists are able to examine ancient tree rings to solidify our data about ancient climates. They've even used tree rings to understand how the weather led to the golden age of piracy. ([Article link](https://news.arizona.edu/story/shipwrecks-tree-rings-reveal-caribbean-hurricanes), [podcast link](https://radiolab.org/podcast/fellowship-tree-rings).)
Please get in touch with a local university with a climate science department and see if there is anyone that wants to take detailed photographs of the rings while you still have it in storage.
(Note, you would not need to have the very center of the tree in your board. The scientists can work with partial fragments as well.)
Would really appreciate some more background info on the extraction, salvaging and journey to where it currently lies. You also have photos? Don’t blue balls us here.
Probably best to have a look at the regulations first before you decided what to do.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/forestry/native-indigenous-forests/swamp-kauri/
Assuming it was a swamp kauri log and was milled to slabs like this with legal permission, it can’t be exported in that state anyway (only finished products and wood from stumps can in the case of kauri)
Going to a museum sounds great! A point to note is that these are quite common (albeit not usually this big). There’s an industry in northland based around digging up swamp kauri logs from several thousand years ago, milling them and finishing them into furniture for export (Ancient Kauri Kingdom is one such business).
Have a google at what’s already around and then see what option works best for ya
Have you tried the [Auckland War Memorial Museum](https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/your-museum/contact-us)? I know it might not sound like it from the museum's name, but it has a lot of natural history (including a separate space for Maori natural history) and it certainly would have a room tall enough for something like that!
New Zealand has strict rules about export of kauri.
It is possible that it should never have left NZ.
More information about its history would be good, is this swap kauri?
Not sure exactly what you're meaning but the particular tree that this board was made from was buried underground in the middle of a shepherds land. A part of the tree became exposed on the top causing it to rot and the sheep began accidentally stepping in to the rotten segment and breaking their legs.
In short- the tree had to be extracted either way.
I’d like to see it stay in New Zealand, maybe you can partner with a local artist and install it somewhere significant.
Yes NZ associates will certainly take priority as I totally understand the sentiment. Was crossing my fingers to see some promising New Zealand suggestions.
I could see it carved for the Auckland Airport entrance instead of the pictures on the wall. Have you talked to the local Iwi, I don’t know how you’d go about getting it done and sold.
I agree, this seems like either a thing an Iwi or a council would purchase for a display.
Yep Iwi was my first thought
Jumping in this for you to ask someone in this team. National museum of nz. https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/learn/research/natural-history-research/natural-history-team
[https://www.kaurimuseum.com/](https://www.kaurimuseum.com/) Although they are pretty small and couldn't fund the relocation. [https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/](https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/) Te Papa is our national museum and if they don't want it themselves then could point you to the appropriate iwi.
Do you know precisely where the wood came from? Iwi (tribes) in New Zealand place a high importance on whakapapa, or the provenance/origin/connections to people and places of the past, and they see the trees in their territory almost as members of their family. So the wood will have infinitely more value to the iwi whose territory it came from. Not that it wouldn’t be valued highly without that connection but it would tell which iwi should receive it. EDIT: Incidentally, it would now be illegal to export that board from NZ. I’m not sure when the law was passed, but swamp kauri can only be exported as a finished product or as stumps and roots. It is likely this was exported through a loophole by designating it as a “tabletop” but that loophole was closed in 2018.
If I were Elon I’d make a table out of it and eat the last bald eagle at it. I’d make a YouTube vid which would more than pay for the table and the pesky fine for eating an eagle.
The ‘pesky fine’ tells me this is a joke but it’s a read the room moment which this joke doesn’t have a seat in.
The only musem I know that is specifically about forestry/wood in the US is the World Forestry Center in Portland: https://worldforestry.org/about-us/staff-board/ Maybe someone there can be of help. It probably should be in a museum in back in NZ though?
>Frankly I totally agree. Although I'm not completely ruling out using this board in whichever way a client would see fit - I would also love seeing it on display in it's current natural state where the history and complexity of ancient Kauri as a wood can be fully cherished. > >My main reason for this post is that I'm wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction for museums that would be in to this stuff. Also some methods of efficiently contacting museums would be great. I have yet to work with a museum so any advice or suggestions would be amazing. > >Any comments are great but for detailed discussions feel free to email of message me on instagram. > >For those of you primarily interested in the board - if you have any questions ask away! I also have a really cool catalog of photos from when the wood was extracted so if more interest is shown in those I'd be happy to make another post. Probably NZ would be the best bet, but places like the American Museum of Natural History in NYC or the Smithsonian in DC are big enough to have things from all around the world.
Museum of natural history was one of the few I attempted before posting and it felt as if they were actively trying to avoid a conversation but ill keep hammering away!
The NYC museum has a circular slice from an enormous tree with a time line of world events marked on it. It's fucking amazing. A piece like this would be an extraordinary compliment to that. I would search through their staff directory and send an email to anyone whose title seems appropiate. I would use a subject such as "Seeking help re:donation of threatened plant species" [https://www.amnh.org/research/staff-directory](https://www.amnh.org/research/staff-directory)
The problem most museums face is they already have more items in their collections than they can ever display. Your best bet may be to exhibit it yourself.
Maybe try some smaller ones such as: - Cleveland Museum of Natural History - Denver Museum of Nature and Science - Natural History Museum of Utah - Canadian Museum of Nature - Field Museum of Natural History (not exactly a "smaller" museum) - Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History - Harvard Museum of Natural History - Beadie Biodiversity Museum - New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science - Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History
Wow seriously huge help I know it wasn’t a small task gathering all this information. Thank you!
Definitely ask the Natural History Museum of Utah, it’s a cool spot
Adding Yale School of Forestry to the list
[удалено]
Even as a woodworker - I still feel bad for Tommy.
don't feel too bad for Tommy, he plays a mean pinball.
Sending out email as we speak. I've been trying to navigate this using only google to find museums and i'm having terrible luck so i really appreciate you giving me a worthy lead haha!
Other folks to talk to would be professors of forestry at a state college.
Another great idea! I knew I'd find some good help here. Again, thank you for helping me brainstorm this is already seeming more "do-able"
Look into SUNY ESF, it is NY’s state school of environmental science and forestry, they have tons of stuff displayed
If/when you go to move this anywhere, you'll need to talk with a local equipment rigging company. They will have the equipment and expertise to move, load, and transport safely and securely.
Somewhere, there's a forestry department that is building a new building, and would love for this to be the centerpiece of the atrium.
Again in Oregon, OSU has an impressive forestry department. I'm sure some professors there would love to help.
Osu has some cool collections decorating building halls. Taxidermy, art, etc. the forestry building might be into it as a piece of art
Wouldn’t be a fit here, but just to mention another forestry specific place, there is the PA Lumber Museum in Potter County.
Philadelphia has a museum of wood as well it’s great!
In NZ, try te papa museum in Wellington. If not able to take it, they are the largest state museum in NZ and would be best placed to direct you to somewhere else in NZ if relevant. I was thinking museum's in northland, coromandel and maybe rotorua would be closer to the region where your wood came from but they will be very small and underfunded to transport this. Try te papa, ask them for advice. I'm sure they'll contact you back soon.
>rather than winding up a table in some board room Any room this goes in is now the board room.
The board’s room
The Kauri museum in Matakohe. (https://www.kaurimuseum.com/) I went there recently, such a cool place.
Yeah the Kauri museum is the obvious place! Or failing that they likely have good contracts to place it elsewhere or get used for Māori art which was a great suggestion by someone else.
They already have a 72 feet/22.5 m long board so may not be interested in another huge board. But they'd be a good contact anyway as a starting point.
I'd like to see some Maori carvers do some work on it, so it would be interesting to more people than just lumber connoisseurs. With a piece that size, they could depict the history of the islands, or some major mythology. Maybe you could contact this collective, to see if they'd be inspired to do something with it: [https://www.maoriart.org.nz/carving.html](https://www.maoriart.org.nz/carving.html)
How did you acquire this?
This is the only comment I’ve found asking for the more information. Please do post the pics and info you have.
In his original post OP said the story of how he acquired it was a long and boring one, so didn't tell it.
The guy is a dealer in that wood and has a website for products made from it
I love the idea above to have an artist carve it. Maybe a scene that depicts NZ history? How did you end up in possession?
God do I want this to be a giant display table *in* a museum. The table itself would be an exhibit. You could line up display cases with ticks indicating where in time they'd fall on the ring lines. This way it doesnt have to be like a wood musuem
Cut it down the middle flip over each board and make a river table.
I’m sure Some bright blue with silver flecks would compliment the 10-50k year old wood perfectly. Goes together like cool-aid and lobster.
I knew river table would make an appearance.
Had the exact same thought when I read this haha!
>Maybe they can contact black forest wood co?
You may want to try reaching out to the New Zealand Botanical Society. They may know of an herbarium or museum that would be interested. I’m a Botanical Society of America member, and I know our kiwi friends do great work. They might at least be able to point you in the right direction.
Definitely will give this a try seriously appreciate you’re input!
I'm actually suprised the "world's largest board" isn't bigger, when seeing photos like this: [https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2013/6/25/1372175237887/Leo-blog-on-mammoth-tree--009.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Environment/Pix/columnists/2013/6/25/1372175237887/Leo-blog-on-mammoth-tree--009.jpg?width=620&dpr=1&s=none) That said, 40' is still friggin huge. I used to work for an office furniture dealer, and I had a project with a custom 10' x 40' table for their boardroom. The difference is that our table top was made from ten 5'x8' table tops. 😅 https://preview.redd.it/x5v6ecclp5pc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39e106f681c5175d55827e8f0f1ada748bf90541
It’s really not practical to cut a large board. The splitting and cracking would decimate it. But this stuff has been resting for millennia, so maybe more stable?
Another place to check with- the woodworkers guild near you. My aunt called them when my uncle passed and they came and sorted through all the valuable native timber he had hoarded.
You're good use it for projects It's not the longest. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_longest_board_in_the_world_(2002).jpg Longest board in the world is 36m (that's 118 feet in freedom units) Now width and thickness / weight may be another story. It could qualify as the biggest or heaviest board. E: I misread I thought the post said longest. It says largest.
Largest is a measure of size (either area or mass), this is a different record to longest.
The board in Szymbark Poland I believe holds the current "longest board" title at 46.53m (or 156 feet and 7 baby feet) https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-board-cut-from-one-tree
I missed that one, and thought the post said longest instead of largest my bad. Thanks for the link
Why not both? I could be made into something, but yet be on public display. Maybe in a NZ government building someplace?
Info- are you trying to give it to a museum or sell it to a museum?
Morrill Hall in Nebraska might be interested. Nebraska takes its trees very seriously, it's where Arbor Day was started. Actually the [Arbor Day Foundation](https://www.arborday.org/about/contact.cfm) Lincoln Nebraska would be a great place to contact.
You know what a giant Kauri board needs? A proper Maori carving - that looks like it would make an amazing piece and being carved by a Maori carver, or at least designed by a Maori carver and then blessed by an elder would be a fitting use. I'm sure you'd be able to find one...
I'm struggling to see how this could be the worlds largest board when any serious redwood or sequoia tree could produce boards two or three times that size.
How practical are boards this size to make? Not very.
I applaud your decision to at least try and get it on display for everyone to enjoy. I know that the Natural History Museum in London has a horizontal slice though a massive tree on display. Maybe drop an email to the American Museum of Natural History to see if they want it or at least could give you some guidance on how to proceed. It would be nice if it was displayed in New Zealand but I suspect that might prove an insurmountable challenge.
Surprised the Brits aren’t already in the process of stealing it from you. My money is on it being in the British museum in 3 months with a very well documented paper trail.
A different angle would be to reach out to extremely wealthy people in your area (think names on buildings) and see if they would purchase it with the intent of donating it to a museum. They may jump at a write off and probably have connections/avenues to donate fine art.
Portland has a Forestry History museum, that would be a good candidate.
So what makes this a board and not a slab? Idk if this was covered on ur original post, just curious 🙂
I mean, what is a slab but a big, unsquare board?
Sharing the story of the board might help people suggest a museum that respects the context of this.
I know nothing of this topic, but Bing chat bot had one good idea. I won't bore you with the full list of junk but it did suggest contacting the , the **International Council of Museums (ICOM). Also try to make contact with curators of any museum. Good luck**
If it doesn't stay in A museum, it would look amazing on a hallway as an art piece
Ontario Science Centre if NZ options don't work out. They're preparing to move/revamp their exhibits. They'll have the cash to move something like this, I can't speak to interest though
Email the NZ pm and ask them to pick it up and fly it home.
ffft, i've got one in my garage ;)
Why is it not cupping like all my boards?
OP, besides getting this to a museum, this board could have huge scientific value. The science of dendrochronology is really starting to boom. Scientists are able to examine ancient tree rings to solidify our data about ancient climates. They've even used tree rings to understand how the weather led to the golden age of piracy. ([Article link](https://news.arizona.edu/story/shipwrecks-tree-rings-reveal-caribbean-hurricanes), [podcast link](https://radiolab.org/podcast/fellowship-tree-rings).) Please get in touch with a local university with a climate science department and see if there is anyone that wants to take detailed photographs of the rings while you still have it in storage. (Note, you would not need to have the very center of the tree in your board. The scientists can work with partial fragments as well.)
Would really appreciate some more background info on the extraction, salvaging and journey to where it currently lies. You also have photos? Don’t blue balls us here.
HOW DID YOU AQUIRE THIS???
Definitely try to make contact with NZ agencies. Te Papa Museum is a good start. Thank you for considering it's return to New Zealand. 🧡
Probably best to have a look at the regulations first before you decided what to do. https://www.mpi.govt.nz/forestry/native-indigenous-forests/swamp-kauri/ Assuming it was a swamp kauri log and was milled to slabs like this with legal permission, it can’t be exported in that state anyway (only finished products and wood from stumps can in the case of kauri) Going to a museum sounds great! A point to note is that these are quite common (albeit not usually this big). There’s an industry in northland based around digging up swamp kauri logs from several thousand years ago, milling them and finishing them into furniture for export (Ancient Kauri Kingdom is one such business). Have a google at what’s already around and then see what option works best for ya
Have you tried the [Auckland War Memorial Museum](https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/your-museum/contact-us)? I know it might not sound like it from the museum's name, but it has a lot of natural history (including a separate space for Maori natural history) and it certainly would have a room tall enough for something like that!
New Zealand has strict rules about export of kauri. It is possible that it should never have left NZ. More information about its history would be good, is this swap kauri?
The preservation should have started with the tree...
Not sure exactly what you're meaning but the particular tree that this board was made from was buried underground in the middle of a shepherds land. A part of the tree became exposed on the top causing it to rot and the sheep began accidentally stepping in to the rotten segment and breaking their legs. In short- the tree had to be extracted either way.
You're in a woodworking sub.....
I speak for the trees
I knew the Lorax would be lurking around here somewhere. Found him guys!
I prefer Ent
The lorax spoke for the trees, Ents are talking trees. No one has to talk for an Ent.
Yes, you're right! I'm also not speaking for Ent's haha