If you run a custom furniture workshop in Australia, you’ve probably noticed that buying timber isn’t as straightforward as it was five years ago. Species that were readily available are now harder to source. Lead times from sawmills have stretched. Prices have increased well above general inflation. And the paperwork required to demonstrate that your timber comes from legal and sustainable sources has become substantially more demanding.

These changes aren’t temporary supply chain hiccups. They reflect structural shifts in the Australian native timber industry that every furniture maker needs to understand and plan for.

The Supply Picture

Australia’s native hardwood supply has been contracting for over a decade. State governments in Victoria, Western Australia, and Queensland have all reduced or eliminated native forest logging in recent years, primarily in response to environmental concerns, threatened species protections, and changing community expectations.

Victoria’s VicForests operation ceased native forest harvesting at the end of 2023. Western Australia announced a phase-out of native forest logging that is progressively reducing supply. Queensland has reduced its native timber harvest significantly over the past decade.

For furniture makers, this means species that have been staples of the Australian craft — Victorian ash (mountain ash and alpine ash), jarrah, karri, marri, and various Queensland hardwoods — are becoming harder to source in furniture-grade quality. The timber is still available from existing stocks, salvage operations, and plantation sources, but supply is tighter and more fragmented.

Tasmanian timber has partially filled the gap. Tasmania continues to manage its native forests for timber production, and species like Tasmanian oak (a marketing name for three eucalyptus species: E. regnans, E. obliqua, and E. delegatensis), Tasmanian blackwood, Huon pine, and myrtle beech remain available from Tasmanian sawmills. But Tasmanian supply isn’t unlimited, and freight costs to mainland workshops add to the delivered price.

Plantation Timber: The Growing Alternative

Australian hardwood plantations are increasingly important for furniture-grade timber. Spotted gum, blackbutt, and flooded gum plantations established 20-30 years ago are now yielding sawlog-size trees, and the quality of plantation-grown timber has improved significantly as silvicultural practices have been refined.

Plantation timber is different from native forest timber in several ways that matter for furniture making. Growth rings are typically wider and more uniform, which affects grain appearance. Density can be slightly lower in fast-grown plantation timber compared to slow-grown native forest timber of the same species. Colour variation within boards may be less pronounced.

These differences aren’t necessarily negatives — many clients prefer the more consistent appearance of plantation timber — but furniture makers need to understand them when selecting and working with the material.

The Forest and Wood Products Australia research body has published extensive guidance on working with plantation-grown hardwoods, including specific recommendations for drying schedules, machining parameters, and finishing techniques that account for the different properties of plantation versus native forest timber.

Pricing Reality

Furniture-grade Australian hardwood prices have increased 30-60% over the past three years depending on species and grade. Premium species like Tasmanian blackwood, Huon pine, and figured silky oak have seen even larger increases.

Several factors drive this. Reduced native forest supply is the obvious one, but it’s not the only factor. Strong demand from the construction sector for structural timber (particularly for mass timber buildings) means sawmills prioritise structural grades over furniture grades because structural customers buy in larger volumes. Energy costs for kiln drying have increased. Skilled sawmill workers are in short supply, which limits processing capacity even when logs are available.

For custom furniture workshops, this pricing pressure requires careful management. Some approaches that are working:

Buy ahead. Workshops that maintain larger timber inventories absorb price increases more gradually. Buying six months’ stock when pricing is favourable rather than buying per-project at spot prices provides a buffer.

Diversify species. Workshops that offer clients a range of species rather than specialising in one or two are less vulnerable to supply disruptions for any single species. A client who came in wanting blackwood might be equally happy with a well-selected piece of spotted gum once they see and feel the timber.

Use offcuts and shorts. Furniture-grade timber isn’t just about full-length boards. Table tops, door panels, and drawer fronts can be made from shorter boards edge-joined together. Workshops that are skilled at selecting and joining shorter lengths can source material at lower cost than those that insist on full-length boards.

Consider recycled timber. Demolition salvage continues to be a viable source for certain species, particularly hardwoods from pre-1960 buildings. The timber is typically well-seasoned, often in old-growth grades no longer available from new harvest, and has character that new timber lacks. The caveat is consistency — salvaged timber requires more careful selection and preparation, and quantity for large projects can be difficult to guarantee.

Certification and Due Diligence

The days of buying timber without asking where it came from are effectively over. Major clients, particularly commercial and institutional buyers, increasingly require evidence that timber used in their furniture comes from legal, sustainable sources.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certification provide the most recognised frameworks. Furniture workshops that want to supply certified products need to obtain Chain of Custody certification, which involves documented procedures for tracking certified material through the workshop and keeping it separate from uncertified material.

The certification process isn’t onerous for a small workshop — annual costs are typically $2,000-4,000 depending on the certification body and audit requirements — but it requires discipline in record-keeping and material handling that some workshops find burdensome.

Even without formal certification, furniture makers need to maintain records showing where their timber came from. This is increasingly a basic expectation rather than a premium service. Clients ask, and you need to be able to answer.

Planning for the Next Five Years

The trajectory is clear. Australian native hardwood supply from native forests will continue to contract. Plantation supply will grow but won’t fully replace native forest volumes in the medium term. Prices will remain elevated. Certification and provenance documentation will become standard expectations.

Furniture workshops that plan for this reality — by diversifying their species range, investing in timber inventory, developing skills with plantation timber, and establishing reliable supply relationships with good sawmills — will be better positioned than those that assume the situation is temporary.

The timber is still beautiful. Australian hardwoods remain among the finest furniture-making materials in the world. But accessing that material in 2026 requires more planning, more knowledge, and more commercial discipline than it did a decade ago. The workshops that adapt will thrive. The ones that don’t will struggle with supply disruptions, cost blow-outs, and delivery delays that erode client confidence.

Adapt now. The market isn’t going back to how it was.