Worked through three jobs this month that needed careful timber sourcing — a dining table in spotted gum, a wall of cabinetry in Tasmanian oak veneer over plywood, and a feature bench in reclaimed messmate. The conversation with timber yards in May 2026 is more honest than it was three years ago. Worth writing down.

The honest summary on Australian native hardwoods.

Tasmanian oak supply has been firmer than expected through 2025 and into 2026. The certified plantation and regrowth supply has scaled enough that the average yard is carrying boards in workable widths. The pricing has been broadly stable. The catch is the colour and figure variation has widened — the average board is more variable than it was five years ago. Selecting a clean stack for a feature top still takes patience.

Spotted gum is comfortable for outdoor decking and structural work but the joinery-grade boards in wide widths are harder to find. The yards with the consistent supply have moved their pricing up. The dining table client this month accepted a slightly narrower top width than the original sketch because the wide boards were not available at the budget.

Blackbutt is plentiful and the yards are competitive on pricing. The grade variation is the question. The structural-grade boards are easy. The select-grade boards for furniture are getting picked over faster than they used to be.

Jarrah supply remains tight and the pricing is at the high end. The yards with a strong second-hand or reclaimed stock are the practical source for any feature work in jarrah in 2026.

Messmate and Victorian ash are still good options for budget-conscious furniture jobs where the client wants a Tasmanian-oak look without the pricing. The wider plantation supply through 2024–2026 has kept these grades workable.

A note on the recycled and reclaimed market. The supply of reclaimed timber from demolition work has eased a little from the very tight conditions of 2022–2023. The pricing has not moved down to match the better supply — the yards have invested in milling, drying, and certification capacity and they are charging for the value they add. The reclaimed bench-top job this month came in about 35% above the equivalent in new-cut hardwood. The client accepted the premium for the look and the provenance.

The certification conversation has matured. Most yards now carry FSC or PEFC certified stock in the volume grades. The Responsible Wood / AFS labelling is more common than it was. Furniture makers writing certified-supply specifications into their contracts can mostly source the work in May 2026 without paying a premium for the certification itself.

A few practical recommendations from the workshop side:

Talk to two yards on any timber order over a few thousand dollars. The pricing variation between yards is wider than it has been in five years.

Specify moisture content acceptance more tightly. The yards have been getting away with looser drying specifications than they should. A maker who specifies and tests moisture content at delivery gets better stock.

Build the timber-grade variation conversation into the client brief earlier. Show the client a representative range of the actual stock you will be working with. The client who has seen three boards rather than one styled photograph is much less likely to push back on grade variation in the finished piece.

The supply story for the rest of 2026 looks stable on volume but the grade-quality conversation will keep getting tighter. The next twelve months are not the time to assume a yard will hold a particular look for you for three months — order earlier and select harder.