A very different wood burl

[Ivan Campos]

I was placing an order with a friend who sells wood for knife handles and other aplications as well and he said: "if you are not afraid of a really hard wood, I´ll send you something that is worth the extra effort". How could I decline the challenge?
Today I got my order and this piece - a burl from cana fistula - sememd to jump above the rest. Took it to the grinder to polish one side and yes, it is hard. The wood seller told me I couldn´t shape a handle with only one new 36 grit belt - bat as you see, using more belts really pays off.
Too bad my scanner can´t show how good it looks - kind of a marbled, deep surface with lines running wildly to all directions, in colors that go from chocolate brown to very light yellowish green. No matter how you cut it, though, it is full of imperfections that show as you polish/cut it, but these are like a characteristic of the wood and I don´t think they affect the overall looks.
What I am going to do with it? Well, there is that big Karambit blade waiting for a handle, so...

 

[indian george]

That looks Coooool Scana

 

[Peter Atwood]

Nice Ivan! Down where you are it shouldn't be hard to get some fantastic woods.

 

[shappa]

Nice looking wood.
How are you going to finish it?...have it stabilized?, fill the voids with super glue?

 

[J. Neilson]

Neat Stuff!!!

 

[Ivan Campos]

I cut off two slabs and ground then today and I am more than convinced that now I know where the term "hardwood" came from. But it is beautyful, nonetheless, and hopefully I´ll get more of it
The two slabs I cut have relactivelly minor voids in then so I am leaving them empty - they will get filled with resin later, anyway.
Peter, I´ll have the rest of the woods scanned and polished and will put them in another thread, along with others I already had, so you can take a look at then. It is just a very, very small sample, though.

 

[ddavelarsen]

Ivan that really is beautiful. It'll be worth the extra effort and will be a very special handle when you're done. I sure wish we had stuff like that around here!

 

[Ivan Campos]

here is a scan of the slabs I was working working at. Even at an 80 grit polish, they already look very nice.