Check out this ironwood!

Joined
Nov 28, 1999
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Not sure exactly which knife it is going on, but I just couldnt let these slabs sit on the Texas Knifemaker's Supply table!
 
Sweet. I love that wood, my fave wood to work. I wish all of my customers liked it as much as I do!!! Ironwood is a great, durable, solid wood..its just kinda pricey at around $20 a pop or so, and some people like micarta or G10 cuz its completely waterproof and a little more durable and grippy. I'm planning some 6" OAL raindrop damascus blades with ironwood in the near future :) I get my ironwood from www.ironwoodbydon.com great guy, great quality!
 
I've heard of it, been asked to buy some, and have seen other pictures of it but never had any of it. After seeing yours I will now.

Roger
 
Roger, I don't mean to sound like Safety Sam here, but, if you have never worked with Ironwood before, get a good fitting respirator, the type that takes cartridges. Get organic vapor/formaldehyde cartridges. Get some cotton prefilters also.
Ironwood can be extremely dangerous if you breath the fumes and dust while grinding.
The tree has natural pesticides, as well as other nasties in it. It could put ortho to shame.
It can cause fungal infections of the lungs which take weeks to get over. It can, in a worse case scenario, lead to your demise.
I don't mean to scare you. Just take precautions and you will be fine. :eek:
 
Originally posted by Taz
Ironwood is a great, durable, solid wood..its just kinda pricey at around $20 a pop or so

You could do what I did. I went down to Mexico south of Brownsville and bought two large chunks of raw ironwood for $20 each. They were 18" long and about 8" in diameter. A friend with a large bandsaw cut them into slabs 1/4 inch thick. The wood chewed up a bandsaw blade, but I now have LOTS of handle material. Total cost was $40 for the wood and $60 for an new bandsaw blade. :D
 
Thanks for that. I already have a ventilation problem here. I'll wait a while before working with iron wood.

Roger
 
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