Off Topic Leadwood?

[allenkey]

So, I love trying different woods for handles. It's probably my favorite aspect of knifemaking.

I picked up some leadwood for an absolute steal. I was curious if anybody else has ever worked with this uncommon wood?

I am thinking the best plan of attack is to approach it like I would desert ironwood - very coarse grit for shaping followed by mainly handwork... Taking it up to around 3k followed by a light buff with white rouge.

It's supposedly harder than Ironwood so I'm curious to see what anybody has to say. It's not as beautiful as Ironwood - has a walnut like appearance to it

If you have any experience with Leadwood, I'd love to hear it!

Does it age well? Does it finish well? Does it scorch easily?

 

[Greenberg Woods]

It ages down relatively dark, its normally used in very high end furniture from the ~50's.

Treat it the way you would work any heavy exotic like ironwood, gidgee or cocobolo. Sand with sharp grit, finish to a high grit, and buff

 

[allenkey]

Thanks Ben I will definitely give that route a go!

 

[Mike Read]

I made two almost identical knives recently, one using DI and the other Leadwood. They worked and finished very much the same. First time I have used DI and boy does it stink.

The leadwood has a nice grain but is very brown and is a bit dull next to the Ironwood, otherwise I would expect it to be just as strong and durable.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

A good while back I had some dark brown african wood that was not an ebony. It had an African name I don't recall. Reading the info on ledwoos makes me think it was likely the same wood. It worked like Mopani, lignum vitae, or DI.

 

[allenkey]

I made two almost identical knives recently, one using DI and the other Leadwood. They worked and finished very much the same. First time I have used DI and boy does it stink.

The leadwood has a nice grain but is very brown and is a bit dull next to the Ironwood, otherwise I would expect it to be just as strong and durable.

Thank you for sharing your experience with me ! Desert Ironwood definitely does stink haha - so worth it though.

 

[allenkey]

A good while back I had some dark brown african wood that was not an ebony. It had an African name I don't recall. Reading the info on ledwoos makes me think it was likely the same wood. It worked like Mopani, lignum vitae, or DI.

Interesting. Thank you for sharing Stacy ! How did it hold up over the years?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Honestly, I don't know. IIRC, I put it on a fillet knife. No telling where that knife went and what shape it is today. It didn't come back for repair, though.