Nargusta burl

H

Hulkie

Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Messages
30
G'day, I just received a couple of blocks of Nargusta burl. It has a dark grayish chocolate color with dark eyes and beatiful swirls. I never heard of it till recently. It is also refered to as Canxan negro. I truly am amazed at how it looks. It reminds me off a cross between African rosewood and and desert ironwood .
Has anyone worked with this wood before? Is it a "newer" wood to you all?. I've seen some on ebay but they don't come close to what I have. I wonder how difficult the high figured pieces will be to obtain..
I know the general rule is to stabilize burl wood but this wood seems so dense, it may be like desert ironwood burl which doesn't need to be stabilized. Ty
 
A quick Google search says this is a Central American wood.
The most important thing is to be sure it is completely dry before you do anything with it.
The denser the wood, the slower they dry.
There have been a lot more different Central American woods getting imported the last couple years.
Many of these are cut green and waxed. Depending on how long since it was harvested you might need to wait a couple years before you use it.
 
I seen some refered to as ironwood. I assume there are many specie refered to as " ironwood" with no relation to the desert ironwood burl that is held in high esteem.
 
Hulkie said:
I seen some refered to as ironwood. I assume there are many specie refered to as " ironwood" with no relation to the desert ironwood burl that is held in high esteem.
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There are quite a few woods that are referred to incorrectly as ironwood.
More like a generic or slang term for heavy dense woods. It can be confusing.
A while back there was a seller on ebay selling large slabs as Desert Ironwood Burl that were not.
It was burl and it was heavy but that is where the resemblance ended.
Some of that wood made it's way to the knife community where the incorrect name was repeated.
 
Burl Source said:
A while back there was a seller on ebay selling large slabs as Desert Ironwood Burl that were not.
It was burl and it was heavy but that is where the resemblance ended.
Some of that wood made it's way to the knife community where the incorrect name was repeated.
Click to expand...
Last time I looked he is still selling it. If you look at his feedback you will see that there have been several people that have left neg feedback explaining the wood is not what he claims but that has not slowed him down. He is still selling it as desert ironwood burl.
 
Spalted said:
Last time I looked he is still selling it. If you look at his feedback you will see that there have been several people that have left neg feedback explaining the wood is not what he claims but that has not slowed him down. He is still selling it as desert ironwood burl.
Click to expand...

Omg, I know who you are refering to. I actually contacted him about it, which was a big mistake. He became upset and vulgar, stating if I want to be one of the idiots that think it may not be desert ironwood burl, I can go to hell. He refered to all the positive feedback. He actually stated there was a few guys trying to discredit him. He messaged me 3x,until I threatens to contact ebay. I merely asked him if he was confident the name correctly identified the product. That guy is one mean bugger of a doodle. Scary..
 
Burl Source said:
A quick Google search says this is a Central American wood.
The most important thing is to be sure it is completely dry before you do anything with it.
The denser the wood, the slower they dry.
There have been a lot more different Central American woods getting imported the last couple years.
Many of these are cut green and waxed. Depending on how long since it was harvested you might need to wait a couple years before you use it.
Click to expand...

Mark/ Burl Source, can you name some other types of wood that are entering the market. I don't understand why such beautiful wood has not been more known. Do you know if the nargusta has any tonal use.ty
 
Some of the newer woods that you might see on ebay but never with a real wood dealer are because either they are difficult to process or hard to get making them not commercially viable.

There are some stunning woods coming from south of the border and Central America.
A couple years ago I started seeing Chechen, Cocobolo and Rosewood Burls. One that has been around a long time but hasn't gotten a lot of attention is Ziricote. When cut correctly looks like a hilly landscape.
I haven't purchased these because I don't know how to dry it successfully.

A dealer who does carry some of these woods is Gilmer Wood in Portland Oregon.
They know these woods and how to deal with them. Plus they call them by their real names.
As for tonal use one of Gilmer's warehouse people (Marc) is a luthier and can give accurate answers.
 
Th emost mportant thing is to always obtain the latin name as there are so many , many local names. I collect desert ironwood in Baja, Mexico and it is slightly different than what is sold here as desert ironwood. For example, in Baja, it is known as Una del gato(fingernail of the cat....or figuratively...cats' claw as it has thorns) and elsewhere in Baja it is known as somethign else. GO figure. Get the Latin name.
 
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