Organized list of Handlewoods

Jens Schuetz said:
Thanks for the list. It's a big help for beginners.

By any chance do you know a bit more about Sandalwood?

I didn't know it's so hard to come by since I got a few small sandalwood souvenirs from India the last couple of years.
After reading here its hard to get I tried to see if there are any Indian laws and it seems it's not allowed in some areas, in the south however it's even grown and farmed sustainably and then there can also be restrictions on how big an individual piece can be. It could even be that raw blanks arent up for sale and only artistic work can be purchased (might be some Indian states law to support local artists). Talk about complicated.

The small souvenirs I have look very creamy of a uniform color and smell very good. The surface is very smooth. Grains are probably very small and it looks like it wouldn't crack or shrink and expand much under adverse conditions. (Just guessing)
In case I am able to get a sufficiently big and legal piece (maybe even decorated), this summer when I travel the South, how would you work it into a knife handle.

Thank you.
:)
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Last thing is, if you are in India see about some black palm! you can get the outer stuff "the most black flecks/ fibers" pretty cheaply and that stuff is amazing and beutiful.
 
Just to toss in my 2 cents.
There can be variations in all woods so there are really no absolutes.
Be very careful of buying a wood just because of the name.
It is better to look at the specific piece of wood and make your own judgements.

Many of the woods that are resistant to movement and checking are only that way after they have dried and seasoned.
But when they are green and drying they twist and crack quite a bit.
The denser the wood, the slower you want to go drying it. And the time is considerably longer to dry.
That is why a lot of the exotics are coated in wax.
 
hellspawn415 said:
It looks to me like sun faded purple heart. It has two kinds of color decay, in air "indoors" it turns a pale gray while in the light it gets brown. Im not sure though.
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If it's purple heart just smelling it will settle the matter.

Sorry we derailed your thread with guess-the-wood games :).
 
Burl Source said:
Just to toss in my 2 cents.
There can be variations in all woods so there are really no absolutes.
Be very careful of buying a wood just because of the name.
It is better to look at the specific piece of wood and make your own judgements.

Many of the woods that are resistant to movement and checking are only that way after they have dried and seasoned.
But when they are green and drying they twist and crack quite a bit.
The denser the wood, the slower you want to go drying it. And the time is considerably longer to dry.
That is why a lot of the exotics are coated in wax.
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Thats very true. At my shop we only sell kiln dried or wax coated pieces. I was trying to write this piece as more of a general guide to handle woods for people who consider it more of an afterthought. Certainly use your own judgment. "lower quality" woods can often display amazing figure and classicaly great woods can be bland. Always check what you are buying.
 
Sorry to keep bugging you with dumb questions. Are these all African Blackwood?

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Thanks. The one I cut has more grain than the others I've worked with as does the the lower and upper blocks. They were all in the same bag that was given to me so I assumed they were all the same.
 
do you have any experience with laburnum

edit: image attachment is maddeningly frustrating here...
 
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Uhurungus said:
do you have any experience with laburnum?
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A little. Its mostly a European wood if im not mistaken. Its strong stuff, turners and carvers love it. It has a weird color shift, some parts are nearly cream while other get almost black. It can cause some nausea issues. From when i made a small chess set i remember it works surprisingly easily for something that stiff.
 
Thanks for mentioning black palm. That material looks great. I'll get some for sure. Other interesting Indian woods I saw would be mango and tamarind.
Tamarind looks extremely nice too with areas of ery different colors and very defined, but appears brittle. But I can't tell from pictures alone. What do you think about tamarind?
Thanks again :-)
 
Jens, if there is ANY wood that may be as sensitizing if not more than cocobolo, it is mango. You need to be as careful with it if it is unstabilized. It has small amounts of the same toxin/allergen that you find in poison ivy.
Jens Schuetz said:
Thanks for mentioning black palm. That material looks great. I'll get some for sure. Other interesting Indian woods I saw would be mango and tamarind.
Tamarind looks extremely nice too with areas of ery different colors and very defined, but appears brittle. But I can't tell from pictures alone. What do you think about tamarind?
Thanks again :-)
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Another note on black palm: It is the hardest wood I have ever worked. It makes Desert ironwood seem like balsam. It needs to be treated and treats well. Otherwise it slivers easily when cut lengthwise and chips when cut across grain. The cross grain is the most beautiful-it looks like a leopard.

An even harder wood is...petrified wood. Basically agate. Can have perfect wood grain or no wood grain. It can have a riot of colors like Arizona picture wood with little or no grain...just hot sundown pictures. Use standard lapidary equipment. If you drill holes, use diamond core drills or sonic drills.

Jade is one of the ultimate exotics with many shades of green or any color in jadeite. Not as hard as agate, but much tougher and resists breaking.

I use a lot of dinosaur bone (petrified) and some are identified. My Tyranosaurus Rex 1911 grips are real campfire winners. It is again basically agate.

Some of my most popular are Banksia which is a flower pod from Australia and somewhat resembles pine cones. Fantastic gripability when the exterior is used.
 
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Peter, one of the problems with palm wood is that it is not really "wood" as we typically know it. It is hard on the outside instead of the inside and is very fibrous. It sure looks good, but it's a weird substance.
 
Don't forget olive wood. 2nd hardest native wood from Europe.
Affordable and if you get the right piece it can have beautifull colour and figure.
Nice and wild dark streaks over a nice creamy, tann colour
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Hey hellspawn, this is a great little thread you've got here. I really enjoyed going through it. I was wondering if you could go through some of the woods native to the U.S. Such as cherry, sycamore, pecan, persimmon, oak, maple, black walnut. These woods are common to most of us and I really enjoy working with them and since I'm kind of new, it would be nice if all of this was together for guys. If you've got time that is, thanks. We all will appreciate it!
 
viral said:
Hey hellspawn, this is a great little thread you've got here. I really enjoyed going through it. I was wondering if you could go through some of the woods native to the U.S. Such as cherry, sycamore, pecan, persimmon, oak, maple, black walnut. These woods are common to most of us and I really enjoy working with them and since I'm kind of new, it would be nice if all of this was together for guys. If you've got time that is, thanks. We all will appreciate it!
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I hope you dont mind if i dont cover Oak and maple, i consider those pretty self explanatory, but the other have some interesting qualities.

Persimmon: Technically, persimmon is an Ebony! No, really! The heartwood is often rather thin "1-4 inches" but it can often be irregular, and many beautiful peices can be made from blends of the sapwood "called white ebony" and the darker, stronger heartwood. Make sure to stabilize it as it normally has a VERY high level of movement.

Walnut: One of the only low price woods that has a deep, brown color. Some information i have learned is using it so much for these years at the shop is that bulk walnut is treated differently than most. At most good shops the walnut will be a dark purple/ black/ grey color. This is because most walnut is steam treated to blend the sapwood into the heartwood, leaving the cooler color. Some walnut, like slabs, are treated normally by kiln drying. These are left with a beautifully warm deep rest red that fades to a warm earthy brown. Most walnut is from the black walnut tree, grown for lumber. However sometimes you get Claro walnut, from fruit baring trees is more expensive and rarely steam treated. It is much more likely to have burl, curly or crotch figure. There is also a very interesting form that can occur when claro walnut is grafted onto english walnut, at the joint a blend of color and texture occurs known as marbled walnut. you should really check it our.

Cherry: Cherry is on the softer end of domestic spectrum, though still quite pretty. It normally has a rather pale reddish cream color that deepens with age. It can be seen with BEAUTIFUL curls that can beat out those of maple. At the shop we once got a full order of regular cherry that came curly as hell. we stashed it in the back and gave it out to customers who were real cool people. you will want to stabilize this stuff, as otherwise it can take a lot of small dents.

Hickory: While not to interesting to look at, this stuff is the strongest domestic there is. It has a great janka rating and will not pick up many dents. It also as a slightly finder grain, and can take some nice handle carving work quite well/

Sycamore: While plain/ flat sawn syc is pretty boring, quarter sawn shows a massive amount of medula rays, the same thing that makes quarter sawn oak and lacewood pretty. The pattern can be very very dense sometimes, but the wood itself is not all that strong. Another definite candidate for stabilization.
 
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