"poison" sebenza inbound

kidcongo

kidcongo

Joined
Jan 12, 2013
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My turn to tease I suppose. Can anyone guess what I have coming?......no it does not have a snake engraved on it
 
Snakes are not "poisonous" anyway ;) so I'll bypass the obvious snakewood inlay for perhaps an engraving of a plant of some sort, like ivy. That or a plain old skull and cross bones. :)
 
Bell biv devoe's sebenza from there break out song "poison" in 1990.:D
 
Alcohol? Also known as poison ;)

I think a bottle with the old 3 X X X would be classic, maybe a drunk passed out person behind the bottles...
 
Well, I suppose no one is going to guess. As much as I wish I was getting a knife from a member of an '80s glam metal band :rolleyes: , or one with a deadly spider engraved on it :eek: , the answer is likely more mundane to most, but interesting to me.

I have been wanting a wood inlay large Sebenza, but was having a tough time deciding on the wood. I have a beautiful Box Elder small 21, but it's too nice if you know what I mean. I just can't bring myself to throw it in my pocket with the keys, so I wanted something not so figured and flashy. I know Lignum Vitae is one of the densest and hardest woods on earth (which would be cool), but also is gone from the catalogue in the large size 21, and I can't say I truly love all of the examples out there, though some are stellar. So having written off the Lignum idea, I started to notice a muted and meek wood selection hanging around the dusty back-corners of some of the knife seller's websites. A wood that is also very dense and hard, and so inconspicuous and innocuous looking that I had no idea of the dark secret it held:

Tamboti wood is a killer. The word 'Tamboti' means "poison tree" in Africa where it grows.

When I started to read up on the history of this wood, I knew I had found something really interesting. It turns out Tamboti is actually quite dangerous. The problem being that the sap can make you blind, of if injested might kill you, while a campfire made of tamboti wood gives off poisonous smoke, and food cooked on the fire will make one violently ill, and the sawdust is also poisonous and can cause lung ailments and skin rashes. Clothes hangers made from Tamboti prevent insects from damaging clothes as they won't come near the stuff. Tamboti logs may be easily mistaken for other woods, and as such, people who enjoy the outdoors in southern Africa have to get good at indentifying Tamboti so they don't poison the family during the weeny roast: "Thanks for the marshmallow.............geez, I don't feel so good"

Some reading for those interested:

http://23thorns.com/2013/05/31/33-the-poison-tree/

http://www.brousse-james.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100:spirostachys-africana-tamboti&catid=35:species-details&Itemid=79

I just love this quote from the first article:

"Like many poisonous plants, it is also used in traditional medicine. It’s used, bizarrely enough, to cure stomach ailments. Which is a bit silly, since if you get the dosage wrong, you can damage your internal organs. Or die. Which will, I suppose, relieve the pain. It’s also used for curing toothache. You dribble a little of the sap on the sore spot and pray that you’re not going to die. Which will, at the very least, take your mind off the pain from the tooth."

I also read that NIOSH is considering new strict rules regarding working with poisonous wood dusts as a safeguard against workplace injury, which might explain why it seems to be discontinued from the CRK line-up (at least for now). I suppose the CRK crew might not be too hot on inhaling poisonous wood dust.

And the icing on the interesting cake, is that it is supposed to smell nice! Tamboti oil is used in some perfumes.

Anyways......hope this wasn't too much of a bore. It piqued my curiosity enough that I pulled the trigger on a large 21 in this "sleeper" wood while they are still on the shelf. I also like the fact it grows in South Africa, which is a nice CRK tie-in in it's way. I suppose if I want to check-out of this life early, I can always stick my head in the oven and set my Tamboti Sebenza on fire. :D

I will post some pics when it gets here........if I'm still alive ;)
 
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Tamboti does smell good, it's generally a nice dark and rich colour too. That should be a nice one. :):thumbup:
 
Haze,

we all like your input on this forum....don't breathe too deeply of that Tamboti aroma!
 
kidcongo said:
Haze,

we all like your input on this forum....don't breathe too deeply of that Tamboti aroma!
Click to expand...

I'm charmed !

Tamboti is sometimes called "African sandalwood" and the smell has that nice sweet, herby twang. I was cutting up some yellow rosewood recently and that smells like apple pie. There is a whole world of crazy smells out there. :p
 
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