Where to buy premium-grade snakewood?

[shqxk]

Would like to get a couple scales of snakewood. Do you guys know any suppliers?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

You could check with Greenberg Woods.

Snakewood is a real troubled wood. It cracks and checks if you even look at it sideways. Polishing can generate enough heat to check it. The problem is the damage doesn't show up immediately. Days or weeks later the checking and cracking suddenly shows up.

I used to buy 1/4 logs and cut my own flitches, but the expense and waste has made me reserve snakewood for only shelf queens.

 

[Pinoy Knife]

gilmer woods carries it .. i used to buy lots of it from them ..
not sure if Ben Greenburg carries it..

 

[john april]

i get mine off ebay. most of the online knife suppliers do not show a photo of the actual piece you will be purchasing.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I used to use Gilmer, too. Nice reputable folks for buying larger pieces and log sections.

 

[M.McAlevy]

Arizona ironwood has some nice stuff.

 

[Greenberg Woods]

I occasionally offer snakewood, but as Stacy pointed out, man is proccessing snakewood a massive pain. Its willing to check at anything, and thats even after its been drying for 4 or 5 years. I stopped offering it as a regular part of my selection because too many pieces cracked in processing and drying, and even when the wood was dried, people who left it in the sunlight for an afternoon or worked it with dull abrasives and heated it up would complain about checking and want a refund.

I cant offer too many reccomendations, but its not part of my normal lineup any more and anyone reciving and knife with snakewood should be warned that even a few hours of direct sunlight will cause some serious cracking.