Wood junkies unite

One thing I like is historic wood. I have boards and pieces of wood from things only special to me as well as famous things ( locally and nationally).
A board off a long ago deceased old friend's barn put up in 1905. A piece of the wild cherry tree from the back yard I grew up in in the 1950's. Other wood that I cut many years ago and put away to cure.
A deck plank from Harrison's Pier ( locally famous pier wiped away in a hurricane ten years or so back)
A piece of The Duck Inn ( long gone local eatery and landmark)
A box of scales cut from the timbers of The Ocean View Roller Coaster - AKA "The Rocket" ( nationally know wooden roller coaster that was made famous in the movies "Rollercoaster" and "Death of Ocean View Park" when they blew it up in 1978.)
Yesterday I had an old man bring me a teak deck plank off the battle ship North Carolina, BB-55. It was from the original 1939 decking, and was removed in repairs during the war. The man's father was a ship fitter on the ship's original crew, and kept it as a souvenir. It had been with him since the war ( it sat on the porch by his front door for the last 40 years), and now that he has passed away his son wanted to pass it on to me to make some knife handles from it.


I also have a piece of a girder from the World trade center.
I tried to get a piece of the Monitor when they raised it back around 2000. I knew the admiral in charge of the mid-Atlantic region, and asked if there were any left over chunks or bolts, could I have a small piece. He just laughed and said, "Yeah, that'll happen."
 
I like that "material with a history".
I saved oak beams when I renovated an old barn next to my house and set up shop in it. I plan to make handles out of them "some day"
The house is 100+ yo, nobody knows how old the barn is. Likely older, but the wooden construction was made out of reclaimed beams.
So nobody alive knows how old that wood is, but pretty old.

Last december somebody posted a birch bark handled knife. That inspired me to harvest some around here.
It will be birch bark to everybody but special te me
 
rcetroy said:
Even as a newbie I have caught the "wood bug!" I was recently in Kenya on a mission trip and while there we went to an outdoor market where they were selling carved "ebony" animals. I was able to buy a 6 inch log of the "ebony" to bring back. As it turns out it really is African Blackwood (Dalbergia Melanoxylon )which is a member of the rosewood family. The first photo is my attempt to cut it into scales. Unfortunately the center is pretty bad. I'm going to try to salvage a couple of pairs. View attachment 455043 have to check out Gilmer, sounds cool. I've been addicted to Burl Source thus far.I've only been at this knife making thing for 5 months and this is my collection of wood so far. My wife thinks I'm crazy but you can't have too much wood can you? View attachment 455042
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If you got African Blackwood in Kenya, you purchased it illegally. It can be legally obtained in Tanzania, but in Kenya it's use in carvings and it's sale was outlawed a long time ago. As a result, if you look closely at the "ebony" carvings in Kenya, they're really other wood (the name escapes me at the moment, and would just be in Swahili if I remembered anyway) that has been dyed with black leather dye. In TZ you get the real stuff, but it's becoming endangered. Not much you can do about it at this point, so you might as well enjoy it. African Blackwood is one of my all time favorites, and I used to carve a lot of it when I lived in Tanzania.
 
I know better now. Thanks for the heads up on that. No more outdoor markets!
 
I save a lot of my ripped pieces from handle blocks. Often I can get a paring knife handle or folding knife scales from one, or sometimes a bolster piece, and if none of that will work I sometimes make a pair of wooden earrings for my wife.

Greg sent me some wonderful blackwood that I've been enjoying working with a lot. It's one of the nicest woods there is, I feel... besides maybe desert ironwood burl.
 
I scored this bowl blank on the bay. I usually avoid buying wood there aside from two guys I trust and know off the site... But this was just too pretty to pass on. I have a soft spot for maple, even more so quilted maple, and even more so for spalted maple.... Color me excited to see how it ends up after it finishes drying and is stabilized...

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Greg, that reminds me of purple heartwood. Another wood I love that turns beautiful hues of red, maroon, purple and brown when exposed fo heat or sunlight... The problem is locking that color in...

-Eric
 
I got a couple of pieces of maple, but the stuff is worm infested when I cut into it. All of the worm holes are full of the fine "sawdust" worm poop. Does anyone know if that can be stabilized. I'm thinking of trying a dyed stabilizing job, hoping that the trails show darker.
 
J. Hoffman said:
I got a couple of pieces of maple, but the stuff is worm infested when I cut into it. All of the worm holes are full of the fine "sawdust" worm poop. Does anyone know if that can be stabilized. I'm thinking of trying a dyed stabilizing job, hoping that the trails show darker.
Click to expand...
It will stabilize. But the holes will still be holes. They can be filled to a degree but they still show... It isn't necessarily an undesirable thing believe it or not.

But, be aware of the stabilizing process and its thoroughness. Any bugs or eggs in there now may come back to visit unless they are killed first. The typical method is to apply uniform heat to dry (5-10%) wood to a certain degree (I forget the agreed upon temp but it is available with a quick query) and that will kill em all...

All depends on the size and number of holes, surrounding wood appearance, etc as to whether it is desireable or not. At least that's my discovery in the secondary market. Personally if it has worms or holes, I move on. Maybe someone who uses it more will chime in...

-Eric
 
A little late here but I just found this thread and I love Bois de Rose. Probably my favorite after african blackwood. It's beautiful durable and works nicely just like blackwood. The colors are insande.

It is a true rosewood and one of the rarest woods in the world. It's pretty much gone off the world market. A few pieces pop up here and there but if you like it....buy it while you can. It is my understanding that no wood is leaving Madagascar (legally at least) in the forseeable future. They apparently have very tight control of even illegal logging, at least better than a lot of places.

True madagascar rosewood is scientific name Dalbergia Maritima. It is not the same thing as palisander. There are a lot of rosewoods falsely called Bois de rose but Dalbergia maritima is the true madagascar rosewood that is bois de rose.

I have made several knives with this wood and have enough for several more. It really is beautiful stuff. I'll be doing some on a folder soon.

Here is one of my favorite pieces:





 
That is some very nice looking wood you have there,some of the wood I've bought i.e.:cocobolo,ebony,black wood all have had the ends coated with some sort of wax to keep it from checking,just and idea.
 
My purchases this morning. One Maple burl and three cherry burls. How do burls do with kiln drying? If I slab these and bring them to my local kiln could they dry them safely for me, or am I still better painting the ends and storing them for a few years? I'm just too anxious to wait. I want to use this stuff now!:D




 
You are best letting the burls sit for a while to get the moisture content lower first before going to the kiln.
A lot of the guys let the slabs air dry to under 20% before kiln drying.
Or you could cut a portion and experiment.

Myself I would slab the cherry and stack and sticker them in the back of your garage where they are out of direct sunlight.
Then next year I would kiln dry them the rest of the way. My experience with drying cherry burl fast was a lot of cracks.
When dry it takes stabilizing nicely.
 
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