Which wood should I use ...

[Dave Cottrell]

... to make a hard and smooth item? This would be used in order to reshape the inside bore of large brass (musical) instruments. I have steel dent balls up to about 1.5" in diameter, but steel becomes too heavy for dent tools larger than this, even if hollow or hoop-shaped. I would need the wood to be close-grained enough to be laminated and turned into the desired shape, be hard enough to withstand medium-strength pounding with lightweight metal tools, and able to retain some semblance of dimensional stability.

I am leaning towards some type of hard maple or beech. Both of these could be somewhat pricey, as I would need to make about 2 dozen blocks up to 5" across. Does anyone have an alternative idea?

[David Keller NC]

Dave - I don't know spit about what you're referring to (steel "dent" balls?!), but from the standpoint of hard, smooth and cheap, it'd be difficult to top hard (or even "soft", which is a misnomer) maple.

Beech, walnut, and especially, hickory would be some alternatives, but you'll have to fill the pores of these if you want a completely smooth surface.

There are a few other, less available alternatives in domestic species. Dogwood, though not available in large sizes, is really, really hard and closed-grain, persimmon is related to ebony and is also very hard. Ultra-cheap and available as turnign blanks would be osage orange.

Finally, if true "dent-proof" properties are critical to your application, I would choose honduras rosewood or pau ferro (bolivian rosewood). While not as cheap as the domestics, they are -unbelievably- hard, and will take some serious abuse.

[David Christopher]

also purple heart

[Dave Cottrell]

Before all the goofies get carried away, dent balls are steel barrel-shaped slugs used to remove dents from the tubing of brass instruments (trumpets, etc.) They are made in graduated sets with about .025" between sizes. I would like to make sizes for taking the dents out of tubas without getting a hernia using them.

I had not thought of walnut. I don't have a lot of experience with hickory, but I don't know if the grain is close enough to machine smoothly. I would love to use rosewood, but I have a mortgage already.

[Chris Padilla]

Maple is an excellent wood to try this with, Dave. It can be relatively cheap and is certainly plentiful.

If you're in the Southwest, mesquite is a very tough, dense wood but can be pricey.

I don't find walnut all that tough..not like maple, anyway.

[Irvin Cooper]

Seems bubinga would be a nice choice if you have the tools to work it.