My"Peacock" figured mahogany-a rare figure indeed.

[george wilson]

I bought this plank many years ago. It is about 18" wide ,abt. 2" thick and about 8 feet tall+. It had 18 1/2 bd. ft. in it.

Two pictures show it with water on it,and 1 just dry. The place that sold it to me was calling their suppliers a to try to track down the rest of the tree.

It was the only such figure they ever saw. Possibly a unique figure in the World?

I can't bring myself to cut it,and offered it to Mack Headley a few days ago. He's thinking about it. Mack is the Master Cabinetmaker in Williamsburg.

I thought you all might enjoy seeing it. I should have scraped the white stuff off of it,but time was very short,and you can see the figure anyway. Enjoy.

I could cut it into sets of backs and sides for acoustic guitars and make a lot of money that way,but I just hate to cut it. Well,someone's GOT to cut it some day.

It was laying on a lumber rack painted white,,hence the white streaks.

[David Weaver]

I'll bet that board wouldn't survive these days if such figure would stay clean when cut into veneer.

I have never seen a peacock figured board like that. If I saw it on a furniture piece, I would be confused and have to stare it it close up to see if it was painted on.

[george wilson]

I don't really know WHAT to call that figure. The dealers named it "Peacock" because it reminded them of a peacock(obviously!)

What do you mean it wouldn't survive these days? Mack wants to cut it into 1/8" thick veneer to make it go farther. I told him it would make a nice "Flying V" rock guitar!!:) (whoever would do that should not be allowed near wood in general!)

I have quite a collection of hundred year old mahogany planks. My favorite is my dead quartered Santo Domingo (Cuban type) mahogany. It is nearly as heavy as ebony,and beautiful edge on growth rings. about 8"+ wide. Also,some 18(or more) wide curly Honduras mahogany. Both these planks have turned a very dark chocolate brown color from age. Also have more curly mahogany, 8" X 2",Honduras,and some other mahogany.

[David Weaver]

For someone with big money, they could certainly use it as the back of a les paul and put a custom 5A top on it. It'd be figured on both sides then! ... of course it would just get belt buckled over time.

By not survive these days, I mean the tree never would've made it to lumber, it would've been sawn for veneer, hopefully flat sawn. I do not know much about the veneer industry, but I'm assuming they wouldn't rotary cut something that nice.

[george wilson]

I see what you mean. The wood has no veneer machine clamps on it,and was not made into veneer. They always cut veneer planks down to 3/4" anyway,just before the knife strikes the clamps.

[Bruce Haugen]

I'd be tempted to put a coat of oil on it and mount it on the wall for all time.

[john brenton]

George,

I'm not blowing smoke when I say that I can't think of anyone who could make better use of that wood than you.

[Frank Drew]

Very nice; I've never seen figure quite like that, but I like Mahogany so much that if I was an eccentric millionaire I might just collect Mahogany boards.

I'd think of resawing that board into 1" table boards, or maybe door panels, something that really showcased the figure; there could be a couple of fabulous sideboard tops there, with leftover endcuts for small occasional tables. Of course, sawn into veneer you'd get much more mileage out of the board.

[george wilson]

Yes,sawing it into guitar backs and sides would get the very most mileage,too. I have access to a Wood Mizer sawmill that would do nicely. I have had this plank 25 years,and it is still extremely flat,so not much waste sawing it. I don't know.I love my rare old wood TOO MUCH and just can't manage to cut it up. That is getting me nowhere,but dying and leaving a bunch of stuff my wife may not know how to deal with. Not that I'm near dying,but you know what I mean.

I know Mack Headley would make something worthy out of it,but I did quote a high price. It is possibly a totally unique figure,though,and how can you price that? I'll warrant that whatever he would make out of it would fetch a very big price. It would be a worthwhile investment for any craftsman who is really exceptional,and has people following him around wanting things made.

[Zach England]

I'd love a classical guitar made out of that.

[george wilson]

Would be nice!!!!:) I don't want to take more guitar orders right now. I can make MUCH better money doing the missing antique parts for my customer. IF I sawed it into guitar pieces,do you have a builder who could make your guitar? I also have Appalachian spruce tops. Not as pretty as some spruces,but the Holy Grail of vintage guitar fans.

I make things like this. One is the 18th.C. ivory,brass and iron original,and the other is my reproduction. The old one is a bit more oil soaked. Learning how to age these parts is a challenge I have gotten better at over the years. This is recent work. I got half the price of a guitar for this,and it was mostly lathe work,which is easier on my old back and neck.

[Zach England]

I can't really afford or justify a custom guitar at the moment. I am just a beginning guitar student.

[Gordon Eyre]

Very unique, it would make a nice table top. Can you imagine having breakfast on that every day? Cool.

[David Weaver]

I got half the price of a guitar for this,and it was mostly lathe work,which is easier on my old back and neck.

Those are *exceptionally* well matched, I had to look at all of the pictures to make sure I knew which was which, and I could only tell because you said the old one is more oil soaked.

[Pam Niedermayer]

...I make things like this. One is the 18th.C. ivory,brass and iron original,and the other is my reproduction. The old one is a bit more oil soaked. Learning how to age these parts is a challenge I have gotten better at over the years. This is recent work. I got half the price of a guitar for this,and it was mostly lathe work,which is easier on my old back and neck.

OK, I'll bite and display in public that I'm dumb as toast, what are they?

Pam

[David Weaver]

OK, I'll bite and display in public that I'm dumb as toast, what are they?

Pam

I wouldn't know what they were if we hadn't discussed them before offline. And even then, I'm not totally sure I'm thinking of the same thing, but I think they're bobbins (and a flyer and drive pulley).

Could be way off on the non bobbin stuff, though. I've never seen an assembly that wasn't just all wood. That must've been a bobbin for someone with big dollars.

[Damon Stathatos]

...I don't know.I love my rare old wood TOO MUCH and just can't manage to cut it up. That is getting me nowhere

...It would be a worthwhile investment for any craftsman who is really exceptional,and has people following him around wanting things made.

I call it 'the sickness.'

Almost every piece of wood I sell all of a sudden becomes my newly adopted son/daughter...HOW CAN I LET THAT GO ???

I've now gotten to 'stashing' the truly exception stuff away. I learned to do that somewhat the hard way. When I first got started in the exotics business, I actually had a couple of people working for me (now, a 'one-man-band'). So, I get back from lunch one day to see this slab's cousin being loaded into a customer's car. We had cut it into four perfectly book matched 1" boards. Running into the shop, I ask my 'salesman,' WHERE'S HE GOING WITH MY BOARDS? He says to me, 'sold em, we're in the wood business and we sell wood, remember.' HOW MUCH DID YOU SELL IT FOR? 'Regular price, why?' YOU'E AN IDIOT, THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO EXPLAIN THIS, AN IDIOT !!! Anyway, like I said, I used to have a couple of people working for me.

The only solace I could take in the whole episode was that he sold it to David Wade, one of the 'Maloof Boys.' I figured that at least it was landing into the hands of someone who would appreciate it and really make something special out of it. I ended up only losing about a week's sleep instead of a lifetime of lost sleep. I ran into Dave a little while back at a show where he was displaying a new table he had made out of spectacular piece of waterfall bubinga. He had matched the sapwood and graining to 'flow' from the table top down 'into' the pedestal matched legs, really quite spectacular. In conversation, he mentioned that he had come up with a wonderful idea for the cocobolo that my idiot (ex)salesman had sold to him. He wouldn't tell me what it was going to become but promised to let me know when he finished.

This slab is 3 x 13.5 x 62, a little over 17 bd ft. I marked it with one of my really good customer's name. Every time he comes to the shop, he wants to know when he can take 'his' slab. I've told him the story and we always get a good laugh. The first picture is just dusted off and the second with a little mineral spirits. Now the real question is, 'what's my wife going to do with this slab when I'm dead and gone?'

[george wilson]

Pretty spectacular,Damon. I think everyone should post their favorite wood treasures. That would be interesting. After all,wood is what we are all about.

Pam,my customer collects spinning wheels unlike the ones you ever see. They might be made of inlaid mahogany,with ivory and (formerly)polished brass parts. Some even have complex level winding mechanisms akin to old sewing machines,but made of brass.

These were wheels that were toys of the wealthy. EVERY woman was expected to know how to spin. Even Queen Elizabeth I. It was a part of the female's education back then.

Rather contradictory is the period definition of a lady: She does not work!

David is correct,that is a close replica of a bobbin and flyer made for a wheel of the same make as another she had,only it was missing these essential parts.Old sperm whale oil impregnated the mechanisms sometimes,and gets soaked into the ivory in a very slow process that only time can produce. So,I couldn't oil soak the new parts.

Another thing I have had to learn how to do is effectively age ivory. Metal isn't too bad.Ivory,though,gets a certain old color.Plus,there is a minute layer of very fine soot embedded in the old ivory(and everything else) from being kept in wood or coal heated houses with fireplaces. That look is deeply embedded and perceptible enough that it has to be emulated. It adds a faintly green cast to the ivory where it is embedded thicker. I have learned to duplicate the color of old ivory pretty well over the many years I've been doing this sideline of work. Certain best formulas for making old ivory color took me a long time to work out. Oxpho gun blue and heat,repeatedly applied,does the brass pretty well. Gun blue,and sometimes plum brown bluing works well on making iron look old. Repeated heating,on and on. Aging some of this work sometimes took almost as much time as making the piece.

NONE of the threads is standard,and the thread that the pulley screws onto is always left hand thread. I duplicate those too,and have to make special taps for each job as they never fit another wheel. The threads themselves look different from modern threads,and there are variations in thread forms.

[Tom McMahon]

I believe they are spinning wheel flyers. Too late beat me to it

[Pam Niedermayer]

...Pam,my customer collects spinning wheels unlike the ones you ever see. They might be made of inlaid mahogany,with ivory and (formerly)polished brass parts. Some even have complex level winding mechanisms akin to old sewing machines,but made of brass....

Aha! Thanks. The only bobbins I've ever seen were the dogwood ones LV sold for a couple of years, think they were from textile machines. I feel less stupid, at least about this. :)

Pam

[David Keller NC]

George - I actually have a piece of mahogany that has something similar going on - I interpret the lighter/darker streaks that have been folded into figure by the tree as minerals in its water source. What I generally see for prices for rare/spectacular figure in South American mahogany is in the $50 - $75 per bf price range; the highest price I've seen was $150 per b.f. for fully quilted sa mahogany. My guess in your case is that you could get a bit more than $50 - $75 for it because of its size and potential for acoustic guitar backs. If Mack turns it down, there may be a couple of custom guitar makers in my area that would be interested.

P.S. - Sorry about the oddball quote - I was going to answer Pam's question when I figured out that it had already been answered. For some reason, "edit" won't allow me to remove the quote.

[george wilson]

I am of 2 minds about selling the board. I could get more money from it by cutting it into guitar sets,and see it go into my first love,guitars,or I could keep it. I hate to part with it,but I haven't cut it either.

Any way you could post a picture of your wood? That would be interesting.

[Mark Baldwin III]

Aha! Thanks. The only bobbins I've ever seen were the dogwood ones LV sold for a couple of years, think they were from textile machines. I feel less stupid, at least about this. :)

Pam
No need to feel stupid, Pam. I was trying to figure out where they went on a guitar.

[David Keller NC]

I am of 2 minds about selling the board. I could get more money from it by cutting it into guitar sets,and see it go into my first love,guitars,or I could keep it. I hate to part with it,but I haven't cut it either.

Any way you could post a picture of your wood? That would be interesting.

George - I should specify here that the figure that I have in a couple of hundred board feet isn't what you have; mine is just a large-scale curl, though I feel quite lucky to have curly mahogany of any sort. What I meant to say is that the figure has taken up some dark mineral staining somewhat similar to the pictures you've posted. I need to pull a representative board out of the pile and give it a few swipes with a handplane to get a decent picture; I'll post one later today or tomorrow.

[Niels Cosman]

This is why I have (so far) steered clear of exotic and highly figured woods.
My heart skips a couple of beats every time I see spectacular examples like those above. Nature is an wondrous thing. I think I would start hording boards like a crazy cat lady. I have no doubt would lay down my tools would end up on the discovery channel sitting in a lazy boy surrounded by ceiling high stacks of tropicals.
haha- funny.... but TRUE :)

[george wilson]

Everybody: Post your favorite wood slab pieces!!!! It would be interesting.

Guess my mahogany didn't sell. I am ambivalent about selling it anyway.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Everybody: Post your favorite wood slab pieces!!!! It would be interesting.

Guess my mahogany didn't sell. I am ambivalent about selling it anyway.

Why not take it with you when that horrible day comes? Specify that it be used in your coffin. :)

Pam

[Pam Niedermayer]

No need to feel stupid, Pam. I was trying to figure out where they went on a guitar.

Yeah, me, too. :)

Pam

[george wilson]

No,Pam!!! I would just rot all over it!:) I plan to be cremated anyway. You apparently are not allowed to make your own coffin OR tombstone anyway. The undertakers have lobbied that into law,I guess.

They did a burial test on Mythbusters,where goofy guy was put into a modern metal coffin in a big acrylic plastic box un a platform. The sides could be knocked down to spill the dirt if anything went wrong. He had a mike,and freaked when the coffin caved in on him when they dumped 6' of dirt over him. Great quality coffins they make!!

[Edward Clarke]

No,Pam!!! I would just rot all over it!:) I plan to be cremated anyway. You apparently are not allowed to make your own coffin OR tombstone anyway. The undertakers have lobbied that into law,I guess.

That's not true in every state. In New York you can even be buried in a cardboard box and you don't need to be embalmed.

http://www.health.state.ny.us/professionals/patients/patient_rights/funeral.htm

Rockler sells parts for caskets.

[george wilson]

That is surprising,Ed. You'd think of all places,lawyers would have New York state sewed up!! I know in Italy they don't embalm. That is a strange practice any way,and it only forestalls returning to the Earth by a few years. What is the point of doing it in the first place? Does anyone really imagine it makes things somehow better for the deceased,or the surviving loved ones? Puts a lot of nasty chemicals in the ground,too.

[Pam Niedermayer]

That is surprising,Ed. You'd think of all places,lawyers would have New York state sewed up!! I know in Italy they don't embalm. That is a strange practice any way,and it only forestalls returning to the Earth by a few years. What is the point of doing it in the first place? Does anyone really imagine it makes things somehow better for the deceased,or the surviving loved ones? Puts a lot of nasty chemicals in the ground,too.

It's probably for the mourners with sensitive noses.

Pam

[george wilson]

That's what they used to use flowers for.

[Pam Niedermayer]

That's what they used to use flowers for.

Good point.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Guy who worked at my company made his own casket. Was using it as a coffee table.

I thought the point of embalming was to hold off decomposition to keep the body looking decent enough for an open casket funeral. Not defending the practice, I always thought it was odd.