Dave Mount
05-11-2021, 3:49 PM
My sphere-making has led me to do more exploring outside the found woods I've always turned. Here are examples of two woods that were new to me and that I've really appreciated.
First is chechen, a very dense (same as water), fine textured wood from southern Mexico into central America. Hardness is about a third above hickory, similar to osage orange. However despite its density and hardness, it turns very nicely, sands well and takes a nice polish. Sometimes called Carribean rosewood -- not a rosewood at all, but does have characteristics similar to real Dalbergia rosewoods. Not on any threatened species lists. Bowl is from a 6"x6"x2" blank. I left the sidewalls a little hunky, I wish I had thinned them more. I don't have a bowl gouge well suited to making an undercut side with a sharp radius, and even using a Hunter tool I really don't enjoy hollowing by scraping. Maybe I need to get a small bowl gouge and put a blunt grind on it.
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Second is ebiara; from western Africa, sometimes called red zebrawood for obvious reasons. Texture is a lot like padauk, though it is softer than padauk -- by the numbers hardness is close to yellow birch, though it doesn't cut as nicely as yellow birch. Not unpleasant, but not silky either. The piece I have has some "gum pockets" in it, somewhat like what sometimes occurs in cherry except in the ebiara they are in lines of little "bubbles" that run along grain lines (see detail pic). The "bubbles" are either empty or have a dark maroon residue in them, again like cherry can have sometimes. There were several lines of them in the surface of the piece as I was preparing to make finish cuts and I decided to fill them with epoxy and finely ground coffee (pic); on the back I just left them empty. Fortunately the epoxy did not soak in enough to create shadows around the fills; I dropped the epoxy in with a syringe hoping to make them look a little more organic if they did leave shadows. The blue tape was to catch the epoxy if the beads started to run downhill. I also uncovered an edge check on the near edge late in the game; I'd already thinned the lip out from the back before I saw it so I had no choice but to CA it and leave it in.
Design is copied directly from John Jordan's pattern (thanks again John), though I have been using a slightly rounder arc on the sides than John often does. 8.5" wide, 1-7/8" tall. Both pieces are finished with one coat of Danish oil then a trip/white diamond/carnuba buff.
457458457460457461457462
I'm certainly not changing over from found wood, but it's been fun to work with new woods.
Best,
Dave
First is chechen, a very dense (same as water), fine textured wood from southern Mexico into central America. Hardness is about a third above hickory, similar to osage orange. However despite its density and hardness, it turns very nicely, sands well and takes a nice polish. Sometimes called Carribean rosewood -- not a rosewood at all, but does have characteristics similar to real Dalbergia rosewoods. Not on any threatened species lists. Bowl is from a 6"x6"x2" blank. I left the sidewalls a little hunky, I wish I had thinned them more. I don't have a bowl gouge well suited to making an undercut side with a sharp radius, and even using a Hunter tool I really don't enjoy hollowing by scraping. Maybe I need to get a small bowl gouge and put a blunt grind on it.
457456457457
Second is ebiara; from western Africa, sometimes called red zebrawood for obvious reasons. Texture is a lot like padauk, though it is softer than padauk -- by the numbers hardness is close to yellow birch, though it doesn't cut as nicely as yellow birch. Not unpleasant, but not silky either. The piece I have has some "gum pockets" in it, somewhat like what sometimes occurs in cherry except in the ebiara they are in lines of little "bubbles" that run along grain lines (see detail pic). The "bubbles" are either empty or have a dark maroon residue in them, again like cherry can have sometimes. There were several lines of them in the surface of the piece as I was preparing to make finish cuts and I decided to fill them with epoxy and finely ground coffee (pic); on the back I just left them empty. Fortunately the epoxy did not soak in enough to create shadows around the fills; I dropped the epoxy in with a syringe hoping to make them look a little more organic if they did leave shadows. The blue tape was to catch the epoxy if the beads started to run downhill. I also uncovered an edge check on the near edge late in the game; I'd already thinned the lip out from the back before I saw it so I had no choice but to CA it and leave it in.
Design is copied directly from John Jordan's pattern (thanks again John), though I have been using a slightly rounder arc on the sides than John often does. 8.5" wide, 1-7/8" tall. Both pieces are finished with one coat of Danish oil then a trip/white diamond/carnuba buff.
457458457460457461457462
I'm certainly not changing over from found wood, but it's been fun to work with new woods.
Best,
Dave