favorite piece wood

[workin for wood]

Do you have a favorite piece of wood in your shop that you don't and won't use because it's special enough just the way it is?

This is my favorite hands down over all the others that I have. It is Jamaican Blue Mahoe, and even has birdseye. It is a dark blue jean blue although difficult to see in the photo. This is a 5x10 inch board. I had three of these and used the other two but have to keep this one. I paid $250 for the three of them. That's very pricey...but it was worth it. Took me a year just to track them down, and I bought all he had. It's the official tree of Jamaica and is only from that island which does not allow it to be exported, not that there's much too export anyhow. It can be found on a few other islands in the area and can grow in the Florida Keys, but those are all transplanted seeds, and if you are able to find one of those, it won't be the same blue. The color is also specific to Jamaica due to the soil and weather conditions. So..if you go to Jamaica, smuggle me a few boards in your suitcase

[Rivari]

Jeff,

That sure is some fancy stuff there, the price tag alone suggests that it be framed immediatley without ever putting a blade to it.

Are you sure your not partaking in Jamaca's other organic materials?

[BirdOasis]

I have an oak burl that's about 15 inches wide, with the branch still attached. This oak was about 150 years old when it got hit by lightning and split in 2003. It was accross the street of our house in Lake Arrowhead CA. I drove that sucker all the way up here to Cheney WA when we moved. I keep it wrapped in my barn. Dang thing weighs about 75 pounds.

I think it's time to start cutting it, but I'm just not sure how to go about it.
I do have a manzanita burl that's about 10 inches wide. I've used it a little on some craft projects. Still have most of it left.

[workin for wood]

that's smart thinking on cutting off that burl. I did the same thing with a cherry burl from a tree the city cut down and it was also about that same size. with a burl, you can slab it and it should remain pretty stable because of the insanity in the grain. You should slab it while it's fresh, but it's ok if it's now dry..when it's fresh, slab it and then put spacers inbetween and cinder blocks on top. I could not find anyone that could re-saw mine because of the size, so I squared it down some to become 12" and then resawed it myself on my bandsaw. Congrats on the big burl and if you want to keep it as a burl, I'd understand that, I'd sand at least a section off on the top to reveal the pattern and spray some poly on it, then shelf it !.

[Rolf]

I have 2 favorites. I bought a plank of Bloodwood (love the smell when I cut it) that I had for about a year before I cut it this year.
I also have some brazilian black walnut.

[workin for wood]

Ever cut up any Brazilian Satinwood Rolf? That stuff has a great smell, reminds me of fresh pollin, unlike zebrawood that smells like a zebras azz.

[Marsha]

Ever cut up any Brazilian Satinwood Rolf? That stuff has a great smell, reminds me of fresh pollin, unlike zebrawood that smells like a zebras azz.

Jeff, I couldn't agree more, zebrawood is the most disgusting, foul smelling wood I've ever cut.
I do have this piece of butternut hanging around, not sure what, if anything I'll do with it, I just think it's a real pretty piece of wood.
Butternut 001.jpg
My favorite smelling piece of wood is definitely sugar pine, it smells like fresh popped popcorn, mmmmmm LOL

Marsha

[William Young (SE BC)]

Hi Jeff.
That is a nice looking piece of blue mahoe. It shows brown in the picture but then that could be partly due to photography.
A fellow sent me a bunch of cutoffs of blue mahoe from Ontario. He was making furniture out of blue maho and didn't want to burn the cut offs. I beleive his was also imported from Jamica and I understand it is also tree farmed and grown and used extensively in Cuba for furniture making.
The pieces he sent me have more of a green tint to them than blue. I made one pen for him from a bit of it and sent it to him as a thank you and he orderd two more pens just like it and insisted on paying my full price for them.
That is one of the nicest things I like about turning. So many people are so willing to send you free wood and I always send them a small turned gift made from it in appreciation.
Here are two of several dozen blue mahoe modified slimline pens I made . I cleared out of them at my last sale and need to make a bunch more.
Free wood and a $1.49 pen kit and a half hour each to make them. That turns into a nice profit margin per hour of work at $29.00 each.

That blue Mahoe sure is nice wood to turn on a lathe. It cuts like butter and sands and finishes very well. Let us know how you make out with yours when it gets used for scrolling if that is what you intend to do with it.

Only thing that would have been nicer would have been if the pieces were larger so I could have cut the pen blanks on a bias to better enhance the grain. But they sell easy because people like to buy things made from woods that are classified as exotic in certain places even though they are a common wood in the regions where they came from.
W.Y.

[Rolf]

Jeff,

My collection of exotic wood is very small. That is an issue I intend to address. I could see that collecting the different woods could become a hobby all by itself.
My first wood other than cherry, birch etc. was spanish cedar. Cutting that left a very nasty taste in my mouth very bitter. That was the first time I used a mask.

That blue mahoe looks nice.
Will great looking pens.

[workin for wood]

yes, I can imagine the color would be a bit different coming from cuba because of the soil. I found some blue mahoe from a tree trimmer in the Florida keys and it is a very light bluish green, cuts the same, but looks very different. I used it for the water in my living planet mural. Your pens look great. Any idea where he is buying his blue mahoe from ? That wood scrolls beautifully, reminds me of poplar. btw, in case anyone is curious, blue mahoe is a type of hybiscus tree. There is also green mahoe, but I havent seen it. My blue mahoe piece is very dark blue like blue jeans and I will never cut this piece.
I wish we could see a picture of that 15" oak burl with at least some water poured on the face of it to bring out the grain.

I would consider buying one of them pens...got one left?

[workin for wood]

Jeff, I couldn't agree more, zebrawood is the most disgusting, foul smelling wood I've ever cut.
I do have this piece of butternut hanging around, not sure what, if anything I'll do with it, I just think it's a real pretty piece of wood.
[ATTACH]2061[/ATTACH]
My favorite smelling piece of wood is definitely sugar pine, it smells like fresh popped popcorn, mmmmmm LOL

Marsha

There is a bush that grows wild around here, probably there too...really scraggly looking thing with little blue berries on it. I cut one down by my creek and the odor was so foul I had to put a rag over my face so I could breath. My neighbor has one too...I keep daring him to cut it down...I call it a "shi#$%" tree" because that is appropriate for the smell.

[William Young (SE BC)]

Hi Jeff .
You said

I would consider buying one of them pens...got one left?
__________________

And I stated earlier

I cleared out of them at my last sale and need to make a bunch more.

I 'will' be making a bunch more. I still have some of that wood left. But I have some other more major turnings to get out of the way first because a person that bought the clock of my own design shown below just ordered another one yesterday for a gift for someone that saw it in her house .
Usually when I make pens I make 10 to 20 at the same time and that is how I have the time down to about 1/2 hour turning per pen instead of setting up the tooling for one or two at a time which would take a lot longer per pen.
My intentions in posting the pictures of those pens was not remotely intended as a sales message. I have way more work ahead of me at all times that I don't have to advertise anything I have for sale on forums. I just share my experiences with what goes on in my workshop.
When I get around to making another batch of pens I will PM you and see if you are still interested. Nice part about pens is that they ship well in a small bubble pack envelope and it only costs about a dollar to mail them anywhere in North America so it is easy to include postage in my price.
I am also totally out of the platters where I incorporate scrolling into them and need to make some more. There are never two the same and people like buying one of a kind of anything rather than some things that are made repetitively from patterns. Those were just first time practice pieces and in spite of mistakes that I see in them others didn't mind because they bought them even when I pointed them out. So I HAVE to make more and better ones of those from what I have learned making the first ones.
I'll catch up one of these times ;-) (I hope) ;-)
Cheers.
W.Y.

[workin for wood]

yes, i remember seeing the moose bowl, I thought that was pretty genious. You do excellent work, and I wasn't thinking you were trying to sell me or anyone else something, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in some things. I am a obsessed with wood, always have been.

I have a suggestion for you too..pens made of grapefruit. I think I might have some perfect pieces for that, it's a strange looking grey/blue wood..I bought some, but it's unsuitable pieces for intarsia.

I need to win a couple million dollars so that I can sit in my shop and play everyday instead of going to work...there's just too many wood related hobbies that I want to do and not enough of me to do it all.

[William Young (SE BC)]

WOW. Grapefruit. I have never seen a grapefruit tree less the wood that comes from it. Sounds pretty interesting.
W.Y