Green Colored wood

[Rolf]

I just did some more inlayed small wooden boxes (pictures to be posted soon)
On one I did a rose inlay and thought it would be nice to have a stem in a naturally green wood. I have tried the green parts of poplar in some intarsia but that has turned brown after I put the Bartleys gel varnish on it.
I thought about food coloring or dye but was afraid that would come off in the sanding process.

Any ideas.

[Jediscroller]

Rolf,
Don't know if this would help you or not, but Dymondwood is available in all sorts of colors including green. While not a "natural" wood is is made from wood and is available from places that carry turning supplies. This is one source.

[MacS]

staining and clear coating.

Rolf

If your worried about the color come off from the sanding, why not stain and clear coat after the sanding.

[Rolf]

Mac,

I can't stain after the fact because I am doing inlays and have to sand them flush after assembly. If I was doing Intarsia then that would work for me becuse I could do all of the sanding beforhand.

Jedi,

I may have to try some of that dymond wood. I think that would make for some very interesting inlays.

[workin for wood]

if you use tung oil, the green of the poplar will stay around alot longer.
I also use canary wood, green heart and staghorn sumac.
canarywood looks for yellowy brown, but when it has a finish on it, it's a similar grean to poplar, but has strands of other colors mixed in. Makes great grass.
Green heart is a very dark green and when it has a finish, it's super dark green, almost to black.
Staghorn Sumac is a light olive green and becomes a dark olive green when finished. If you look at my newest picture "pixie harvest", the leaves are all sumac, and the stems are poplar.
sometimes you can find Zircote that is green.
Jamaican green mahoe is a tough find, but it's a nice medium green with a soft tone.
I think Hackberry is a light green similar to poplar.

[BobD]

There is also an exotic hardwood...let me check...here it is...Kathy Wise used it on her Intarsia Ornaments in the Holiday issue...Lignavitae vera....it gets more and more green as it ages.

Bob

[minowevie]

There is also an exotic hardwood...let me check...here it is...Kathy Wise used it on her Intarsia Ornaments in the Holiday issue...Lignavitae vera....it gets more and more green as it ages.

Bob

Bob, thanks for that, i too am looking for a wood that stays green. tell me . is Lignavitae vera a hard wood or a soft wood. and were do you find it. never heard of that. but thanks from me. also does it change in the finishing? thanks. Evie

[Rolf]

Thanks Bob I will try to find some after the holidays. I think its too late for this season.

[BobD]

I haven't used it yet myself...I'm just passing on what Kathy Wise wrote in her article. If you look at the Duck's hat in her Intarsia Ornaments article, that is LV...and she applied a clear gel varnish to it...and she said it gets darker over time.

It's an exotic hardwood, so you do need to wear your dust mask when cutting it!

Bob

[Rolf]

Lately I have been wearing the dust mask all of the time and last night I also had the earmuffs on ( I have to get a pair with music.)
I should get my wife to take a picture when I have all of the gear on.

[workin for wood]

I haven't heard of that wood ...Lignavitae vera, not that that means anything. I did a yahoo search and it came up empty. I wonder if maybe it's Lignum vitae, which I am familiar with a little bit. It might be a green color, what I do know is that it's the hardest densest wood in the world. It was used as bearing on water wheels because of it's strenth and because it is an oily wood that continues to oil itself seemingly forever. The military also uses it in submarines as propellar shaft bearings and still does to this very day. Is this the wood, I'm not sure. She may have typed it in wrong by mistake, or could be some unkown latin type term. I'd be interested in finding out though. I like to expand my wood collection and colors.

[Jediscroller]

What a great thread this turned out to be. I looked up Lignum vitae, it does turn a dark green over time. It's hardness is about 3600 (oak is about 1200). You can read about it here.

[kofte]

That greenheart sounds interesting. Do you know of any sources (chlorocardium, not Ipe)? Looking through the search engines, the only source I've been able to dig up is going to the docks of New York City during the night & stealing one of the dock pilings :-). (I found an article on where NYC won't be getting any more pilings from Guyana greenheart anymore).

[BobD]

I've had good luck with www.WoodFinder.com. You can search by location or wood.

Bob Duncan
Technical Editor

[Terry-H.]

Searching for Green and Yellow colored wood!

Hi, I am wanting to do some wood turning on my lathe. I need to know what species of woods that are green in color and what species are yellow or orange in color. Can you help? Thanks, Terry