Mixed Bag of Small Wood Curiosities - Batch #1

Being a wet cold day it was a good day to do some trimming of woods I planned to offer for penkmakers (most being too small for anything else except knobs and small tool handles)

Here are a few interesting species I planned to offer. Some exotic species first and wood information is provided here as its a Timber Section.

A) Blackjack oak, Quercus marilandica, is a tree in the red oak grouping of oaks from parts of the US. This piece shows nice colour variation & beautiful oak rays of course. It's a hard coarse & heavy wood. I've never seen or handled it before although US members will be familiar with it. The small tree grows in hard / difficult conditions and is fire adapted. Small tree has strange features eg an almost black rough bark, which probably gives it this name, although the black streaks in its durable wood may suggest that as another source. It has 3 lobed leaves. Here below are a couple of pics and a small slab for smaller pens or items. An interesting non commercial wood for sure, one hears little about here.

Blackjack Oak 1.jpg

Blackjack Oak 2.jpg

B) Cocobolo or Granadillo (Dalbergia retusa) an all time favourite and "real" rosewood, One piece below shows sapwood for dramatic contrast but the heartwood is purple-red-brown with streaks and with that distinctive odour that Rosewoods have. Care should be taken if you have allergy or are sensitive to wood oils from Rosewood.

Cocobolo.jpg

C) Brasileto (Caesalpinia violacea) a pretty wood from tropical parts of Mexico with a bright orange colour and a high luster. Some I cut has birdseye / burl figure which will look interesting when finished.

Brasileto.jpg

D) From A mix of Aussie & Exotic woods (below, described from left )

- Coolibah burl (Euc. coolibah) with small birdseyes, a long time favourite with turners showing nice colour contrast between pale sapwood and pinkish red heartwood.

- Gidgee (Acacia cambagei) this piece, second from left, is almost burl with a wild irregular grain, again with some pale sapwood for contrast. It shows many faces this wood some curly, Birdseye, some fiddleback (ringed from rings it shows eg on whip handles) and some I have has a golden brown colour. This piece has a purple-black heartwood, almost like black walnut but much harder and denser of course.

Mixed 1.jpg

Mixed 2.jpg

Box Elder Burl - a true maple, Acer negundo, from US & Canada, with a pale cream coloured wood with a wild grain, sometimes stained with pinks and yellows)

Catalina Ironwood - a true rarity from Catalina Is, off California coast, (now a National Park) , this is a true “rosewood" (from the Rose family, Rosaceae). It has nice colour contrast with same sapwood and birdseyes in a fine wood. Like many in this family it dries with much twisting turning. But this dry and stable now. It was obtained around the time of the Korean War by a soldier visiting the island so its almost historic

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