Snakewood

[Matt88s]

Has anyone turned any American Snakewood?

I have a couple sizable chunks someone just gave me when I bought some walnut off them.

I was thinking of trying to turn some if I can hunt up a pen kit, I might be all out. :o I need to find up a good source for kits, Woodcraft is a bit overpriced on some of theirs, I think their cheapest slimline is still $4-$5. The cigar pens like I like start at $5 or 6.99 and go up from there. :C It gets expensive after a while. Whats even worse is that all these kits are now littering the house in some form or fashion, lol. :q

[bdar]

Matt be careful with it, it is prone for cracking. Drill with a sharp drill, constant clearing a 1/4" intrvals so there is no binding a heat bulid up and drill at a slow speed. Have a spray bottle of water handy and give the drill and blank a squirt to keep it cool. If you don't want to use water let it cool naturally, both drill and blank. After drilling i would line the inside of the drilled hole with CA for any micro cracks that have occurred during drilling and then put it on the shelf for a couple of weeks to check any of the outer surface. Once turned and sanded I do not finish it, I put it back n the shelf and inspect it over a couple of weeks and then apply the finish and wait again for a bout a month.

I have bought Snakewood that is dry and has no cracks and been caught short, I know it is a long time from start to finish but this method has not failed me for Snakewood. That is why it is reserved for Statesman and Emperor pens only.
Darren

[Matt88s]

Do you have any pics of finished pens you have done in snakewood? I'll post some when I'm done, I'm interested in seeing the difference in the woods. I didn't drill with any particular care, it didn't seem to need it, it seems pretty dried and doesn't appear to be particularly delicate wood. I could be wrong though. :-

I looked it up on the internet and found that it was the wood of choice for making charcoal for gunpowder back in the day when one mixed and made their own gunpowder. I thought that was interesting. :rolleyes:

Personally from what I've seen I don't think it is much good for pens, you loose so much of the pattern. The side is very tight diamond pattern while the side with the best snake scale pattern is reduced to not much at all due to the round shape of the pen. You end up with two little snake scale strips down both sides and nice tight grain everywhere else.

For knife scales or anything where you had a good flat surface it would be superb though.

[bdar]

Matt,

Sorry don't have any photos of any Snakewood, it was before Natasha was in my life and I was not one to document or say this is what I do. Now she makes me photograph my work, so that is why there are photos of my recent stuff. There is an Australian Snakewood I believe, but all of mine comes from the USA as well. Snakwood is a very nice timber for your large pens like Statesman, Emperor, Kyoto, Imperial and Majestic pens.

As you have realised you lose much of the grain effect on slimline and smaller pens. It is a very heat sensative timber so care is needed. It buns well hence it being used for charcol in the making of gunpowder. It is a rare timber really, the best figure comes from near the center of the tree so that is why it commands a high price per blank.

I have one blank left and it has fine surface cracks and it was a dry blank. All my blanks I get from America I give them a full month to adjust to the climate here before I use them. I have some Statesman and Emperor kits so I will have to get it ready for turning and post a picture for comparison.
Darren

[ScrollZilla]

Matt,
I think it was Vikki who originally put this link up. I ordered through them a couple of weeks ago. There service was great, but the only carry the Penn State line of kits.

That snakewood of yours is some expensive stuff. Cut it carefully. I priced some last week and it came out to $20 per pound (and it is heavy wood). While I have not used it, I have seen pens made from it and they are beautiful, but they were as Darren said, the larger kits.

http://www.woodnwhimsies.com/index.html

Cheers,

Rick

[bdar]

Matt for suppliers of kits in America are and these would be my top four in no particular order.

Bear Tooth Woods - http://beartoothwoods.com/

CSUSA - http://beartoothwoods.com/

Woodturnings - http://www.woodturningz.com/SlimlinePenKits.aspx

Berea - http://www.bereahardwoods.com/new/

Hope these help
Darren

[Matt88s]

I had no idea it was so rare. He just up and gave me two big chunks of it, probably about 10 BF all total. I was going to make rifle stocks out of it, or thinking of, I wasn't sure if it was suitable for it, but it certianly would look cool.

Thanks for the kit links, I'll have to check them out.

Gotta run,

Cheers!

[ciscokid]

Here is a Churchill I made a couple of months ago. Stuff splits like the dickens, but I can get it relatively cheaply so all is good. I have a pile of it.

[ScrollZilla]

Matt and Cisco,
I tell you what. I am glad that you all found a relatively cheap source of it. I did some more searches for it and there ain't no way I am paying that much for wood. I would rather spend my money on something groovy and reasonable like ringed gidgee, coolibah, horistes burl, hairy oak, flaming sheoak, mulga, mallee, things with cool names. Time to start grunting like Tim Allen.

Cheers,

Rick

[Matt88s]

Here is a Churchill I made a couple of months ago. Stuff splits like the dickens, but I can get it relatively cheaply so all is good. I have a pile of it.

Are you sure that is American Snakewood? That doesn't look like mine.

[Matt88s]

Here we go, one finished snakewood pen plus a cocobolo cigar pen I did a while back.

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/015-5.jpg (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/015-5.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/016-4.jpg (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/016-4.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/017-4.jpg (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/017-4.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/018-4.jpg (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/%5BIMG%5Dhttp://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u274/JamesBondsAAB/018-4.jpg%5B/IMG%5D)

[GeorgeK]

Matt,
Just a guess but that looks like quarter sawn sycamore more than snake wood. From the looks of the blanks you have lying there in the picture it looks like a pretty soft wood. I'm no expert on snake wood but that stuff just doesn't look right. I have four snakewood blanks waiting to be turned and they are also dark as the above ones. Here is a link to pics of SW,
http://www.amazonexotichardwoods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=TB-S.

link to 1/4 sawn sycamore http://www.woodnshop.com/Hardwood/SYCAMOREQTRSAWN.HTM

[Matt88s]

Well I did a bit of research and give GeorgeK a prize. American snakewood is also known as sycamore and sycamore as American snakewood. So confusing. :no:



Matt,

Sorry don't have any photos of any Snakewood, it was before Natasha was in my life and I was not one to document or say this is what I do. Now she makes me photograph my work, so that is why there are photos of my recent stuff. There is an Australian Snakewood I believe, but all of mine comes from the USA as well. Snakwood is a very nice timber for your large pens like Statesman, Emperor, Kyoto, Imperial and Majestic pens.

bdar, what do the blanks you get from over here look like? Are they really American snakewood or just an American distributer of real snakewood?

[ciscokid]

Snakewood, or Piratinera guianensis of the family Moraceae, comes from a smallish, realtively rare tree in Central and South America. Since the trees are small, large blanks are uncommon. Not all snakewood is figured, making the more figured pieces that much more valuable. In fact, some people regard the unfigured pieces as having little value which is not true since the wood is very hard and polishes to a beautiful luster. In England, snakewood is sometimes refered to as 'letterwood' because the markings can resemble hieroglyphics.

Snakewood is generally very expensive. My first blank was purchased at a local Woodcraft store and, of all the pen blanks, these were kept locked up and one had to ask the manager of the store for help. Then, I found my local exotic wood vendor had some for a much nicer price. When I attempted to purchase a couple of nice pieces, he asked me if I had seen the barrel of it in the back. I hadn't. He then led me to two 55 gallon barrels full of three and four foot long pieces of it! I spent the next 45 minutes going through these barrels and hand picking the choicest pieces. I don't recall the price he is asking, but he's practically givng it away. I managed to snag a nice 1/2" thick by 4" wide slab that I intend to build a small box out of.

Isn't it a great feeling when you get lucky on a wood score? :U

[bdar]

Matt the Snakewood I have left is the same as the Churchill photo. The photo that you posted looks like what they Leopardwood, also called Lacewood elsewhere and in Australia it is called Silky Oak. You may have been had.
Darren

[mtcsss]

:oo:Matt,
What you have there is either Sycamore or what is called lacewood. Although it is a little light for lacewood which is a bit more reddish. My bet is Sycamore. Definitely not snakewood. Snakewood is very closed grained and very oily. Heavy stuff.

[Penpal]

If you had said to me this timber is harder than,tends to normally cause so much grief, but you said what is all the fuss about I knew then you had worked the wrong timber, this pen has not split is beautiful and I love it. Worth the effort.
Regards Peter.:2tsup:

[ScrollZilla]

Peter,
That pen is absolutely gorgeous! I also like the way you have it on the shell in the pic.....very nice indeed.

Rick

[ciscokid]

Nice pen, Peter. That's snakewood right there alright.

[Buzz]

The Churchill pictured on the previous page is what I am used to seeing referred to as Snakewood in the US. The other certainly looks like Silky Oak. Australian Snakewood is different again. Its an Acacia from the NW of WA. Link here (if I know what I'm doing) to a Snakewood pen I made.

http://www.australianwoodcraft.com.au/Snakewood%20Gold%20RB%201%20with%20text.jpg

[colin gregg]

matt, what you have there is what we call in the uk is leopard wood, here is my snakewood gent dne 4 months ago, and still no cracks

[colin gregg]

try this

[ciscokid]

That's just beatutiful! :oo: