Thread: Birdseye blackwood log.

Know any guitar makers down your way ? I think that type of stuff would be highly sort after, if it is processed correctly.

Quarter saw as much as you can
Also very careful seasoning required...a slow cure!
Have some Qld Maple in the shed riddled with birds-eye grain
Very pretty wood...thanks for sharing
Log Dog

traditionally blackwood is back/flatsawn for its feature. For guitar sides (finished 110mm) it is best quarter sawn. it wont be any good as tone wood or sides for guitars as the eye might pop out when bending. personally i'd backsaw it and use it for other types of furniture and the highly figured stuff for boxes and the like. You have something very special that doesn't come along very often. Choose wisely as i'd hate for you to see a piece in 20 years and say "I had a chance to get some birdseye blackwood years ago" and not have it

Rhys...here's some Qld Maple with birds-eye feature
Log Dog

Originally Posted by Log Dog

Quarter saw as much as you can. ...

Are you sure?

Virtually all of the birdseye that I have seen - albeit mainly in Huon pine and myrtle - has been backsawn with a little tending towards rift sawn.

Last year I accidentally sawed a very small flitch of birdseye Huon the wrong way and essentially minimised the figure - the birdseyes became sort of stripes.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

Are you sure?

Virtually all of the birdseye that I have seen - albeit mainly in Huon pine and myrtle - has been backsawn with a little tending towards rift sawn.

Last year I accidentally sawed a very small flitch of birdseye Huon the wrong way and essentially minimised the figure - the birdseyes became sort of stripes.

Yep I am sure
At least that is how I would mill it
Log Dog

Birde-eye feature is not always confined to the upper layers of the bole
Here's a few pics of an Acacia that has fiddleback and birds-eye grain
The entire Log was figured
Qld Maple too will sometimes bear similar grain
As to why quarter sawn?
Stability...back sawn grain can and does cup/twist
Log Dog

No arguments about back sawn being more stable than back sawn, LogDog, but to my untutored eye those examples look more rift sawn than quarter sawn.

Rift Sawn.jpg

Perhaps you could do a photo of the end grain to clarify my confusion?

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

No arguments about back sawn being more stable than back sawn, LogDog, but to my untutored eye those examples look more rift sawn than quarter sawn.

Rift Sawn.jpg

Perhaps you could do a photo of the end grain to clarify my confusion?

Hoping this pic helps you...growth rings are straight up and down...representing quartersawn grain.The entire Log was figured as I mentioned.Some riftsawn material was produced but most was quartersawn
Been milling high quality logs for some 35 years now
And I always chase the quartersawn grain
Log Dog