Snake Wood

[Willy Nelson]

Good Evening ladies and Gentlemen
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit a huge shed (the most timber I have ever seen (apart from a mill and the forest, of course)).
This fellow was a furniture maker and getting out of the business, he is selling the lot. I picked up a good amount of Jarrah Burl at a price I was very happy with.

His parting gift was a segment of Snake Wood.
I knew of it, but have never turned any. It is extremely dense and heavy with beautiful red bark. The cut ends were dull grey with age.
Couldn't wait to get it home and through the bandsaw. The picures say it all. I have glued some up ready for pens. Can't wait

Oh yeah, try this Acacia xiphophylla (family Fabaceae) in Australia
Sincerely
Willy
Jarrahland
(also inhabitated by Snakewood)

Further reading

Snakewood

Acacia xiphophylla

Snakewood is a large bush, or a small tree with numerous spreading branches growing to about 5 m tall and 7 m wide. It often has two or three twisted trunks with dark grey, rough bark. Commonly found in the southern Pilbara, Gascoyne and Murchison, in the drainage areas of the Gascoyne and Ashburton catchments.
Wood description [more info]
Heartwood is a very dark brown with some darker grain and golden flecks, and sapwood is yellow. Timber is very hard and close-textured.
Wood density [more info]
Air-dry density is about 1200 kg/m3.
Shrinkage [more info]
Tangential and radial shrinkage are estimated as about 3.0 and 2.0 per cent respectively.
Workability [more info]-
Durability [more info]-
Strength group and properties [more info]
Green and dry strength groups are (S2) and (SD2). The brackets indicate conservative provisional ratings based on the air-dry density.
<TABLE class=stripeMe width="50%"><THEAD><TR class=alt><TH vAlign=top width="51%">

Property

</TH><TH vAlign=top width="13%">

Units

</TH><TH vAlign=top width="18%">

Green

</TH><TH vAlign=top width="18%">

Dry

</TH></TR></THEAD><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="51%">Modulus of Rupture
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="13%">MPa
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

86

</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

130

</TD></TR><TR class=alt><TD vAlign=top width="51%">Modulus of Elasticity
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="13%">MPa
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

14200

</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

18500

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width="51%">Max Crushing Strength
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="13%">MPa
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

43

</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

70

</TD></TR><TR class=alt><TD vAlign=top width="51%">Hardness
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="13%">KN
</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

-

</TD><TD vAlign=top width="18%">

-

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Uses [more info]
Previous use was mainly as firewood in remote areas. The species is becoming increasingly popular for craft purposes because of its attractive appearance.
Availability [more info]
Limited availability because of the scattered nature of the resource.

[TTIT]

Lucky bugger

[HazzaB]

Hey Willy,

Have you lost my Number

I know that I told you last time we talked that I had enough wood, but I could find some room for some of that

very Nice, can't wait to see the finished product

HazzaB

[dai sensei]

Yum

[munruben]

Wow! great

[cookie48]

Great looking piece of timber. Rekon you have to much. I rekon you should cut in half and send me a bit.

[Shedhand]

Hmmm... not the same Snakewood I have.
This is what I have:

Snakewood Lumber From an American site.

Uses:
Given Snakewood lumber's extreme difficulty to acquire it is rarely used for anything other then small craft work, particularly for knife handles. snakewood has a very tight exotic figure that works wonderfully on the small surface area of a knife handle.
The Tree:
Snakewood is a truly exotic species, and probably one of the most difficult species to find. It grows erratically in South America. Typically, it is a very small tree, and only shows the wonderful figure in a small quantity of the wood, and then rarely evenly spread across the entire face of the board.


Wood Description:
The jagged black blotches do resemble the skin of a snake, thus getting its name. The background wood is quite orange, with a very tight grain, and a moderate amount of black, irregularly shaped "leopard" spots.
ENDS...
_________________________________________________________________

I found it, forgotten and forlorn amongst a pile of Lignum Vitae on a shelf at Carbatec Melbourne about 5 years ago. I paid about 35 bucks for it from memory. I was staggered as it was such a small bit - only 150mm x 60mm x 12mm. I think that works out to about 340K a cube. Its a very pretty piece of wood though. One day, somehow, I'm going to make new tuning keys for my Gibson LP. Should look a nice contrast to the Quilted Maple top.
Sheddie

[BobL]

Hmmm... not the same Snakewood I have.

Look up snake wood on Wikipedia, there you will see there are a couple of different types from different places around the world.

[dai sensei]

Yep as Bob says, Snakewood is just the common name Willy did give the botanical name of this wood, the American one is Piratinera guianensis