The thread for wood addicts

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apicius9

Das HandleMeister
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Looks like some of us like nice wood, and others have a full blown wood addiction (aaehh, that would be moi). I thought i open a wood thread to discuss which woods people like - and why. Or show pictures of their favorite wood pieces, be it on a handle, a raw slab or on a piece of furniture. Or talk about their positiv/negative experience working with a specific wood. Very open topic, as you can see.

You guys can start talking already, I'm on the Ipad and too lazy now, but I will post a few pics and comments when I am back at the PC :)

Stefan
 
Can a mod rename this the "Make Stefan Feel Better About How Much Wood He Buys" thread?










:razz:

I love highly figured woods, burls, spalted, etc. Natural woods that have nice variety of colors and depth. Crazy colors and dyes also work for me. After years of having boring ass black handles, I like my knives to have some character!
 
Hey, what are you, a Psychologist? ;)
 
I like some figure but some of the pieces I see are just too busy-looking. Colors and dyes work sometimes but they seem to be nicer to my eye in spacers, etc.
 
Hello, My name is Randy and Im a Burl junky!!! :) Iv been known to be sort of a woodchuck! Spending way to much time and money on these beautiful woods! My collection ranges from at least 100 lbs of fully stabilized burl scales and blocks to well over 1000 lbs of natural burl at various stages of dryness.. You could say I have a passion for amazing highly figured BURL!!!!

Theres so many beautiful wood species to choose from I couldnt really pic a favorite.. So Id say the one Im working on at the time would be my favorite!

So today my favorite is Willow Burl! Ill attach a photo of the wood finished out on a knife. Its not a kitchen knife.. But it sure is amazing burl!

GrindingandLRGChopper072.jpg

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Damn that willow burl is nice. Kinda has a Koa effect as well.

Over 1000lbs? Uh oh Stefan, you may have found the guy that makes you look sane.
 
Yea, Its similar to Koa depending on which way you cut it.. It can have these awesome rays or cut agents the grain to get a totally different look, the Burly eyes!! :)

Funny thing is, Even with all this wood I still am seeking MORE BURL!! :scratchhead:
 
Randy is that fifth pin a lanyard hole or is it solid? I noticed you have this on some of your other handles too.
 
Those are two great pieces, Randy. And correct, I feel much better now, I am far away from 1000 pounds of burl hoarded in my shop :D But I may match your 100 pounds of stabilized wood :) . I wish I had taken better pictures of some of the pieces that went though my hands. I have definitely fallen in love with koa, but I actually like it almost more in its less stripey variations, something like this:



No regular stripes but almost burly with a deep chatoyance / 3-D effect.

Another one of my favorites is buckeye burl if it comes like this


but it's hard to find in that quality, and often has so many voids that it is no fun to work with. Finally, I would list thuya burl as another favorite, something like this:



This wood does not only look good, it also smells great IMHO. But I just had a few blanks of thuya stabilzed and what came back makes me really concerned. I have to try one out, but at a first glance, it almost looks dead - greyish, dull - and seems to have lost its depth. But I have to polish one up to be sure.

So hard to limit it to 3 varieties. There are so many others, especially local Hawaiian woods that are great. Among the most stunning varieties I have seen is Norfolk pine, very boring wood when freshly cut, but when it is spalted, you can make something like this out of it:

Norfolk-Island-Pine-Bowl.jpg


These bowls are often turned with very thin walls, and then they become translucent. Beautiful stuff. I ave actually thought about getting a lathe, just for something like this. But since dont even have the time for what I want to do now, I postponed that into retirement :)

Is anybody else here working with wood besides for knife handles, like turning or furniture making?

Stefan
 
Stephan, Them are some really nice looking work, and woods!
I have never used thuya burl. It looks amazing.. and reminds me a little of Redwood Burl.

Oh yea, Just for the record, I didnt say that I had 1000 lbs of burl in the shop.. I have a few piles of burl around the shop too! lol Yea, I probably need a intervention or something.
 

Have any slabs of walnut burl you want to get rid of?

Two things that really get me off are beautiful hardwoods and metals, specifically copper (I also have a thing for leather and linen). I've always had a thing for walnut for some reason... My chef caught me staring into an ancient copper bain marie that has a great patina on it one time and was like "dude, are you stoned?" lol... Where do you guys by slabs? If you check out my adventures in handle and saya construction you'll see the awesome spalted maple slab I picked up off ebay... but if iirc he usually only has myrtlewood slabs.

What kind of things have you guys make with your wood besides handles and sayas? I would love to craft some small things but am a bit blank as far as creativity at the moment... Give me some ideas?
 
I just got done splurging on a ridiculous amount of wood. I got quilted maple, spalted quilted maple, Koa blocks, hawaiian mango, milo, buckeye burl blocks, and a bunch of spalted scales mostly hard and soft maple, but also spalted beech. It's gonna cost me even more to have it stabilized than what I spent on the wood...
 
Great thread. I love woods too and have been woodworking longer than knifemaking. I actually got my start into this field by making wooden scabbards for a local swordmaker. Then got into making the swords themselves. Also, always made bowls and grew up in a house where my grandfather would come over and turn bowls and other wood projects. My mom made a few bowls on the wood lathe too.

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So, I glued this one up for my fiance' to turn.

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Some Desert Ironwood.

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Some Spalted Maple burl you will be seeing on some future knife handles soon.

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And my favorite is Curly Koa.

More bowls coming this Fall/Winter.
-M
 
Very nice indeed, Im really digging this thread. Like I said. Im a burl junky. and the only thing better then working with some insane burl is looking at some that is already been worked by another artist!
 
I cant help myself. I gota post another pic! Here is some insane feather pattern Buckeye burl! I know its not a kitchen knife. :( But man is it awesome stuff!
WIP6andFeatherknife034.jpg
WIP6andFeatherknife007.jpg


And another Buckeye burl!!
1294341853-HHH_Custom_Knives_097.jpg


Thats all for today! :) Although I did just find some amazing rosewood burl pics!! lolol Naaaa Ill save for another day!
 
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nice cocobolo from a shop in my area.
 
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would have to call to be sure 1-2 by 60 by 4
 
I have saw dust in my veins mixed in with a little blood, I'm sure by now I have an equal amount lodged in my lungs as well. I don't deal in the exotic woods staying with hard maple, a species of mahogany, cherry and walnut. But I do have a love for beautiful woods and have saved some curly walnut for a special occasion. Once in a while I see some curly maple appear but it ends up in a board hidden from view. That makes me sad.

BTW When I go to the lumber yard, it isn't that hard to come back with 1000 to 2000 pounds of wood stacked on the trailer.
 
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nice cocobolo from a shop in my area.

*@%&! That is crazy! Did you buy it? I couldn't have left without that wood. I don't have any idea what I'd do with it, but it would be mine!
 
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