I have purchased so REALLY nice Blood wood.. Dang… I’ll be on Bread and Jack and Water for a month to pay fot it!
I have never used this wood before..
Any hints or stuff I should be aware of cept’ for don’t spoil it!
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Replies
It has a funky smell when milled. It's dense as iron. It really moves and is best used in small quantities.
Will,
The good news: It's color stays as bright and intense over time as it looks when first finished. It finishes (polishes) beautifully with just about any finish you want to try from oli/varnish to shellac to lacquer. It's a wood that really benefits from going to very fine grades of abrasives as it polishes as though it were a piece of stone. Quite exotic.
The bad news: It also works like it's a piece of stone. It is hard and brittle. Must have a high mineral content. It chews up tools. It splinters - badly. The splinters braeak off as sharp, glass-like shards and a splinter injury hurts - bad! And lasts for a long time.
Work it carefully. Start with sharp tools and be ready to resharpen frequently. The reward for this hard-to-handle stuff is beautiful results.
Rich
Will,
1) Which bloodwood is it?-what is the botanical name.
2) what quantity did you get
3)what have you in mind to make?
Not a quizz-your answer could influence the answer, especially as I know of another bloodwood....
Which bloodwood is it?-what is the botanical name.
Geee. I never asked.. I'm not that smart... I just sort of went into one of the display areas and 'THERE it was!'.. Got my attention..Just something for my Sister-In-Law.. Her hubbie died a few months back and thinks she may need something to cheer her up..I can't find the link now but it was something I saw from a woodworker on the web...Sort of a Medium sized open sided chest (Just frame and rails) with drawers you can see from all sides..Well, I thought it looked cool!I was thinkin' Bloodwood for the frame parts and I have a bunch of Lacewood to use for the drawers.. Yes.. I know Lacewood is a bummer to work with AND a Brown color but it is sort of worm eaten and just Beautiful!..Hell, I don't know... I just buy wood I like and ;) think' next!Just me...EDIT:: I found the link HoooooRay!http://www.jeffgreefwoodworking.com/pnc/Boxes/Oriental/index.html
Edited 9/12/2005 12:03 pm ET by WillGeorge
Yep, that will keep you out of mischief for a bit, especially the the little through mortices - no ragged edges required.... I notice a reference to STUB TENONS ha ha .Philip Marcou
An interesting link showing some of the color variations
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/bloodwood.htm
blood•wood
Pronunciation: (blud'wood"), [key]
—n.
1. any of several Australian trees of the genus Eucalyptus, as E. gummifera or E. ptychocarpa, having rough, scaly bark.
2. an African tree, Pterocarpus angolensis, having reddish wood.
3. the wood of any of these trees.
Hmm . . .
The wood I know as "bloodwood" is brosimum paraense.
http://www.tropilab.net/hardwood/bloodwood.html
http://www.iswonline.com/wwp/wom/bloodwood.cfm
"Varied AttributesDouglas Thayer, a custom woodworker from Phoenix, MD, which is near Baltimore, used bloodwood in one of his recent one-of-a-kind pieces, an outdoor bench that mixes concrete bases with solid wood and other materials such as metal. "It’s a beautiful wood, but very dense and hard and that can make it tough to sand. Without my Timesavers widebelt sander, I would have been in trouble," he says. "I’d hate to have had to sand that by hand. It’s so difficult to mill because of its hardness. It’s as though sparks fly off it."
Bloodwood is also said to twist when you cut it.
Thayer thinks jatoba is similar in many ways to bloodwood. "They have the same grain characteristics and hardness, but bloodwood’s color is better, and it won’t oxidize the way jatoba and padauk sometimes do."
Steven King, a vice president at All Righteous Woods, a division of Yankee Pine Corp. in Rowley, MA, says his company has carried bloodwood for 15 years. He describes it as a beautiful wood that finishes well. "The denser woods are, often the higher the shine. It has a great luster when finished. Give it a French polish, and it shines like the facets of a gem."
http://www.woodworkerssource.net/Merchant3/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WS&Category_Code=Bloodwood
Rich
Edited 9/13/2005 12:37 pm ET by Rich14
Edited 9/13/2005 12:39 pm ET by Rich14
You could be right, I never worked with it, just provided a link to a claimed expert source. <!----><!----><!---->
I have had lumber dealers refer to Paduk as Bloodwood, and others say it is not.<!----><!---->
Seem to be in a similar botanical family. <!----><!---->
pa•doukPronunciation: (pu-douk')—n. 1. any of several trees belonging to the genus Pterocarpus, of the legume family, native to tropical Asia and Africa, having reddish striped or mottled wood used for paneling, furniture, etc. 2. the wood itself. Also,padauk.<!----><!---->
blood•woodPronunciation: (blud'wood")—n. 1. any of several Australian trees of the genus Eucalyptus, as E. gummifera or E. ptychocarpa, having rough, scaly bark. 2. an African tree, Pterocarpus angolensis, having reddish wood. 3. the wood of any of these trees.
Disclaimer, I am not a botanist<!----><!---->
I have some so called Paduk..If i'm thinking of the right stuff.. Mine is a bright darker toned orange with some darker colored grain of various shades of orange, brown and really thin streaks of black..Mostly Orange though.. Works well but sure makes alot of strange dust and sands really funny,,, Hard to describe but finishes beautifully..
Will, now you see why I was asking "which bloody bloodwood is it", man.
If you have got Pterocarpus Angolensis you should find it very nice to work and very stable.Ditto for Padauk and Narra-all three are Pterocarpus.If is the Australian stuff you will be cursing, I think.
How about a picture of it-I am familiar with Pterocarpus, especially Angolensis.Philip Marcou
"which bloody bloodwood is it", .. LOLOL.. Only from the 'other side'
Can't get a Pic just now...Grandson got my Digital and in Colorado for a month or two... I have NO idea what he is doing there?All I know it is ALL Beautiful and that the Padauk looks NOTHIN' like the Bloodwood!I have used Padauk several times.. Not my favorite wood but has it's place for Trim and accents..I posted a Purpleheart bench I made for my Mom that used it.. Turned out pretty nice. Even my Mom said it was and she NEVER agrees with me.. I just tell her she is to old to think about agreenin' with anybody!
All of the instances where I used Padouk early on ended up the same way. It looked like plastic after a year or so, that is it gets dark and looses all that nice color streaking and any variations you see when it is fresh. I have heard this is not true with all varieties of Padouk, has anyone else had similar experiences? I stopped using it about 20 years ago for that reason.
Bioman,
Every piece of paduak I have ever finished has eventually turned maroon-brown. Some oieces which did not receive a lot of light darkened more slowly (it took more than 2 years to lose the figure), but all eventually went the same route.
I have designed several pieces so that I could quickly refinish them when the owner so desired, and that has worked out just fine. (All the "owners" of my pieces are family members).
I like the appearance of blood wood (brosimum paraense) and it just does not lose its color like paduak. But it does not have the beautiful figure and detail that many pieces of paduak show. Paduak is truly one of the most beautiful woods in existence.
Rich
Jon Arno, I'm thinking about you and wishing you were here.
Lofton
Funny thing reading your message - I was thinking the same thing. There are lots of posters here, but a handfull have the depth and breadth of knowledge to be old masters. Jon certainly was with wood!I'd add Richard Jones, Planewood, and a few others to that list who so often post here from a foundatio of real knowledge and thank them heartily for passing on such hard won knowledge. Sorry about those other experts who my feeble remants of mind couldn't remember offhand.
Sorry about those other experts who my feeble remants of mind couldn't remember offhand...LOL LOL.... Was it the original poster? Gee...EDIT:: Thanks for the info folks!
Edited 9/15/2005 7:54 pm ET by WillGeorge
Bloodwood is a name, not a species, from what I know. I have some maurapiringa (sp????), which is a pretty generic South American tropical. Per Jon Arno, to whom I sent a sample, it is sometimes called Bloodwood, depending upon the color, which ranges from red to pinkish to brown. I have all 3 colors. I made a set of wall shelves and while it was hard and dense, and hence challenging to work, it has remained stable.
Alan
http://www.alanturnerfurnituremaker.com
see my discussion in skin irritations, which includes blood wood.
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