man im loving exoics, im 17 and my first purchses on my own as far as lumber have been curly spanish cedar for a box thant im making, bloodwood and ebony for a tabletop, an some canarywood for whatever i decide. I really wish i had sme desert ironwood.
exotics are just cool i guess, but i still have a great love for my favorite domestics, maple, walnut, and quartersawn oak.
what woods are your faves?
Replies
Favorite 99% of all! But Black Walnut is King and Black Cherry is Queen
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
And bw and bc were born to go together. I agree they are the royal family.
man im loving exoics..
Me also... but I met my wife in Kindergarden! She punched me in the nose and she sure got my Attention!
As far as wood goes.. VERY hard question... What do you like? As far as I think.. If you like it for whatever reason.. TRY to use it!
I mostly use Purpleheart, Jatoba, SOME new Panga-Panga I got a steal!! Hickory.. Ash..
Start with good old HARD pine to make the Prototype.. Poplar is GREAT! Dings very easy though! I find it very stable even in smaller sizes..
Want to learn.. Get a bunch of Hickory or Pecan!
No AX handles! Furinature!
I tend to carry on MORE than a bit.. I guess all I am saying is...
Look at some wood YOU like for whatever reason... Make a SMALL box from it..
I hope you got ALOT extra.. A small box is NOT EASY TO MAKE! AND then some!
It would seem the opposite.. However for it to look nice you have to be VERY accurate with your cuts!
Just me though.. All in All just have FUN even if the project goes bad!
Been woodworkin MANY years and I just had one go to Hell and back!
EDIT:
At seventeen... all I thought about were GIRLS!
Edited 7/17/2008 2:15 pm by WillGeorge
Will,
Hmmm. At 17 all I thought about was going home to work in the shop.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Hmmm. At 17 all I thought about was going home to work in the shop.
Hmmm, at 17 all I thought about was girls!
Now, however, I spend a lot of time thinking about wood (not that kind!). I find that I like just about anything as long as it comes from a tree -- domestic or exotic -- either way, I'm happy. If I absolutely had to choose a favorite it would probably be ash.
I only use exotics for pens and the occaisonal small carving or turning. This is mostly because I get nearly all of my wood from a local sawyer. I am, however, getting sick of maple. Walnut is nice. I'll have to get myself some butternut I think. Fruit wood is also nice.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Butternut is nice to work. Some around here call it White Walnut.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
yeah i wanna try some of that and claro walnut too.
Remember, Locale is usually the determining factor for Exotics. What we consider common domestic woods, Oak, Walnut and Cherry would be exotics to someone in central and S America. Likewise they use their Domestic species for everyday projects.A friend took a trip down to Costa Rica and Nicaragua twice last yr. He couldn't get over the huge outdoor and indoor tables made from very nice "Exotics". That would be comparable to walking into a small town or village in Africa and seeing a huge beautiful Bubinga tree slab used as an outdoor community table. It's local and readily available.So, I believe everything must be kept in perspective, trees are a Renewable resource. It just takes time and conservation management to keep the resource viable and for long term sustainability.My favorite Exotic is Bubinga, widely available in veneer and even large slabs. Most of the exotics I use are in the form of Veneers and I like to mix these with plain domestics. If I have a desire or need to use Exotic solids I try to limit the use to legs and smaller pieces. This doesn't mean I never build any solid work from Exotics, it's just not the norm. EarlFurniture...the Art of a FurnitureMaker
good points! yeah when i get my curly spanish cedar box and that bloodwood/ebony end table ive been workin on done, then im gonna try to do womething with bubinga
Like to see some of that curly Spanish cedar. I have some 8/4 x 27" x 10' boards with tight growth rings and completely figured throughout with gold tiger stripes. Curious to see what you are calling curly. post some pics if you can? I have posted some pics of a make up chair I made for my daughter. The legs are Spanish cedar. They are actually pics of pics. I did not take any, she sent them to me.
Thanks Tom
looks good man, those are more figured than mine but ill take some pics tonight and hopefully have them up by tommorow.
It's definately got curly tiger figure and im pretty sure it's spanish cedar, its the cedar they use in cigar boxs, cedrela odorata i believe.
At 17 I was dating the police chiefs daughter. Wood was the farthest thing from what little mind I had.
As for wood I guess I'm partial to cherry, especially those burly thangs, and birch is a close second.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Given the politics and environmental concerns around the harvesting and sale of exotic species, I've decided not to be a part of that economy. There are plenty of domestic species that don't involve raping of the land. Look into what's happening to forests around the world, who benefits, who loses and whether you want to be a contributor.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
C,
"Exotics" is a loose term. It might include the more figured varieties of what you Muricans call "domestic". Birdseye and rippled maple, for example.
I like to salvage wood from old stuff that folk are throwing out. As well as exotics such as Brazilian rosewood and afromosia (from the bartop of an old pub and defunct university chemistry lab benches respectively) I've had some beautiful old cherry, figured walnut and pippy oak, all of which seem very difficult or impossible to buy from timber merchants today. (Or prohibitively expensive). Old-growth pitch pine (e.g. from the beams of old mills or factories) is particuarly fine, as it's very dense, the pitch has crystalised and it has tremendous colour and grain.
Wood from things fabricated 150 or more years ago is often denser and more figured than modern plantation-grown equivalents. Such stuff is from old and slow-grown forests, which tends to mean growth rings close together, varying grain due to the stress of competing with other trees and also fungal or insect influences that add character.
As this old stuff has already been harvested, its a very good way to obtain better-quality exotics than having to buy similar stuff freshly felled from todays rain forests, which are already under pressure from slash & burn farmers. Old stuff is also very stable indeed, if it hasn't been left lying around in the rain or a damp building site, that is. As it comes from already-made objects, the previous carpenter or cabinet-maker has already selected the good quaity and rejected the bad!
Best of all, such exotic and fine wood is not always recognised as such by those disposing of the ripped-out stairs, bartops, panelling or whatever is being "renovated". You might well get it for nothing, grabbing it just before it gets into the landfill or bonfire.
Lataxe, a scavenger.
I like them all if they fit the bill of what I'm doing.
I also love cherry, walnut, mahog, but I'm finding I like equally well trying woods that dont see a lot of use, familiarity, or popularity.
I did a bookcase out of lightly spalted silver maple. Beautiful. I'm looking for an excuse to use butternut at the moment. I've tried a little elm, locust.
Just finished a Hepplewhite table that used probably the most number of woods I ever have done in a project. Mahog, cherry, sapele, ebony, bloodwood, holly, birch burl. All because of the inlays work, of course.
Real trucks dont have sparkplugs
!7 that is cool. Like the other guy's at 17 I was partying and thinking about girls. I was about 25 when I saw the light and started woodworking. Now I'm 60 and still can't get enough. Anyway the conversation was exotic's. Many years ago I did a job for a customer. They couldn't pay me due to lack of fund's. Well the woman was recently divorced from a Luther. And she had a stash of BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD yes BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD. 8/4 boards. Well I did a little horse trading. I ended up with about 100 bd ft of the lovely stuff. I feel like such a pig. You were interested in some dessert ironwood. I got a small stash of that also. It makes great accent parts for furniture. If you get some be very careful when sawing or sanding. It's probably one of the most toxic of wood dusts. So wear a respirator.
From a old fart
Well at 17 I was a girl and thought about boys and designing furniture in that order!
I'm currently in love with cherry but recently had an affair with mahogany and before that had a thing for Bubinga, hubby is cool, he says it's cheaper keeping me in wood than having a boyfriend!
Madison
My favorite wood is the stuff I can get for cheap. Currently that is Mahogany in the form of 18' long 2x4's. I work at a window factory and get the skids the lumber comes on. There are nail holes in most of it, but at one dollar a piece I can work around that. I also like to work with Birch that comes out of Northwestern Ontario.
OK SO I GOT PICTURES!...but uhh how do i upload them, i see the attach files button but when i click it i dont do anything and down in the progress bar at the bottom is just syas attach files and nothing happens...i know this is operator error sorry im new.
-kam
Kam, Just be patient. takes a bit of time to up load.
If you have a pop-up blocker running it will prevent you from seeing the dialog box where you pick the file to upload.
What browser are you running?
................................................
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London
ok ill try waiting.
umm im running ie but can run f-fox if i need to. i dont think it blocked it because it usually says something if it blocks a popup.
thanks
You should see a pop-up that lets you browse for files, a button to click for upload, and a done button for when you are through. You might double check your pop-up blocker settings or try turning it off.
................................................
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. Jack London
well it doesnt do anything, and i turned the blocker off. could i drag and drop them?
well im trying again if not ill put them on my myspace and you can look at them there via link.
heres a link to that pics...
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.editAlbumPhotos&albumID=952513&MyToken=6e9144fd-0e53-45a7-9288-13b73d11c00e
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