Wood Handles

The thick sapwood is pale brown and is not clearly demarcated from the heartwood. The heartwood is rich golden brown to yellowish green, and is often variegated. It is reported to darken considerably when water soaked. The grain is generally straight, but is often irregular or wavy. It is described as close, tight, and smooth. Myrtle Burl is reported to be highly prized for its excellent and swirling stumpwood, clusters, and burls. Material from Oregon is reported to exhibit attractive mottled figures which range from fine, delicate dark stripes to heavy splotches, occasionally marked with gold and silver streaks.

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Bubinga:

Native to Cameroon and Gabon, West Africa, Bubinga includes 16 species, native to tropical regions of Africa (13 species) and South America (3 species). They occur in swampy or periodically inundated forests, as well as near rivers or at lakeshores. Usually light red or violet with fairly evenly spaced purple stripes, this hard and heavy fine grained hardwood takes a high lustrous finish.

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OLIVEWOOD:

This rare Mediterranean wood is very aromatic. Olive wood pen blanks are produced from the trimmings of the olive trees that grow in the Holy City of Bethlehem. Light to medium brown with streaks of black and darker brown running through it. Has a fine texture with a shallow interlocked grain giving it a marbled appearance. It polishes up well and gives a smooth even finish. Excellent for decorative turnings, inlay, high end custom furniture, and of course, knife handles.

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Zebrawood:

Distinctive for its zebra like light and dark stripes, the term "zebrawood" is shared by several different woods with this particular appearance. The most common species available are from West Africa. It is a heavy hard wood with a somewhat coarse texture, with the typical so-called zebra stripes, often with an interlocked or wavy grain. The heartwood is a pale golden yellow, distinct from the very pale color of the sapwood and features narrow streaks of dark brown to black. Zebrawood can also be a pale brown with regular or irregular marks of dark brown in varying widths. Also used in skis and tool handles but that might seem like quite a shame for such an dramatic, exotic wood species.

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Claro Walnut :

Also called California black walnut (because hey, guess where it grows?), this is a true member of the walnut family with more color, grain accent, and overall beauty than most other walnuts --- it is frequently an exceptionally beautiful wood. Figured pieces and crotches are especially prized for high-end gun stocks because of the beauty of the wood combined with an exceptionally high ability to withstand recoil shock.

This species is more likely to have interlocked grain than normal American black walnut, and thus more likely to have curly figure, but even pieces without curly figure can be quite striking because of the color and grain patterns.

 

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Black Walnut:

Also known as American walnut, is a tree species native to eastern North America. It grows mostly alongside rivers, from southern Ontario, Canada west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas.

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AMBOYNA:

A rare, exotic hardwood that grows in Southeast Asia and has a fragrant aroma. It can vary in color from yellow to golden brown to red, and is generally considered excellent for both turning and finishing. Amboyna is a marvelously luxurious burl from the tree that is commonly known as narra.

 

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Tulipwood:

Native to tropical South America, especially northeastern Brazil, Tulipwood, sometimes called Pinkwood, has irregular streaks of shades of yellow rose, pink and violet on a straw-colored background. The color is reported to fade with age. It is a fine grained hardwood and was a popular timber for the manufacture of French furniture.
 

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Ebony:

Macassar ebony (Diospyros Macassar) from Indonesia, Gaboon Ebony from Africa and Ceylon Ebony from India is one of the most intensely black woods known, which, combined with its very high density (it is one of the very few woods that sink in water), fine texture, and ability to polish very smoothly, has made it very valuable as an ornamental wood.

Ebony has a long history of use, with carved pieces having been found in Ancient Egyptian tombs. Modern uses are largely restricted to small sizes, particularly in musical instrument making, including piano and harpsichord keys, violin, oboe, guitar, and cello fingerboards, endpieces, pegs and chinrests. As a result of unsustainable harvesting, many species of ebony are now considered threatened.

The best is very heavy, almost black, and derived from heartwood only. Because of its colour, durability, hardness, and ability to take a high polish, Ebony is used for cabinetwork and inlaying, piano keys, knife handles, and turned articles.

 

 

 

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Mahogany:

The name mahagony is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored wood, originally the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban Mahogany. It was later used also for the wood of Swietenia macrophylla, which is closely related, and known as Belize Mahogany. Today, all species of Swietenia are listed by CITES, and are therefore protected.

Mahogany has a generally straight grain and is usually free of voids and pockets. It has a reddish-brown color which darkens over time, and displays a beautiful reddish sheen when polished. It has excellent workability, and is very durable and slow to rot. These properties make it a favorable wood for boat making, as tradition has shown, as well as for making furniture and upholstery (see Chippendale), musical instruments, and other durable objects.

Mahogany is a very popular material for drum making, because of its great integrity and capability to produce a very dark, warm tone compared to other more common wood types like maple or birch. A wide variety of electric guitars are also made from mahogany, like Gibson's Les paul line and most of the PRS guitars among others. It is noted, again, for its dark properties, as well as its weight (Gibson Les Pauls may weigh as much as 15 pounds), the combination of which produces a warm, rounded tone with huge sustain, for which the guitar is famous.

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MAPLE:

Maple lumber comes principally from the Middle Atlantic and Lake States, which together account for about two-thirds of the production. The wood of sugar maple and black maple is known as hard maple; that of silver maple, red maple, and boxelder as soft maple. The sapwood of the maples is commonly white with a slight reddish-brown tinge; the heartwood is light reddish brown, but sometimes is considerably darker.

Some of the larger maple species have valuable timber, particularly Sugar Maple in North America, and Sycamore Maple in Europe. Sugar Maple wood, often known as "hard maple", is the wood of choice for bowling pins, bowling alley lanes, pool cue shafts, drums, and butcher's blocks. Maple wood is also used for the production of wooden baseball bats, though less often than ash or hickory.

Some maple wood has a highly decorative wood grain, known as flame maple and quilt maple. This condition occurs randomly in individual trees of several species, and often cannot be detected until the wood has been sawn, though it is sometimes visible in the standing tree as a rippled pattern in the bark.

Maple is considered a tonewood, or a wood that carries sound waves well, and is used in numerous musical instruments such as guitars and drums. It provides resonance and a lighter weight than many other woods used in necks such as rosewood. Also the look of a maple neck is appealing to many guitar players. Maple is also used to make bassoons and double basses.

Spalted Maple is a favorite for knife handles and it takes a high polish.

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ZIRCOTE:

A hard, dark greenish/grayish wood from Central America, mostly from Mexico, this wood frequently has one of the most wildly swirly and billowy grain patterns of any wood. Common variant name spellings include ziricote and, far less frequently, siricote. Zircote is related to bocote and some dealers confuse the two although  the two really don't look alike at all.

 

 

 

 

 

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PURPLE HEART:

The commercial name Purpleheart is reported to refer to timber produced by about 20 species, including P. porphyrocardia , which grow in Central America and tropical South America, from Mexico to southern Brazil. They are reported to be most common in the Amazon basin, and are also found in Colombia, Guyana, Surinam, and Venezuela. Supplies are reported to be ample, but the wood is fairly expensive. It is reported to cost more than mahogany but less than teak.

The heartwood is initially dull brown, but it rapidly changes to a bright, vibrant purple. Prolonged exposure darkens the wood to a dark-purplish brown or dark brown. Purple Heart is an exotic and imported hardwood that is strong and resilient, and has a uniform fine-to-medium texture. A very heavy and dense hardwood, it's crushing strength is exceptionally high and it does not mar or dent easily.

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Bocote:

Native to Mexico and Central America, Bocote is sought for its beauty for both the local and international markets. It has become quite rare in many parts of its original range. Bocote is a particularly fine, beautiful wood, with colors varying from light to golden brown and variegated irregular markings. It is a strong lustrous wood, with medium and uniform texture and straight or shallowly interlocked grain. It is hard and heavy and often highly figured with "eyes".

 

 

 

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Bloodwood:

Grown in Venezuela, Peru, Panama and Brazil, Bloodwood, also called Satine, is hard and heavy and takes a high lustrous finish. The color is usually rich strawberry red sometimes with golden yellow stripes.