My Favorite Piece Of Wood Yet

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
See more from godfreytoddanderson

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Washoe Valley, NV, USA.
This is a titanium gold Baron rollerball made out of Amboyna burl with a CA finish.

Of all the wood that I have bought since I started this hobby I think this is by far the best piece. Its Amboyna, and I know that all the surveys show that woodworkers think that Amboyna is the most beautiful wood, so no surprise there I guess. The body of the pen is all red except for the white that you see (can't remember which is which, sapwood and heartwood right?). The red wraps around the back part of the cap half way and the rest is white.

Every pen I have made so far has been given away but this one will always stay in my own personal collection. I'd love to see what the rest of you think is your best piece of wood.

Todd

642151427_Titanium%20Gold%20Amboyna%20Burl%20Baron.jpg
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

jssmith3

Member
Joined
Nov 24, 2005
Messages
472
Location
Albuquerque, NM, USA.
Todd, this is a very beautiful pen to say the least. My favorite wood is the Asain Afzalia Burl with sapwood, I really am going to have to get busy turning since there are so many fantastic woods out there that I have recieved recently. Love your finish also [:D]
Janet :)
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Washoe Valley, NV, USA.
Janet,

I have 13 sets of blanks all lined up on my workbench ready to turn. Each one is very different from the others. There are so many amazing species of wood out there to try and each species has such a wide variety too. I have a hard time deciding which one to try next.

I googled Afzalia Burl and looked at a few pictures. I have run across it on eBay but its one I haven't tried. Its really amazing too. I'll have to start watching for some nice blanks.

Todd
 

alamocdc

Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2005
Messages
7,970
Location
San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Very nice, Todd! The same thing happened to me when I turned my first piece of Amboyna burl. I Afzelia burl became an equal to it when I turned some of that. Now I can't get enough of either.
 

Jim15

Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
20,977
Location
Hamilton, Ohio, USA.
Todd, great looking pen. There are so many great looking woods that it is hard to pick just one, but I will go with Bethlehem Olive Wood.

jim
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Washoe Valley, NV, USA.
Headed back to Google to checkout Bethlehem Olive Wood. Looks like another one that I will have to put on the list. I'm going to have to take a vaction to get through all of these! Here's a picture of the blanks that I mentioned above. Any others that I should take a look at?

Todd

2006421134421_Blanks.jpg
 

Dario

Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
8,222
Location
Austin, TX, USA.
I agree with amboyna.

Other woods to try?
Red & brown mallee burl
Curl Koa
Rosewood burl
etc.

There is a poll about the prettiest wood ever tried...you want to check that out.
 

Ryan

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
310
Location
Draper, UT.
Would you mind giving us a listing of each of the blanks in your photo. I know all of them but 2. I have an idea what they may be but not quite sure.

Thanks,
Ryan
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Washoe Valley, NV, USA.
I got really lucky and found four pieces of Amboyna on eBay about six months ago. One piece was nothing special but the other three, including the one above, are amazing. Here is a picture of one of the others. The third one is half done right now and is a perfect diagonal from top to bottom of heartwood and sapwood.

These didn't come cheap though. I paid between $40 and $50 for the four of them after shipping. Still not bad though. Total cost for a completed pen is under $25. I'm saving a lot of money on gifts. People seem to like them a lot better than the standard old stuff I always used to get that cost twice that much.

Todd

2006421145319_Titanium%20Gold%20Amboyna%20Baron.jpg
<br />
 

Dario

Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
8,222
Location
Austin, TX, USA.
Originally posted by godfreytoddanderson
<br />I paid between $40 and $50 for the four of them after shipping.

Todd,

I can get you similar amboyna blanks with sapwood (or maybe even better) for much less than that [;)]
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Washoe Valley, NV, USA.
Ok, here it goes. There are three types of Pomele. I got them in a combo pack and have never been able to figure out which is which. One is Sapele, one is Bubinga and I can't remember the third type. I made a pen for a friend with the one that is the second from the top and its my second favorite type of wood now. Truly amazing. Would love to know if anyone else knows what the third type is and which is which.

Snakewood
Pomele
Pomele
Blue Buckeye
Curly Maple
Osage Orange
Mountain Oak (see here http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14226)
Bloodwood
Cocobolo
Pomele
Thuya
Sheoak
Camphor

Todd
 

Dario

Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
8,222
Location
Austin, TX, USA.
FYI, Pommelle is a characteristic of wood (just like, burl, curly, etc.)

It can apply to various wood like sapele, afzelia, bubinga, etc.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2006
Messages
70
Location
Washoe Valley, NV, USA.
Dario,

Ah... That makes a lot more sense now. Thanks for straightening me out on that. What characteristic does Pomele imply? Is it the wavy pattern? We'll talk about the Amboyna later[:)].

I went back and looked at the eBay auction description for the three types of wood that came in the combo pack. The second one down is clearly the Sapele. The auction description describes the other two as Bubinga sapwood and Bubinga heartwood. Not sure which is which.

Todd
 

Dario

Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Messages
8,222
Location
Austin, TX, USA.
Here is a link that may help you

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/_figure.htm#POMELLE

From that site:

"POMELLE

Pomelle is a type of wood figure that resembles a puddle surface during a light rain: a dense pattern of small rings enveloping one another. Some say this has a "suede" or "furry" look. It's usually found in extremely large trees of African species like sapele, bubinga and makore. Some domestic species with a sparser, larger figure are referred to as "blistered". The term is not used totally reliably and you may encounter some confusion among the terms "blistered", "pomelle", and "quilted" from different vendors. The name Pomelle comes from the French word for "quilted", so it's not too surprizing to find this confusion. In sapele, there are even more confusing names used for variations among figure types including pomelle, so you may see "pomelle pebble", "pomelle swirl", "pomelle quilted" and other combination terms that are not necessarily used consistently among vendors.

Spelling variations include "pommele", "pommelle", "pomelle", and "pomele"

For more on pomelle figure, with pictures, click here: POMELLE "
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom