Unusual Zircote Blank

[Krash]

I was perusing around Albuquerque Exotic Woods and came across some unusual blanks. Jake said he found some zircote blanks in the back and had just put them out. A few had half sap and half heart wood.

What I thought was unusual with this blank is the grain that seemingly goes in different directions. Check this out ....

So, I started to turn it down last night and got another surprise. There are two critter holes that run down the middle of the entire blank. These are the type of critters that eat the wood and process it behind them leaving a sawdust and **** mixture.

You can slightly see the round indentations in the end of the blank.
I think the crittes were munching along the heartwood/sapwood barrier.

Once I saw it, I soaked it with thin CA and continued. The critter hole almost runs the entire length of the turned blank. I got the finish on it but the NIB insertion caused a small crack so I decided to respin it and correct the crack plus get a better finish on it. I'll post it once I get it completed.

Gotta love the uniqueness hidden in each blank!
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[firewhatfire]

I have a pen with 2 direction wood, never seen one with sapwood also

good find

 

[Cmiles1985]

That looks really nice! I can't wait to see the finished product. I stumbled across an interesting cocobolo blank in my stash the other day. The best I can figure is that it must have come from a crotch piece.

 

[Krash]

Very nice!

That looks really nice! I can't wait to see the finished product. I stumbled across an interesting cocobolo blank in my stash the other day. The best I can figure is that it must have come from a crotch piece.

 

[robutacion]

I was perusing around Albuquerque Exotic Woods and came across some unusual blanks. Jake said he found some zircote blanks in the back and had just put them out. A few had half sap and half heart wood.

What I thought was unusual with this blank is the grain that seemingly goes in different directions. Check this out ....

So, I started to turn it down last night and got another surprise. There are two critter holes that run down the middle of the entire blank. These are the type of critters that eat the wood and process it behind them leaving a sawdust and **** mixture.

You can slightly see the round indentations in the end of the blank.
I think the crittes were munching along the heartwood/sapwood barrier.




Once I saw it, I soaked it with thin CA and continued. The critter hole almost runs the entire length of the turned blank. I got the finish on it but the NIB insertion caused a small crack so I decided to respin it and correct the crack plus get a better finish on it. I'll post it once I get it completed.

Gotta love the uniqueness hidden in each blank!

Stunning blank, the kind of blanks that I will choose over most other blanks types. As for the bidirectional grain, is a rare thing to see, is such great detail, I was a bit surprised to hear about the wood eating creatures inside with no great signs of their presence outside but, I have seen also identical type bidirectional grain blanks that have actually a separation layer in between the 2 different wood grains, in you case, I wouldn't be surprised if the black line running through the grain woods is that separator, check it out.

This happen when a part of the tree is mutilated (many things can cause this, some man made some not), the new piece, normally a branch touches that spot and the bard endup growing around the visitor piece and some time later that are like welded together and will never separate, until the tree is cut for processing...!

May no be that common but is not as rare as some people my think...!

Looking forwards to see the final results...!

Cheers
George