Pink Ivory and Bloodwood Questions

[William Young]

I just got these blanks yesterday and it is my first experience with turning either one. Both centre bands are birdseye maple.

Question 1
I had my first ever blank blow out with the bloodwood. I was more carefull with drilling and clearing the hole next time. Is this typical of bloodwood? What country does bloodwood come from ?.

Question 2
Is pink ivory actually a tree that grows that color or is it a kind of wood that has been dyed. Also , where does it grow ?
W.Y.

 

[Guest]

Bill-
I can't answer off the top of my head the country of origin for blood wood.
I usually Google up anything I want to get the answers for.
Pink Ivory is the wood from a tree and it is not dyed.
As I recall the pink is the heart wood and it is difficult to get stock wider than 4" which is why the cost is high.
Nice job on the pens!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dave C]

William,
I got this from the woodcraft site:
Bloodwood
(brosimum paraense) Bloodwood, or "cardinal wood" as it is commonly refered to, is a medium to hard wood with red to crimson color and tight straight interlocking grain. Excellent for turning. South America.

Hope this helps,
Dave

 

[Fred in NC]

William, I am turning both bloodwood and pink ivory right now (but not for the first time).

This is just my opinion. Bloodwood, like ebony, can crack and when that happens it tends to disintegrate. It also behaves the same as ebony when I am drilling it.

When I am gluing ebony or bloodwood I am extra careful that the glue covers very well, because a spot that is not securely glued to the tube is more likely to fail, especially where the wood gets real thin.

 

[Rudy Vey]

Pink Ivory is a tree!
Here is the info I put on my wood info card:

Pink Ivory (Berchemia zeyheri)
Bright pink to watermelon red, hard and heavy wood that has a very fine texture and takes a beautiful finish. One of the rarest woods in the world. The holy wood of the Zulus; only Zulu royalty was allowed to possess this wood, anyone else caught with this wood was put to death. South Africa, Botswana


Hope that helps

Rudy

 

[Gary]

Here is a picture of some pink ivory log sections. One of the reasons it is relatively scarce is because only a small portion of the log or branch is actually pink.

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[wpenm]

I must be one of the lucky ones. I have turned several pens using angle cut bloodwood and no blow outs yet. I say lucky because skill has nothing to do with my turning.[] I have turned several pink ivory pens as well. Woodturningz has the best price on pink ivory. By the way, very nice looking pens, William.
Garry

 

[William Young]

Thanks you for all the responses on this.
Perhaps I was somewhat misleading on my explanation of the blowout. It was not on the lathe. It was when I was drilling the blank that one side of it blew out . So for the next one I tried a dropper with water between clearing out the chips like I do with dymondwood and that workrd just fine.
W.Y.

 

[knottyharry]

Hi Bill,
I have done several of the Pink Ivory, and Bloodwood pens and no blowouts of any kind. I drill slow, and clear it often. But never any problems with it.
Harry