Official Luthiers Forum!

I am looking for naturally colored woods. Green & Red. Greenheart & poplar heart come to mind, and someone suggeste Ipe (really?). For red, there is Bloodwood, Paduck, and something called Redheart. I have found no sources for greenheart and redheart (yet). Anybody able to add to this? Sources? Other woods?

Mike

Mike, redheart works well for inlay as you have probably seen my purfling. I got mine at Rockler. Don't know about green, I was thinking of dyeing holly, but would be as interested as you to find out about really green wood.

I thought greenheart & IPE were the same? Ipe varies in it's green & I doubt if the colour will last, although I have only done a deck with it, but the colour initially, with finish looked a lot like teak. I also made some door panels in spalted poplar 2 years ago that had a lot of green & they are now medium brown I can say very strongly, IMO, after working a lot with african padouk 30 years ago,
the colour will not last. I remember a bed I made & it was full of yellow & oranges when new. Within 2 years it was pretty well a dull dark brown, with little grain definition. The folks in the woodworking world seemed pretty excited about it back in the 70's & tried finishes with UV filters & the like but it still didn't last that long. I seem to remember that with oil finishing people had some kind of result with "armour all" for dashboards. 7 years ago I made some crotch mahogany doors with quartered "Andaman" padouk veneer & it is still a nice orangish colour, as does the lighest part of the crotch hog.
By the way someone told me once that a UV filter is simply pigment? Does anyone know?
Mike McNerney
the river is always changing

_________________
Mike McNerney

Lignum vitae ?

I am confused a bit with regard to Ipe and Greenheart (same?) . Yet I have seen a website that shows samples of each. One website noted that Greenheart logs can explode on initial cut at the sawmill! They typically put a chain around the log after a foot or so into the cut. Poplar heart shows promise...

Look for a wood called "Verawood" also.

We have a local supplier of this - "Windsor Plywood" - Spokane, WA.

This is one of the prettiest woods I've seen. It's a very dense, pore free species with BEAUTIFUL, articulate grain. One can polish this wood without applying a finish....that's how dense and waxy it is. It's prolly difficult to finish.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

OK, Ipe and Greenheart are not the same... Ipe is Tabebuia, and someone already listed the name greenheart above.

Gona look that Verawood up. You folks with "local" suppliers make me green with envy.

Mike

Let me know if you find anything. I went on a "green wood" hunt a while back and also came up empty handed. Greenheart is the best bet, but nobody sells it in small pieces or veneers. I've tried dyes and stains and paint on maple veneer, but none of it penetrates deep enough to take any sanding without a significant change in the color. Nothing oil based though, so that's worth a shot.

Another test I've been meaning to run is to dunk it in the minwax water-based stain and heat it. Maybe that will force it in deeper.

But I've been messing around with epoxy again, and may just go back to my original "epoxy lake" idea. Cut pieces of wood, paint them however you want, lay them down in a trench, and fill with epoxy. It's right on the line between cool and tacky
Also need to try it with CA, since epoxy is so hard to avoid bubbles in.

For what it is worth, LMI sells dyed maple veneers at .3 and .6 mm. They are expensive though. They dye them under pressure. Perhaps you should put the Minwax in your wife's pressure cooker? On second thought, prolly not a good idea.

I am still hunting for greenheart. But it is starting to look like LMI will be getting some of my money.

Mike

Check out alowood too. I've used that for inlays and it is VERY nice from a workability standpoint. It's a vacuum/pressure process that takes fast growing softwoods and impregnates them with agent that results in a hardwood substitute. It comes in planks and 9 different colors.

http://www.alowood.com/

http://www.snowcaplumber.com/alowood.html - no green but these are nice depiction of the colors available. This site calls it plywood but I've seen it in 4/4 boards.

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Poplar has some wild greens sometimes.