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I saw something here I want to try (RNRoberts, halfway down, looks like waterfall bubinga, sapwood, black above, viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=46071&hilit=peghead&start=50).

I'm not wanting bubinga, just want to look at some burled plates like that.

Mike

You can often get seriously figured wood like that in bowl turning blanks if you have the means to saw them up yourself. Have a look on ebay for them.

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He states it's sappy Amboyna burl and ebony and explains the inlay process. The sap ring on Amboyna is small to none on most pieces, but can be found. Very expensive burl. Jeff Elliot makes rosettes of sappy Amboyna. I cut a lot of this wood for electric bass tops and knife handles.

Mike,

Here's one I did in 2010 with amboyna burl.


Works for purfling too.


Amboyna burl I've used is really fragile. I had to soak it with CA before working it.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Pat, that head plate is Thuya burl, not Amboyna. Thuya can be brittle in thin veneers. Amboyna is a super high quality, stable wood and one of the highest $$$$ burls. I'm down to my last 3,000 #s of Amboyna burl and 2000 #s of Thuya burl

Larry,

Thanks for the correction. The friend who gave me the head plate thought it was amboyna. I later ordered more amboyna from an online source—can't recall who it was—and what I received looked like the same thing as what my friend had given me. It was pithy and oily, but not brittle, and fell apart easily when I was cutting it for the purling. Sort of crumbled. I'm wondering if the thuya and amboyna are similar enough in appearance that I had both? And could you tell me how they compare when being worked?

Thanks,

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Pat, the two burls cannot be mistaken for each other in practice. Amboyna is the market name for burl taken from a couple tree species in Asia. The non-burled lumber is sold as Narra or PNG rosewood. Amboyna is reddish in color from orangish to dark brick red while Thuya is caramel to brown tones and comes from North Africa, primarily Atlas Mts of Morocco. Morocco placed a moratorium on export a few years ago driving supply down and price up. Amboyna burl "eyes" are true bud growth while Thuya burl pips are tiny pin knots. Thuya is very "oily" and tends to clog sandpaper quite easily and can gum saw blades quickly. Thuya carves and otherwise works easily and takes a high polish, but due to wild grain direction can chip with CNC and other router type applications. Thuya veneers tend to check. Amboyna can be milled with exceptional stability. When working with Thuya the aroma is unmistakable as it's similar to #2 cedar pencil aroma we all chewed on in school. If you do a Google search on images for these two burls (Hobbithouse) you will see the aesthetic differences quite readily. Hope this helps a bit.

Mike,
If I can be of any help with this, feel free to IM me.

Larry,
You really have 3000 lbs of Amboyna burl? Boy and I thought I had a problem with this wood hoarding thing...

I started with 27,000 #s Amboyna in a container I bought 10 years ago. Likewise I started with a 17,000# container of Thuya 13 years ago when I still had my last wood store, Gallery Hardwoods in Sacramento. I've been "retired" from public active custom cutting for 5 years, but still have a full warehouse to play in. I was an OLF sponsor back in the early days.

Burl is a different thing than highly figured. As has been said, look at some turning blanks at your local hardwood vendor. 2" wide is plenty if you bookmatch. It's very common for burls to have some 'normal' wood in parts of them.

I dug this out of the back yard, and cut the plates with a handsaw.