Do people care if it's wood with a 'fancy' name?

[Pierre]

Sold a pen today, and whilst it personally wasn't too important to the customer about the wood type etc, they wanted to know all the woods in the segmented blanks as they said it would be important to the person it was being sent to as a present. Looking at the comments on here and the feedback from customers...it's very clear that people buying them really do have an interest in the wood type, and thats good, I'm pleased, because it's important to me too and its nice to know that people buying them feel the same way. I just have a lot of swotting up to do because my knowledge of wood stops at Oak haha.

Don't worry about that, I too once knew only Oak and mahogany. BUT as I bought a blank and read up the wood type immediately before turning it, I began to understand, ie Oak chips immensely so treat it carefully, boxwood comes off in beautiful buttery ribbons in cross grain but is extremely hard and bouncy in end grain etc After 10 years of cabinet making and woodturning I reckon I can differentiate between 100 woods BUUTT as a fellow on another site pointed out there are about 2000 varieties of acacia!! So there is a lot to learn and that is just in Europe..... now try to learn the world.... after a while it becomes addictive, but also there are many woods which have many names so for example just today I sent a pen in Amazaque but it is renown for having the most alternative names (Amazique, Amazoue, Mozambique, Ovangkol, Shedua)

I love azobe because my apprentice piece used it, (immensely hard) its is Lophira alata (commonly known as azobé, ekki or red ironwood)

However, be careful there are a few charlatans around for example, a local man who tried to sell me some Thuya claiming it was the trunk and not the root so I had to point out it was cedar and local French and not from Morocco; when I showed him the real thing he had to concede.

Equally, this weekend I had 2 pieces of wood that I turned in demonstration one was 'juniper' the other 'prickly juniper' the latter only grows on the Mediterranean coast ie in Provence the other (juniper) grows anywhere, the smells are different and the heartwood colours are different.

I really enjoy wood especially since my previous career was not designed for creation, so anytime I can learn about a piece of wood and what it makes when I turn it make me just smile!!

If you get a chance, just buy a piece of juniper or Thuya and turn it .... Not to make anything, just make shavings and stand there in their smell and get a fix those idiots that take chemicals don't know the half or perhaps the wood is nature's 'Joint'

Sorry I went on a bit but please buy some juniper or thuya or even lignum vitae and enjoy the smells!!

At least I can get them here but not a decent ale

PG

 

[Penpal]

Pierre I love the smell of Rosewood Blanks in the morning.

Peter.

 

[L33]

Don't worry about that, I too once knew only Oak and mahogany. BUT as I bought a blank and read up the wood type immediately before turning it, I began to understand, ie Oak chips immensely so treat it carefully, boxwood comes off in beautiful buttery ribbons in cross grain but is extremely hard and bouncy in end grain etc After 10 years of cabinet making and woodturning I reckon I can differentiate between 100 woods BUUTT as a fellow on another site pointed out there are about 2000 varieties of acacia!! So there is a lot to learn and that is just in Europe..... now try to learn the world.... after a while it becomes addictive, but also there are many woods which have many names so for example just today I sent a pen in Amazaque but it is renown for having the most alternative names (Amazique, Amazoue, Mozambique, Ovangkol, Shedua)

I love azobe because my apprentice piece used it, (immensely hard) its is Lophira alata (commonly known as azobé, ekki or red ironwood)

However, be careful there are a few charlatans around for example, a local man who tried to sell me some Thuya claiming it was the trunk and not the root so I had to point out it was cedar and local French and not from Morocco; when I showed him the real thing he had to concede.

Equally, this weekend I had 2 pieces of wood that I turned in demonstration one was 'juniper' the other 'prickly juniper' the latter only grows on the Mediterranean coast ie in Provence the other (juniper) grows anywhere, the smells are different and the heartwood colours are different.

I really enjoy wood especially since my previous career was not designed for creation, so anytime I can learn about a piece of wood and what it makes when I turn it make me just smile!!

If you get a chance, just buy a piece of juniper or Thuya and turn it .... Not to make anything, just make shavings and stand there in their smell and get a fix those idiots that take chemicals don't know the half or perhaps the wood is nature's 'Joint'

Sorry I went on a bit but please buy some juniper or thuya or even lignum vitae and enjoy the smells!!

At least I can get them here but not a decent ale

PG

I know we're you're coming from...I bought some Utile and Sappelle...the Utile was horrid...really stunk...but when I cut the Sappelle the smell was addictive :) When people come round to the work shop I always find myself picking up a piece and saying...ere ya are...smell that haha.

 

[zanz]

My advice is check out some stores that sell pen blanks, theturnersworkshop.co.uk and stilesandbates.co.uk are based in the UK and should have a variety to get you started. Find something interesting and then look it up on The Wood Database. That'll tell you density, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, hardness etc. And will give you a description of some of the properties of the wood, as well as warnings about allergies. That's how I started learning about different types.