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Thought I'd show this wood which will eventually be a small box-top. This is some Persimmon wood that I recently bookmatched. It is *hard* wood, from the same tree family as Ebony. My batch is mostly light-colored with some dark accents and streaks. Always fun to make conversation about unusual sources of wood. This is USA-made, at least!


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Can't wait to see what you make of that wood. I have never worked it so I'm curious as to it's machining.

judaspre1982 wrote:Hey Chris

Nice looking stuff. Bet it finishes pretty.

I also like your hand made screw driver on the table.
Where did you get the kit? I haven't seen such nice heavy looking brass hardware on any kits I've done.
Nice!!

Dave

That screwdriver was a real weird one.... I thought it was a higher-feature turning kit to order from Rockler. But Rockler shipped me a fully-made screwdriver. The brass parts are shiny but not very thick. So I'm no longer as excited as when I ordered it .

I really want to get my hands on some persimmon. You'd think that wouldn't be too hard since the stuff grows around here. I guess it's about time to start scraping up materials to build a home-made bandsaw mill and just make my own....

For the curious amongst us here is a bit from the Wikipedia about this wood:

"Though persimmon trees belong to the same genus as ebony trees, persimmon tree wood has a limited use in the manufacture of objects requiring hard wood. It is hard, but cracks easily and is somewhat difficult to process. Persimmon wood is used for paneling in traditional Korean and Japanese furniture.

In North America, the lightly colored, fine-grained wood of D. virginiana is used to manufacture billiard cues and textile shuttles. It is also used in the percussion field as the shaft of the Tim Genis Signature Timpani Mallet Collection, as well as several Vic Firth and Cooperman drumsticks. Persimmon wood was also heavily used in making the highest-quality heads of the golf clubs known as "woods" until the golf industry moved primarily to metal woods in the last years of the 20th century. In fact, the first metal woods made by TaylorMade, an early pioneer of that club type, were branded as "Pittsburgh Persimmons". Persimmon woods are still made, but in far lower numbers than in past decades. Over the last few decades persimmon wood has become popular among bow craftsmen, especially in the making of traditional longbows. Persimmon wood is used in making a small number of wooden flutes and eating utensils such as wooden spoons and cornbread knives (wooden knives that may cut through the bread without scarring the dish).

Like some other plants of the genus Diospyros, older persimmon heartwood is black or dark brown in color, in stark contrast to the sapwood and younger heartwood, which is pale in color."

While I love any walnut, for this job I'm fancying a quartersawn cut. It was time to bust down a heavy old slab my brother gave me lately. Even for flat-sawing, it was too big for the Shopsmith bandsaw. I decided to cut the thing manually. The antique bow-saw, with a little sharpening, was good enough (if not the best tool). Two hours of work (1 hour per day) resulted in this.... actually an admirably flat cut considering I came at it from the 2 ends!

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I've finally gotten back to using some of these pieces. I just love to bookmatch wood when I can.

Here's some boxes in progress. You can see bookmatched persimmon, maple, walnut, and myrtle among the hickory and maple frames.
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Here's my new "Birthday Gift to Myself," an Australian beauty of a block plane from Mr. Terry Gordon at HNT Gordon Planes:
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This is a fantastic little plane and it has been instrumental in smoothing the knotty walnut bookmatch.

Here's a YouTube link of how this cool plane works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QOg-xaP1Y0

That sure is a purty plane almost too purty to use! The wood looks beautiful as well.

Yes, that's a pretty plane . But it's very tough. That model is made of Acacia Mulga wood from Australia.

Back to work, the gift boxes are coming together now. Here's a thin coat of finish now applied. Clockwise from left rear is Persimmon, Maple, Walnut, and Myrtle bookmatches.
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Those are very nice indeed. Man I do love myrtle, such great figure and pretty grain.