I have a small chunk of this wood (few inches). I suspect it was originally destined to become knife scales before I rescued it.
Is it birdseye maple? If not, what else could it be?
The only “finish” on it in the photo is a little water. It is sitting on a paper towel - the “eyes” are just a little bigger than the divots on the paper towel.
Burls are often hard to tell but I don’t think it is maple. Usually maple has relatively even distribution of pores on the endgrain. This sample has tangential bands of pores not usually found in maples.
I have a piece of Thuya burl that looks a lot like this. It was $85 at Wood World for a 3x3x7 piece. Thuya is only grown in a few place on earth. In the mountains of Morocco is the most common and they restrict how much of it is sold outside of Morocco. . I also have a box made from it that was made in Morocco. This is more about the wood: http://www.wood-database.com/thuya/
The Here’s the pics:
It is used for perfume as it has a very pleasant smell. The fragrance lasts for years. The box I have was made 15 years ago and it still has the great smell when opened.
Does your piece have a nice fragrance?
Its a nice looking chunk of wood at any rate, what are you planning to do with it?
If you want to sell it I’m open to discuss it. Thuya makes beautiful pens. I’ve already sold two for $75 and $95 respectively. (Simple cuban pen style) Both were birthday presents for someone.
you sold someone their own birthday present?!! That’s some damn fine wood.
I made birthday presents for friends to give to their spouses. But yes it is some fine wood. It is one of my favorites along with masur birch.
I love masur birch! My old supplier ran out years ago. Wish I could find a few nice log sections again.
I would be very surprised if that’s what this is because someone gave it to me. I doubt if he would have done that if it were valuable. However, I do have a small piece of something that looks a lot like your photo (but I can’t find it right now, argh).
I don’t know what I’m going to do with it … part of that depends on what it is and therefore how hard it is to work.
You can tell easily by the aroma. Thuya has a very distinct aroma. Regardless, I think it would make a beautiful pen.
My guess is Siberian elm burl
