Padouk user on steroids

[templehound]

Allround user with padouk, copper ferrule and a blade made from 1.2419.05(130WCrV5)
This cold work tool steel is a special alloy coming from my old friend and colleague Achim Wirtz
He described it as the 07 on steroids.That description fits just perfect....
Tang is riveted on he butt and the sheath is water buffalo leather and copper for the fittings.

Cheers

[JHCC]

Lovely as always, although I expect you'll be getting a two-tone effect on the handle as the exposed portion darkens.

[SLAG]

Messrs.  JHCC  & T. Hound,

First of all, stunning knife:

a masterpiece.

Now:

Padouk. 

I remember vividly  watching a  figured piece of padouk get water on it  and watching the colors run and also change!

I did not want to have a knife handle change,  when left out in the rain, or caught in a toilet overflow.

It was,  both a fascinating event  and monitory  experience.

And there's the pity it is a beautiful wood, but I have not used it again for knife scales or any other use.

Regards,

SLAG.

[templehound]

Thanks JHCC, appreciate Your comment!

SLAG: ....first Thanks for Your comment.....now Padouk:

Well, what can I say....I used Padouk for  20 years of knifemaking(since I live in Thailand) on dozens of knife handles and I cannot remember a single piece

that caused any problems at all.

Padouk is one of the most reliable, enduring, forgiving, strong materials I know....in fact it is so good that I use it besides Ceylon iron wood the most.

You have to consider a few facts, when judging Padouk:

there are the two main types in the Padouk family: Pterocarpus macrocarpus and Pterocarpus Indicus.The first comes out red and the other more golden brown.The Macrocarpus

is the harder, but Indicus is also excellent to work with.

it comes mainly from two geografic sources, Africa and Asia.The Asian Padouk is significantly harder than African Padouk.

Now how it is on the market....there is still industrial collected and  treated Padouk means fast dried in shorter time amount(never good at all) and worst of all politically polluted.

My Padouk wood is collected by myself in the jungle, the bushes and the fields. When I find them(if I am lucky) the stem is mostly gone only the root is remaining.

It is said that the root parts are harder than the stem parts, I can confirm that....(besides it is impossible to get Padouk root comercially)

 So if I use Padouk it is Asian and from the root.And for me  important above all, it is politically

clean, the tree is dead and gone long time ago.....no tree has to fall for my knives and I never will be a vulture of dirty logging, I never use wood that I didnt found by myself

because anyone can buy, for me and my knifes there is no good spirit in buying comercial tropical woods

(no offence to anybody buying, it is everyones own thing how to deal with consciousness)....

last but not least harvested by myself it is spiritually good for me.

Back to Your Padouk.....it is known that water stains can occur on nearly every wood when, lacking on maintenance...dried out, unoiled....

(and no knife is supposed to be left out there in the rain)....just hypothetically thinking, not saying You did....

maybe it was a piece of commercially fast dried African Padouk or just a bad piece at all  resulting in the same bad result and quality....

after all these years of knifemaking experience I say, Padouk is my favourite wood .

Your contribution is very appreciated, SLAG

Cheers

 

[bigfootnampa]

Magnificent!  A joy to my eyes!  I am a woodworker myself.  These days I mostly harvest my own from my property.  I only have 1.67 acres here... mostly grass.  Still the shrubs and trees produce more wood than I could possibly use!  Lately I’ve cut some small trees that are too close to the house.  One small trunk of black poplar has been split into eight blanks that have produced six spoons so far!  It is very satisfying to work with froe, axe, knife then crooked knife!  I also enjoy working with a shaving horse and drawknife!  So much more enjoyable than working with power tools!  I am spiritually enriched by your dedication to work in ethical ways that respect the Earth and her bounties!  

[ThomasPowers]

Air dried can be much more enjoyable when working by hand too than some "brittle" kiln dried stuff!

[JHCC]

That's some really interesting info on padouk roots, templehound. Thanks for sharing that, and your sense of ecological responsibility and ethics gives me one more reason to admire your work.

One point of clarification: African padouk is Pterocarpus soyauxii, and this is the one that has the dramatic color change when exposed to light. P. macrocarpus (Burmese padouk) and P. indicus (narra) are both Asian padouks, and their burls are marketed as "amboyna".

[bigfootnampa]

Air dried wood is generally prettier and easier to work than kiln dried Thomas.  Still IMO starting green and working the woods right through the drying process is an unmatchable pleasure!  My spoons are carved fairly thin and dry enough to finish in a couple days or so.  For tool handles I commonly use branch and sapling woods that use the natural rounded and sometimes curved shapes.  I no longer worry about drying splits!  If I get some, epoxy or cyanoacrylate (for the very thin cracks) is an attractive fix!  I now subscribe to the Japanese tradition that holds broken and repaired to be superior to unblemished originals!  I will often refurbish old handles on antique, sometimes abused tools... when I might have replaced them more quickly... but they would be less interesting!

[ThomasPowers]

Well I've been making handles for hammers and tools that require smaller ones than the "donors" lately on the grounds that the unbroken section of the handle has been "proven in good".  Rasping old dried hickory by hand  in this heat has been a punctuated experience.

For top tools that don't require as "stout" a hammer I sometimes use *old* hickory shovel handles, rasping the oxidation off them and leaving the surface cracking alone.  (They look at me funny at the scrapyard when I add an old shovel handle to the pile of steel I'm paying for. Sometimes they just tell me to take it!)

We can find Pecan out here, (miles of Pecan Groves down in South NM); but not hickory.  Problem is, even with store boughten handles, they need to sit at least a  year  to adjust to ambient humidities in single digits.  I have a set of shelves where I run wire across the front and back and set the handles on it with air all around to "ripen".  (Also why I stock up whenever I can find handles cheap so I will always have one ready when I need one.)

When I soak the ends of the installed handles in BLO, I always wipe down the metal heads and the wooden shafts when I'm cleaning up after soaking is done.  (And then burn the rags in the coal forge!)

[Anachronist58]

15 hours ago, templehound said:

My Padouk wood is collected by myself in the jungle, the bushes and the fields.

templehound, a lovely knife and sheath ensemble, and I am humbled by your reverence for the materials.

4 hours ago, bigfootnampa said:

It is very satisfying to work with froe, axe, knife then crooked knife!

This entire thread is so inspiring to me, as my focus is to work with what my 1/3 acre provides for me:  Locust, Olive, Mulberry.  And the woods that follow me home: storm tossed seafaring burls of I do not know what, Manzanita trunk and root, beautiful straight grained mystery wood, Eucalyptus (for anvil stumps, dishing, and chopping blocks).  And, of course, there is the making of Charcoal.....  I am especially encouraged over how splits are dealt with, and drying cycles!

Thomas, I have a bit of shortening and rasping going on around here.  "Proven in good" refurb is SOP around here!

Robert Taylor

[ThomasPowers]

Save the "no longer usable for anything" handles for campfires at conferences!  (I'm always amazed to buy a hammer where the original owner didn't bother to check the grain on the handle BEFORE buying it and tosses it when the handle breaks in two.)

[Moosetrot]

That brings back a great memory, Thomas!  I used to deal heavily in tomahawks made by Daryl Meier.  The hawks required a larger handle at the poll than many of the others and were sometimes hard to come by.  Walking around at the Rendezvous at Friendship, Indiana I found a box of mostly reject handles of the correct size and bought them all for a couple bucks.  Pulled out the ones that were even passable and stashed the rest in my camp.

That night, around the camp fire, after most folks were in various stages of being "pickled", I stepped out of the dark with an armful of handles and started throwing them in the fire.  After seeing a lot of startled "What the he** are you doing?"  looks I proudly proclaimed "When you are a successful trader you can afford to burn up a little profit!"

Moosetrot

[CheechWizard]

this knife is gorgeous, im inspired to finish a wrought san mai with a similar grind after seeing this, it just needs a bolster and a hand but ive started two  handles already that dont feel right, just too much going on. this is a nice reminder that adding more curves and facets wont always make a nice knife. 

i'm not gonna just copy your handle dont worry but again thank you for sharing its so pretty but also too nice not to use the heck out of.

[bigfootnampa]

Locust is incredibly hard wood!  I haven’t used it for handles... but I’d say it’s a pretty good bet!  Mulberry is tough and flexible... likely to be good for many types of handles!  I don’t know much about olive, but I would think it has good potential!

[boisdarc]

As always beautiful, padouk is perfect

[templehound]

On 7/22/2020 at 10:01 AM, CheechWizard said:

this knife is gorgeous, im inspired to finish a wrought san mai with a similar grind after seeing this, it just needs a bolster and a hand but ive started two  handles already that dont feel right, just too much going on. this is a nice reminder that adding more curves and facets wont always make a nice knife. 

i'm not gonna just copy your handle dont worry but again thank you for sharing its so pretty but also too nice not to use the heck out of.

 I do not worry about when my work inspires other makers, it is rather a great honor, Thank You mate!

Thank You boisdarc!

JHCC: Thanks for Your clarification, ...it was forgetful not mentioning Pterocarpus soyauxii

Thanks all for sharing your experiences and the nice contributions, !

Cheers

[SLAG]

Mr.  Templehound,

The Padouk that I had was African, and I suspect that it was kiln dried.

I cannot be sure as the incident happened a long time ago.

Thank you for your information.

I should try to get some again and give it a fair go,  soon.

I will specifically ask for Asian Padouk from my supplier.

(in other words, I do not have a jungle nearby). (I think that there are no jungles in Missouri).

Mr. J.H.C.C., I did not know that Asian Padouk is also called Amboyna. Amboyna burl is sold by many dealers in this country.

Thank you,  also,  for that information.

Cheers,

SLAG.

[ThomasPowers]

Slag you need to get out of the city; plenty of jungle in MO; just not tropical jungle...

"A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation"  wiki

[SLAG]

T. P.,

You are right.

Thank you.

But I think that there is no Padouk in the Missouri jungles.

Regards,

SLAG.

[ThomasPowers]

No but the mixed hardwood forests of North America seem excellently full of species to many folks from Europe where the ice age took out many species not able to stand the cold.  (Why they tend towards Beech forests) As the glaciers advanced in Europe the various tree species ran into the Mountain ranges along the south of Europe and got a fatal chill.  Here in the USA they were able to keep moving south and surviving and then following the retreat northwards.

However Missouri jungles do have mosquitoes ticks and chiggers! (as does my beloved Arkansas acres.)

[Anachronist58]

On 7/22/2020 at 10:31 PM, bigfootnampa said:

I don’t know much about olive,

A volunteer Olive layed over one precipitous year.  It copsed (sic) into a slew of straight shafts. In about three years, some will be ready for something.  A wise man recently said, "I no longer worry about drying splits!", which I find to be an inspiration on many levels. 

On 7/27/2020 at 9:45 PM, SLAG said:

I do not have a jungle nearby

14 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

"A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation"

I spent six weeks south of St. Robert.  makes my jungle look like the Plains.  Alas, SLAG, methinks you are right:  No Padouk in your Jungles (I have zero knowledge of its occurrence).

[JHCC]

5 hours ago, Anachronist58 said:

It copsed (sic)

I think the word you is “coppiced”.

[bigfootnampa]

It’s true that Missouri jungles do not grow padouk.  We do have pecan, hickory, Osage orange, persimmon and many understory shrubbery woods that all make good tool and knife handles.  The persimmon is related to ebonies and commonly used as carving knife handles by some of the local makers here in the Branson area. Redbud, rhododendron and many other small bushy trees are also useful!  Our local jungles are truly RICH in excellent wood sources!

[Anachronist58]

bigfootnampa,  you have my mouth watering!

7 hours ago, JHCC said:

I think the word you [want] is “coppiced”.

Yes, John, that is the word I wanted.  While "copse/copsed" has a history as acceptable usage, I prefer "coppice/coppiced".

 

[ThomasPowers]

When I lived in Ohio there was a forested area near by that electrical high tension lines ran through on tall towers; however they would come through every X number of years and just cut everything down at ground level below them.  I used a lot of "coppiced ash" poles from it---back before the beetle arrived.  I used to immerse the ends in boiling wax and let them dry out in the rafters. All the cross poles for the mortise and tenon "viking condo" were made from them.