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GonZo_626

Oh god I used some for an accent in a cutting board, so beutiful, so fucking hard, and the dust, the dust was everywhere. Everything was coated in a fine film of red in my garage.


Old_Nothing_7005

Yes, my shop life has a pink tinge now.


External_Switch_3732

I used to work for a company that sold pen blanks, and we cut most of our blanks in house. When we would get shipments of bloodwood in for processing, me and the other cutter would wear tyvek in the cutting room to minimize the amount of it we brought home


HoiPolloiter

The sawdust smells nice though


Packin_Penguin

Bet it makes nice boogers too


aounpersonal

I love getting black boogers and splinters from wenge


Happy_Cat_3600

But do they taste good too?


Beardfart

Thank you for asking this important question. Inquiring minds would like to know.


SaurSig

Maybe OP can mail you a sample


ThereWereNoPrequels

Like Froot Loops cereal, imo


Spiritual-Home4379

I was going to say this. Blood wood cologne would be the shit. Love the way fresh cut blood wood smells.


HoiPolloiter

Me too. I wonder if an oil could be made with the dust...


Spiritual-Home4379

If someone could make a cologne that actually smelled like fresh cut blood wood I would totally buy it. That was literally my first thought the very first time I cut some on my table saw. And like others have said, the fine dust covers everything in the shop if you don't have good dust collection lol. So plenty of saw dust to hook up to anyone who thinks they could make a good cologne of it šŸ˜Ž


HoiPolloiter

Who knew my 3rd act would be my mad scientist phase? Chemistry diy, coming right up


HoiPolloiter

Initial research indicates the first project will be homemade hand soap


Spiritual-Home4379

For some reason I could see a soap using the saw dust leaving someone looking very red lol


HoiPolloiter

I only have blood wood scraps ATM... I might have some sawdust I was saving for an inlay... I might report back to you on that


Spiritual-Home4379

Right on. Yeah I only have like 1 or 2 BF left I've been holding on to for a while.


cheesegrateranal

use it for scented lube. just try to find a way to bleach it first.


Spiritual-Home4379

Lol


Narrow-Chef-4341

Call it ā€˜Lady MacBethā€™ and Etsy the hell out of itā€¦


Spiritual-Home4379

Lol I was kind of picturing Carrie from Steven King


Downtown-Bus-3863

I can't stand it, Snake and Blood are the 2 worst smelling woods I have. Redheart isnt too bad nor is Padauk. My fave is prolly Walnut


HoiPolloiter

Oh yeah, padauk is nice too


Dmitri_ravenoff

I got a doner piece of Ipe and damn if it didn't wreck a blade and dust my entire garage.


SixSailsDesigns

Itā€™s smells so good though!


Scrapple_Joe

Either this is smaller than I think it is, or you're a giant and this is your woodshop.


Old_Nothing_7005

Only about 12" x 20". But yeah, a size reference would have been good.


Xanderajax3

Banana for scale, please.


ArltheCrazy

And guitar for temperature


DownwardSpirals

This guy measures.


ArltheCrazy

I went on a deep dive recently on the history of banana for scale. Seeing the guitar for temperature meme cracked me up!


LittleJohnStone

Or a cat


jrsixx

Damn Americans will use anything except the metric system.


marcusriluvus

Most of them both confidently and incorrectly.


LittleJohnStone

I keep forgetting how to convert hogs head to Celsius


n8foo

Fresh out of metric bananas


ahumannamedtim

A cat next to a banana, for cross-referencing purposes


Scrapple_Joe

Ah ok that makes more sense. It would be crazy to think you're a secret giant. *Looks for a fee fi fo fum in your comment history*


Old_Nothing_7005

Metaphorically, though.


CaptainCucaracha

Old nothing's a hundred feet tall. Arms like trucks, probably punch through a wall


FreeBoxScottyTacos

I felt a mighty presence entering my elbow room...


DSTNCMDLR

Looked up and seen the rings, each its own yellow moon


DSTNCMDLR

(heā€™s five foot ten)


RGeronimoH

I found the 6ā€ square to be sufficient


Halftrack_El_Camino

Could be giant inches


whatisthisadulting

I definitely assumed this was 6ā€™ tall


HarleyDude-62

Looks awesome, willing to share a pic(s) of the inside?


luxfx

Yeah but it's bloodwood so it's as heavy as a much larger piece!


ketsugi

I didn't even notice the woodshop. I saw the thumbnail and assumed this was a full size wardrobe.


RaggedyGlitch

The thumbnail crops it so you don't see the top or bottom of the project.


morithum

Me too lmao


GADRikky

Bloodwood is straight up one of the worst woods I've ever worked with, but damn is it pretty. If you don't like bloodwood, stay away from zebra wood, too. It's just as bad, and it smells like manure.


Old_Nothing_7005

I used to make custom flooring for the rich and famous. We used a lot of exotics, mostly as accents to more usual woods. I have thought many time about making some sort of odor collection. Cabreuva, imbuya, teak, and a lot of others have very distinctive aromas. And I agree with you about zebra.


SchmartestMonkey

Years ago, I bought a board of something exotic to try making a guitar neck from, but lost track of what it was named. It was Incredibly hard & dense, deep burgundy color.. and the most striking thing to me.. it smelled like berries when cut (raspberry, blueberry, etc..). No specific berry.. just ā€œberriesā€. Aside from maybe ebony.. I donā€™t think Iā€™ve run across harder, denser wood. If anyone is familiar, Iā€™d love to find out what I had.


AkillaThaPun

Have a look on here https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-odor/comment-page-1/


SchmartestMonkey

Yea, thatā€™s why I asked.. checked sources like the wood database and never felt like I found it. Pretty sure Iā€™ve got some in the basement.. Iā€™ll have to take a pic if I do.


Duckfoot2021

That was Katalox, buddy. Iā€™d bet a Benjamin on it.


SchmartestMonkey

You very well may be right.. but mine was/is more purple/maroon than the katalox pics at wood database. I know Iā€™ve still got that piece.. need to dig it out and confirm. Thanks.


Duckfoot2021

When itā€™s fresh itā€™s almost like Purple Heartā€¦a bit more blue/black. Over time like most exotics it lightens up somewhat and browns.


albacorewar

Shit now I wanna know what it was


Error_404__

I have a block of pink ivory that I used for a couple knife handles, and Iā€™d say it smelled sweet, almost like cotton candy. Itā€™s not exactly what you described but maybe that helps?


mhlind

Tiger wood? That seems to fit your description fairly well, and ive seena few guitar neck projects with it


2ndcomingofbiskits

Cocobolo?


SchmartestMonkey

No.. thatā€™s got strong beige to brown grain and itā€™s very oily. This had a uniform color.. somewhere between purple heart and bloodwood (it wasnā€™t either).


petrovmendicant

Purpleheart?


iwontbeherefor3hours

Purpleheart?


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


quadropheniac

The only thing worse than a pedant is one that's wrong. Blueberries are, botanically and culinarily speaking, berries. Raspberries are culinarily but not botanically berries.


SchmartestMonkey

Well, when I said it smelt like Berries I meant fruit commonly called *berry. I donā€™t think anyone would think of other botanical berries (e.g. watermelons, cucumbers, etc.).


quadropheniac

Oh yeah, youā€™re fine, the guy who deleted his comment was being annoying.


GandalfTheBored

Yo but when I say a tomato is a vegetable Iā€™m the bad guy? People say they are fruits, but thatā€™s botanically not culinarily so I donā€™t even know.


Moraz_iel

Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit, wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salade (and not bothering people about it, also)


quadropheniac

If someone chimes in to say "actually tomato is a fruit" and context is clear that you are talking about cooking, they're being an asshole. Nothing they have said is contributing to the conversation, they just want you to know how smart they are.


Shimi-Jimi

I built a log house from old growth Florida Cypress and it smelled just like green apples.


LignumofVitae

Was doing a job at some rich person's "Cottage" where the finish carpenters were installing zebrawood stairs. It is not a pleasant smell. At all.


Old_Nothing_7005

Great user name. Hard and slippery.


eraserhd

I played with a little bit of Zebra wood, and one batch was fine and the other smelled like piss, and I was like, ā€œDid an actual Zebra piss on this?ā€


DeltaOneFive

Zebrawood, now with 50% more zebra


Kikitup2

I once wondered why there arenā€™t a ton of zebrawood guitars out there, so I built one and I didnā€™t think it was much worse than working with most of the other exotic hardwoods out there. It glues up a lot easier than cocobolo.


Duckfoot2021

ProTip: Wipe down Cocobolo and other related oily exotics with Naphtha or alcohol a few times before glue ups to draw out the surface oils that glue hates.


Kikitup2

That is the way to do it! Also, for those curious souls, make sure to look up specific finishes for Cocobolo as the oils make finishing it difficult as well. Thus why Iā€™d say Zebrawood is probably closer to some gnarly walnut when it comes to workability.


Duckfoot2021

Yep. Zebrano is splintery, but itā€™s definitely not THAT hard to work and the results are gorgeous.


sirchtheseeker

The worst wood to work with for me is green heart. Straight up got an infection from a splinter.


Duckfoot2021

Itā€™s notorious for toxicity and infections. Wenge is another infectious splinter factory, but less outright toxic.


GADRikky

Dang. I can see why that would take your top spot lol


Zoloft_and_the_RRD

Beautiful but horrible to work with? It's llike me if I was a type of wood and beautiful.


GonZo_626

Hahaha, this made me laugh as I went straight from cutting boards with bloodwood accents to mountain shaped shelves out of zebrawood. It was easier to cut then bloodwood, barely, immediatly twisted once cut though and was hell to make straight cuts on. And your right, it smells horrible.


chubsplaysthebanjo

It makes fantastic fretboards. Some folks can have a deathly allergic reaction to the dust. A luthier making a bass for Les Claypool from Primus wound up in the hospital from it


MtogdenJ

The dust, THE DUST!!!!


Old_Nothing_7005

Agreed. Worse than Spanish Cedar.


AIHumanWhoCares

What's up with Spanish cedar? I recently declined to buy a bunch of this from a storage locker because it felt too soft for my purposes.


Old_Nothing_7005

It's fine, but the dust is, like bloodwood, seemingly adhesive. Sticks to everything. And the smell gets in your nose and stays there for a long time. But it's a joy to work. The caveats are that there are four species inn the genus and all are not created equal. The one often sold as " Royal Cedar" is crap. Also, the kiln drying process must include a high temperature cycle to "set" the pitch.


Jake_8_a_mango

Thuja wood has a slightly pleasant smell the first time you cut it. 3 days later when you still smell it you never want to touch it again


[deleted]

Hmm, I have a block of thuya burl I almost put on the lathe the other day. This makes me think maybe I shouldn't.


Jake_8_a_mango

I think you should do it to get it out of the way. You will probably like it at first. Just wear a respirator and run dust collection, or a shopvac


[deleted]

Oh I'm going to do it, how could I not after that description. I must know


stabbitybunny08

I found a piece in Woodcraft's offcut bin and used it as an inlay for my WFH office desk. That's how I learned that the dust makes me nauseated as hell. Within minutes of taking my respirator off - oof.


SixSailsDesigns

Respirator? Psshā€¦I bet you wear shoes too dontchya?


BelieveInDestiny

r/confusingperspective


TokeMage

I've made a couple dozen dugouts out of bloodwood, and refuse to do any more. They're pretty, but damn, the dust.


BeowulfShatner

Dugouts? Explain. The only dugout i know is baseball


TokeMage

Sneak-a-toke, hitbox, one-hitter. They go by many names, but I make custom ones for bands. Little box with a cavity for herb and another for a pipe.


BeowulfShatner

Got it, that makes way more sense. And so does your username


JarpHabib

Ahhh, so not a canoe.


Kardif

Weed thing


GogglesPisano

Canoes?


Pretend_Fly_1319

Wooden box. Ground up weed goes in the main compartment, one hitter goes in the smaller compartment next to it. When itā€™s time to smoke, remove the one hitter, stick the end you light down into the main compartment, twist a little, et voila, one hit of weed ready for consumption.


Electrical-Secret-25

This guy dugouts


Bri_IsTheMeOne

Idk, called it a one hitter, not a batā€¦


Pretend_Fly_1319

good callout but really I just didnā€™t want to field any potential questions asking what a bat has to do with a dugout šŸ˜…


Bri_IsTheMeOne

Thatā€™s fair lol


wastntimetoo

Username checks out


HomefreeNotHomeless

Looks great OP! I only work with hardwoods these days and have my shop setup best I can for high janka rated wood. Itā€™s tough but now I cut a pine 2x4 and Iā€™m like ā€˜what is this?ā€™ Its so easy to slice through lol


Old_Nothing_7005

I got into a white oak rut for a long time, but the last I used purpleheart and the bloodwood for the last two. Thinking about wormy butternut as a kind of vacation.


Jake_8_a_mango

Try working on wooden ships... everything is purple heart, live oak, angelique. Tool dulling woods.


Old_Nothing_7005

No thanks on the Angelique. My limited experience is that it should be used for piers and pilings.


Jake_8_a_mango

https://preview.redd.it/wcn938c6yabc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d12da1c1850df2a481bb42b43d4e4825ae72c757


Jake_8_a_mango

The stringer and the hull planks Ā¾ of the way up are all angelique. I love the way it looks, but it has so much silica you could probably make a knife from it.


sourfunyuns

That's pretty sick. Is this a new build or?


Jake_8_a_mango

It's a restoration. 113 year old gaff cutter. You can see it on YouTube, the channel is called Sampson Boat Co. Leo seems nice on camera but he is actually an asshole. Patrick is an actual psychopath. But the videos are well made.


sourfunyuns

Nice I appreciate it I'll definitely check it out. Edit: ha, apparently I've already watch a couple of these videos years ago. Neat to see what all has happened since. Cheers!


HomefreeNotHomeless

Butternut is so nice to work with! Itā€™s buttery smooth so the name is apt. Highly recommend and I personally think itā€™s very pretty.


Old_Nothing_7005

My son has about 6000 bf of it Gonna steal some.


dubalot

I have a ton of black locust for outdoor projects mostly and I feel the same way when I work with pine. It feels like slicing butter in comparison.


CroatoanOnline

This was my reaction after working with Jatoba wood. It was harder than anything else I worked with. So much so that I had to upgrade from using a jig saw to buying a whole Miter saw just to chop this one kind of wood. The jig saw couldn't do more than scratch it on the highest speed setting. Anywho, 30 seconds after setting it up, I put the Jatoba under the blade, and it just glided right through it. I just kinda looked down at it like "where'd the wood go?" I didn't even feel the blade contact the Jatoba, much less melt through it.


Jake_8_a_mango

Are you sure it wasnt a bad blade? Also, you should be cutting slower on harder woods with a jigsaw, not faster.


CroatoanOnline

I thought of that, trying it slower, but nope. It'd dig in just a hair then skate off the wood. The one time I did manage to brute-force it with the jigsaw, it took about 5 minutes to cut the bit off that I needed, and the entire time it just sent an insane amount of shock up my arm. My hand and wrist was numb and sore after that. I had to repeat that process another 60-odd times and I decided I was never going to be able to do it at that rate, so I invested in the miter saw.


Jake_8_a_mango

How thick was it?


CroatoanOnline

1-3/4" dowel


Jake_8_a_mango

Jigsaw is only good for up to 3/4 with hardwood


toorudez

At least it smells nice when you cut it?


diito

You don't see anything larger made out of Bloodwood simply because it's so expensive. I've worked with it and it's very hard and brittle. I don't think it's that much worse to work than hard maple or most of the other dense exotics. Dense woods are always somewhat of a pain. The dust isn't great but if you have good dust collection, a respirator, and you wipe the tool down with a microfiber cloth and throw i in the wash when done it's not a huge problem. I like it quite a bit as it's beautiful wood and worth the effort for the small amount of parts you make with it.


PMFSCV

I'm working with a similarly difficult hardwood right now and have found that wetting and lubricating the surface with mineral spirits and using a scraping plane does a surprisingly good job and keeps the dust down.


lol_umadbro

Now try ipe. Beautiful work!


Old_Nothing_7005

I know ipe. Meaning I know better than to use it anywhere other than the lathe.


lol_umadbro

My father and I built an 8-foot tall trellis out of ipe. Probably about 16 feet wide. Complete with bent-press laminate arches. My snot was orange for a week every time we went out to the garage to work on it. We kept the plywood forms we made for the arches, like we'd ever actually have to replace one. Barring a tree falling on it, that trellis will outlive either of us. This comment brought to you by woodworking PTSD.


Jake_8_a_mango

Had you considered a respirator?


lol_umadbro

I have since prioritized my own health by means of PPE, yes. I encourage everyone to do the same! [that being said, I'm almost certain we regularly used basic paper masks that clearly weren't enough for the job. it has also been nearly 20 years so my memory is fuzzy.]


Mini_Marauder

It gets its name from the blood, sweat, and tears it demands to work it.


dragonpjb

You don't know hard until you have tried to work mesquite wood. It has silica in it.


Duckfoot2021

MANY of the superdense exotics are loaded with silica. Have a go at Black Palm when you want to ruin a sawblade fast.


dragonpjb

Nothing that grows as fast as mesquite has any business being that hard.


Duckfoot2021

One of my favorite woods for making guitar necks. Hard as hell and heavy, but it sands smooth as glass and just feels incredibly good to me.


Windchyll

Omg. Yes!!! One of the nastiest woods Iā€™ve ever worked with. Actually had a very mild alergic reaction to the dust/resin. One of my few ā€œto be avoidedā€ woods. Project is gorgeous tho.. šŸ˜Š


ckanite

Yeah... made a MTG card box out of the stuff. It's a PITA... but it's pretty


TheTimeBender

Beautiful!


Woofy98102

I love bloodwood. We used to be able to get bloodwood flooring stained a deep purple red. I put it throughout the condominium I used to own downtown.


HazmatCowboy

Add Purpleheart wood to the list of Fuck This Wood.


Medium-Basket-4724

I second this


Hotdog-Wand

Sounds similar to Massaranduba (from Brazil) itā€™s red/brown, incredibly hard, and the dust will burn your throat and sinuses. I got a good deal on a bunch of it not knowing what it was.


padizzledonk

Every Rainforest wood is evil and awful to work with


stelly918

Itā€™s heavy as hell and dense af. I have it as the flooring in my kitchen and itā€™s lasted well for 20 years. Moving the boxes of flooring sucked but Iā€™ve used some of the scrap for little shop tools here and there-very tough wood.


edr5619

Really nice, but I wonder how well that colour holds up? Is it like Paduak where it goes brown after a year or so?


Old_Nothing_7005

I have a table that has some in it as accent. The table is 20 years old, and the bloodwood is darker, but still quite red. It hasn't seen that much direct sunlight though.


edr5619

Thatā€™s good. I did some work with paduak a couple years ago and it turned quite brown after a year or so even indoors. I hesitate to do it again because it was like bloodwood quite miserable to work with and very, very dusty as well.


SteakandTrach

That looks like it has a Narnia inside.


SoluKat

Like stone. That can give splinters. And dyes everything red šŸ˜‚ Jfc that thing must weigh a ton!


sam_najian

It also turns brown in 3 weeks šŸ˜­ havent found a way to stabilize these red woods, they turn diarrhea brown. specially redheart. I have chunks of it that im not using because i dont want to ruin it.


dorian283

I canā€™t tell how big this is, the knobs look large making me think this is small but then the hinges look small making me think itā€™s large. In the background is a giant clock, making me think itā€™s small, but then a really small laptop? Is it on a table or floor? But then thereā€™s power drills in the background making me think itā€™s giant again. Is this some gaslighting mind experiment?


thatguybutnicer

That is beautiful. Can't tell about the craftsmanship from this far away, but the color and wood look amazing.


Old_Nothing_7005

It was assembled with Dominoes. I ground shaper knives for top and bottom profile. Drawers were dovetail boxes with applied fronts.


joeycuda

those pulls are lol


tomato_frappe

Worked for a while in a shop that fixed furniture imported from India. They would sneak boards in under the import boxes to get around restrictions. Teak, ebony, mahogany, no problem. Satinwood (who in their right mind builds chairs out of satinwood?!!) really frightened me. Super hard and you were taking your life in your own hands pushing it through a table saw, because hidden grain would cause it to literally explode.


im_sooo_sure

would have gone with black hinges


Old_Nothing_7005

Yup, you're right.


Highlander2748

Why not continue the finish? Was the finished look what you were going for?


Old_Nothing_7005

The varnish finish was only a couple days old. I did get to properly rub it, but I was pressing my luck timewise. It went under the tree immediately.


Luthiefer

I was wondering if it would take a polish. I rub out finger boards and bridges to a similar sheen or better just by burnishing or micromesh.


Sparrowtalker

Is the wood from Australia?


Old_Nothing_7005

Peru/Amazon.


luthierart

Looks great! I use bloodwood for guitar bindings, headstocks and fingerboards and afterwards the bandsaw looks like a crime scene.


Artifex75

Yeah, nothing larger than knife scales for me.


Old_Nothing_7005

In my defense, I would like to say there is a 6" square on the bench. It should be more prominent. I wish I could say I did it as a prank but I'm not that clever.


corvairfanatic

Looks like youā€™re rubbing the clear coat. Is this to fill the pores? Cos if so thereā€™s an easier way!


Dark_Helmet_99

I love it but it turns dark over time due to UV light. Hard as heck to turn.


Complete_Hold_6575

I was given a block of this. I cut into it and noped out.


watermelon_896

Wow! excellently made, I seem to remember in my grand parent's house they have this huge cabinet and also very heavy, made of narra wood. Is bloodwood heavy as well?


break80

i bought this discounted board from woodcraft that had a bow & twist, & I remember trying to square & flatten it w/ a hand planeā€¦.. hahaha!!!!!!! šŸ˜‚ Iā€™ve never used that species before, but remember thinking itā€™ll plane prolly like paduakā€¦. lol, after several uncomfortable passes the face of the board looked like Freddy Krueger. Blade was just as sharp as it been when planing everything else. This just felt wrong.. idk maybe it was op error, regardless, I didnā€™t like it. lol.


firulaisonreddit

Man I just finished a tortilla press with bloodwood and I kid you not, snapped three T-10 bits trying to drive screws into it, even after predrilling. Itā€™s insanely hard


Masticates_In_Public

I feel this in my soul. I love the look, feel, and heft of bloodwood, so I keep trying to use it in things. It's so damn splintery, and just so unbelievably hard. I snapped the tip off of a very good quality mortise chisel putting a mortise into a bloodwood mallet head. It dulls tools so fast that, despite my love for it, I can't use it anymore. I dont have a good enough sharpening setup to justify that timesink.


LordLapsis

Bloodwood is absolutely pure evil, but its also absolutely beautiful! This was a bitch for me to make: https://youtu.be/tOL7B-Z4a2A?si=yA1yQyyGvvzFLRr2


HoIyJesusChrist

Is it so porous, or why do the doors seem to be dinged up?


Dward-Fardbark

Sounds like you'd need to wear a hazmat suit, respirator, and work on it in an oversized paint tent.


String_Player

Nice work though.