Snakewood Letter Opener

Wow the figure is beautiful! It has held its edge all these years, amazing!

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Great looking Gary. I might have to make a couple.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

That is really neat wood. I have never seen anything like it. Those tropical hardwoods are really hard. Great post. Can you buy this at hardwood supplies?

-- Terry Roswell, L.A. (Lower Alabama) "Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans."

Interesting wood Gary. Looks like a lasting design on the letter opener.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

Great wood, and you say it has held it’s edge all this time! Thanks for posting this project.

-- --Chuck

Gary,

Interesting project. The wood is gorgeous.

Thanks for the post.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

thanks gary , thats some really nice looking wood !

-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes

I like the grain. Too hard to carve though. Thanks!
Dave

-- Dave Leitem,Butler,Pa.,http://dlcarver.etsy.com

GREAT example of knowing what to do to bring out the features and attributes of a wood.
The project is simple but what you have done by working the finish naturally is truly amazing. NICE Job.

-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ

Gary , how old would that wood have to be before they harvest it?
Can you see the Growth rings on any of it?

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Great use of snakewood, Gary! That stuff is about as expensive and difficult to come by as bog oak!

FYI, a splinter from snakewood can cause an infection in less than four hours. Ask me how I know…

-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/

This is a great use for a small but beautiful piece of wood, Gary.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

little scraps make great projects, good work

-- Stuart, North Dakota

Glad Ethan posted the snakewood warning. Always nice to know these things. I wasn’t aware that Cocobolo was an irritant to a large percentage of people. myself included. Great work as always Gary. I have several small strips of a couple exotics I couldn’t throw away. I think I’ll give this idea a go soon. How well does it work? You mentioned it held a decent edge. . .

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Great work Gary and the wood is outstanding. I`ve never seen the wood something like that.

Gary,

That’s both beautiful wood and workmanship.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

Thanks for the comments. The wood is hit and miss as far as finding it. If you are interested just search online.

As far as growth rings goes I naver looked, and I have no idea how old the wood was before I got it.

The only tool I used for making this was a stationary belt sander.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

That’s really nice Gary. It is up to your usual high standards.

-- Maplewood, MN

Really cool.

-- so much wood, so little time. Bradford.

wow that wood is beautiful. i can see why they call it snake wood. when you said it had no finish a swear that i almost fell over. great job and thanks for the post.

It’s the GaryK-insu knife… It dices, it slices, it even chops! It can cut through a tin can and still slice open paper thin letters. Yes folks, you too can own the GaryK-insu knife for only 4 easy payments of $19.95…...

My apologies Gary, it just reminded me of my childhood tv watching. Obviously it’s gorgeous and I’ve never seen snakewood before, so thank you for the post.

I often sand things like that through high grits as well. Burnished wood is so beautiful.

-- Greg, CT

Beautiful work and wood Gary, I’d like to find some.
Bruce

-- Canadian Wood Chuck (Bruce)

Bruce you can get some right now at http://www.kjpselecthardwoods.com/. They are in Ottawa (where I live). I just checked their website. Look under “what’s new”. I don’t know the price.

Hope this helps.

wow…that really is beautiful wood…amazing that it holds the shine with daily use…I bet few woods wiill hold that…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...SING WITH ME: "Sum...sum...sum...summ...summ...summ...summertime..."

Really nice project. The snakewood is gorgeous.

-- Dust collectors suck.

I have a lot more small pieces and trying to figure out what to do with them.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Small pieces are great for scroll work, if you ever do any.

-- Greg, CT

Hey Gary, I just posted my attempt on your design. I couldn’t match the snakewood, but was happy with the results of the several species I did use. The cocobolo worked well and I think it’ll be hard enough to hold its edge. Nice design. They were really fast to make and can get rid of a lot of small pieces of nice grained species I just can’t let go of.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

Beautiful work ..You’ve only buffed this once ? The oils from your skin don’t affect the sheen on it ?

-- Dusty56@comcast.net