Question on Bloodwood

Looks here. Not real close but it’s the closest I know of.

http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/GaryK/blog/3390

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

Todd, Welcome. You’ll get plenty of help here, these folks are the best. As to blood wood and purple heart depending on how much you need, Woodcraft sells the stuff in smaller boards. They tend to be more costly but if you don’t need much they are an option.

Be sure to post what you make. Oh, and my wife’s aunt lives in Bakersfield.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

I have picked up some “hobby” pieces at Rockler.

-- Maplewood, MN

I will try those places thank you. Well Dan my stepmom’s brother live’s in central Oklahoma. =)

I picked mine up at my Woodcraft store. Expensive but all I could find at my other hardwood souces was riff cut or quarter sawn. I only want plain sawn. With plain sawn you get a consistent red color and a pleasing grain pattern. The riff cut and quarter sawn has more of a striped look with light and dark red.

-- Leon -- Houston, TX - " I create all my own designs and it looks like it "

I’m not certain where around Bakersfield you can get it, but when you do find a source you really need to look at the lumber closely. Bloodwood color can vary dramatically depending on the source. I’ve had some that was very light red to almost the orangish of Paduk after machining and other that was a nice deep red after machining. Plus the color of Bloodwood will darken with age (the rate of change will depend on the type of finish you use and the amount of light exposure). So you may start out with a beautiful deep red color and it may eventually go more toward a dark-red brown color. The lighter variations I’ve had don’t darken as dramatically or to as nice a tone. Bloodwood also tends to seem more “waxy” to me when I work with it or shape it, but it glues up well. I use it a lot for accent and it contrasts well against a number of woods such as oak, maple, pine, cherry, lacewood and the like. On the “fun” side, if you have the dust on your skin, from sanding, and your sweating little it looks like your bleeding all over.

-- Rich, Madison WI

I just got a delivery of some Bloodwood and Maple from West Penn Hardwoods off the net.

-- http://ragtimewoodwork.blogspot.com/