Different wood for knobs/handles
Dave Mount
>With the recent discussion of wood for handles, I thought I'd post this pic. I picked up an unloved Union 41 (equiv to Stanley 48) a while back for cheap. . .cheap because it was missing its irons and had a homemade front knob that looked like it was made from an old thread bobbin using an axe. Anyway, a friend that's a turner made me a replacement using Eurasian buckthorn, an invasive exotic here in northern MN and I presume elsewhere. Doesn't often get big enough to work, but when it does, it's pretty and hard. Reminiscent of cherry, but the heartwood's a little oranger, the sapwood's a little yellower, and it has a little more grain to it. This particular piece came from a tree growing in the shade of others and was growing pretty slowly, so it's a little finer grained than many.
My friend made it a little larger and taller than the original, so I had to countersink the screw a little bit, but I still like it. Unfortunately, shrinking the image to 40K lost some of the detail. Got a new set of irons courtesy of Jim Reed and it's making shavings again.
Best,
Dave