Any one with much experience turning this wood? I made a box at least a year ago, and when I looked at it recently, the interior looked like the wood had effloresced with what looked like a fine salt dust over most of the interior surfaces. The wood was very nice to turn and produced crisp surfaces similar to what I remember Cocobolo being like. I removed the salt-like film with a Q-tip dipped in Waterlox and wiped off the wet film as much as possible. Sorry, no photo and I did not opt for licking the stuff to see what it tasted like.
I've also turned a fair amount of bloodwood but I can't remember making a box. Most of mine is 4/4 but I have a one piece big enough for one generous bowl or 16 boxes - now I want to try a box!
I love that wood, especially when paired with dogwood with a slight pinkish cast. Or with tulip wood.
What finish? Could something in the finish have reacted with something in the wood?
I've made a few turnings from it, and also some non-turned items I use on a daily basis. This is one of the handwheels for my Moxon dovetailing vise:
I chose it for it's density. Cast iron would have been better for this application, but I don't have the tools to cast and machine iron. Turning it is interesting:
I've found it requires very light cuts, and the shavings float around and stick to everything. These are the only face grain turnings I've made with it. I prefer its performance for spindle turning.
MSC have less expensive cast hand wheels, if you want to use cast iron. A 5in plain finish, as in no finish, is $12 "list". Shows for me as less than $6 since I was an ENCO customer.
I purchased a couple of these from ENCO before MSC folded the ENCO site into the parent, MSC.
But the bloodwood is a lot prettier, and feels better than that rough cold cast iron. The real reason I don't like the ready-made cast metal wheels is that I can't find them at a reasonable price with through drilled and tapped holes to accept Acme threaded rod.
A free-wheeling vise jaw handle operates a lot quicker, more smoothly and with less friction than a wheel with a threaded rod permanently attached. If you can find a manufactured cast wheel, the treads are tapped all the way through. When you spin it to release, it can very easily come right off the end of the threaded rod and onto the floor and oblivion. On the ones I make, with an inset nut, the thread stops before the wheel has come all the way off the end of the rod and it hangs on the end of the rod without dropping onto the floor.
Also, I've found that they operate just fine for my application without the handle.
