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Just wondering if anyone (or one of our fine suppliers) has any of this wood available.

From what I can find on the net, this wood goes by lots of different names...sickingia salvadorensis seems to be the taxonomic(?) name.

I was poking around on Michael Dunn's site the other day, when I ran across this:



I think this is some seriously cool zoot!

Living in Amsterdam, this is not the kind of wood I would find in our local lumberyard, so if anyone out there has any tips for me on finding some (especially some stripey stuff as in the pic), I would appreciate it!

Thanks

Russ, any idea where this is native to?   I've never heard of it, but it sure is pretty.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Ron
It's more commonly known as redheart. I usually see it in smaller dimensions like turning squares and bowl blanks.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
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Ron,

I believe it's native to Mexico and Central America. I have found one supplier that has a couple of boards, but they are uniformly colored, and I'd like to find some that's more like the pic shows.

Also, shipping whole boards internationally is expensive, so I'd prefer a supplier that could cut to guitar sets.

Hi Russ,

Bob is (of course) right, as it is commonly called Redheart here in the US. The stuff I have and that I have seen is from the Yucatan Peninsula. I can tell you that the red color is relatively "phantom", and the wood will eventually look more orange than red. It is also a bit brittle. (I have several pieces of furniture I have built from it.) I also have a guitar set from lumber that I bought 15 years ago, and will eventually build with it even though I know it won't retain the stunning red color of the freshly sawn wood. It is occasionally curly, sometimes with small fiddleback curls (like the set I have), and more frequently with widely spaced curls, more like the curly figure often seen in North American Black Cherry.

Dennis

{edit}FWIW, I looked at my Chakte Kok wood, and it not fiddleback. I got it mixed up with a fiddleback Nargusta set. DennisLeahy39000.957337963

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

I think that one of my suppliers might have some, I'll check on Tuesday when things are open again (it's a long weekend in Canada).

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Hi Russ,

Since you are in the Netherlands, check with www.espen.de . I think mr. Juergen Jordan might help you. They have it listed in their catalog but you should ask them if they have it in stock.

Russ, I bought a set from Hibdon Hardwoods, a supplier here on the OLF. They billed it as Redheart.
The stuff is really sensitive to sunlight and that pretty red color will fade quickly upon exposure.
I have no experience working with the stuff, but it IS pretty.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Thanks for the tips guys! I will check the the supplier in Germany and with Hibdon.