Materials

Box Buxus sempervirens
Boxwood is a beautiful, silky wood with a fine texture. I use English box often with a little `spalting` in it. Spalting occurs when a tree is felled at a time of year when there is still moisture in the tree. The moisture encourages spores of mould which remain until the moisture content lowers, when the wood is converted for drying. Providing this conversion happens in good time there is no effect to the structure of the wood but a little grey/blue mottling becomes evident. This mottled box relates well with the ebony I use that has tan coloured flecks.

Ebony Diospyrus
Ebony comes in several forms (even a creamy white one). It can be striped or the blackest black , hardly looking like wood. I generally look for timber that has a little tan/brown mottling. That timber with a fine mottling is the most appealing to me for the bobbins.

Lemonwood Calycophyllum candidissimum
From Cuba and central America it is often described as an alternative to boxwood. Though superficially similar it is not as dense. On it`s quarter sawn faces it shows a quiet `ray bloom`. As to why it is called lemonwood I have no idea. I have never noticed any odour when working with it. According to the wood database it has a good resistance to marine borers so sub-aqua weavers need not worry.

Cocobolo Dalbergia retusa
A stunning rosewood from Central America. I buy this in small quantities when it has a fine, linear pattern that is appropriate for small objects. A very beautiful wood, good for turning, it mellows to a deep red/brown with purple to black stripes. A favourite of mine.

Kingwood Dalbergia cearensis
Found in Brazil it has a purple/brown base colour with dark stipes. It looks stunning and works beautifully. Apparently the common name refers to the story that the French kings Louis X1V and XV both had a penchant for furniture made from this wood.

Indian Rosewood Dalbergia latifolia
From India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. I used to use this when musical instrument making. Great for guitars but I tend not to use it for bobbins as the grain patterns don`t work so well on small objects such as the bobbins. Just occasionally there is a piece that I think that I will find useful.

Bubinga Guibortia spp
A beautiful reddy brown timber streaked, randomly, with darker stripes. The grain is very `interlocked` and under almost any finish the grain comes alive. It grows throughout Equatorial Africa.

Chacate Preto Guibortia conjugate
The same genus as Bubinga this wood from Mozambique shares a similar grain but a very different colour. It has a warm grey to dark grey colour variation. It works well and finishes nicely. I particularly love it alongside Yew.

African Blackwood Dalbergia melanoxylon
An almost black rosewood. It has a beautiful, discrete grain that is distinguished by purple/brown streaks though in less than good light appears almost black. Another favourite of mine it smells divine when worked and, unlike Ebony, doesn`t send me into paroxysms of sneezing!
Also known as Grenadillo or Mpingo it comes from Senegal, Eritrea and South Africa.
There are conservation projects globally, partly led by the musical instrument world, working on growing this timber. Great success has been had in Florida U.S.A. where the excellent growing season is producing taller and larger stock.

Zebrano Microberlinia sp
It has quite an unusual odour when it is being turned but that quickly goes afterwards. Variable in colour it is distinguished by its stripes. It is a very interlocked `dry` grain so I take care choosing the best pieces in terms of both colour and grain. Good fun wood though.
According to one internet site it is also used for skis!

Mopane Colophospernum mopane
It grows in the Lowveld of South Africa and northwards. Chacate preto is sometimes called False Mopane. (Can`t think why!)

In Africa it is used for fence posts and flooring. It is a very hard wood that turns and finishes well. A warm brown with a beautiful grain.

Yew Taxus baccata
One of only two softwoods that I use . It is a beautiful wood but one that so often is not quite appropriate for smaller bobbins. I look for a fine , straight grain preferably with very fine knots ( often called pippys ) to make characterful bobbins. These requirements reduce my options greatly, but I never stop looking.

Ash Fraxinus excelsior
One of my favourite timbers it is becoming increasingly threatened by `Ash Die Back` throughout the European continent. Cases of this fungal disease have now been identified in the United Kingdom. There have recently been reports that there are strains with a natural immunity to the disease. One can only hope so or it may go the same way as Elm. I use Ash for the frame stands.

Olive Olea europea
Usually felled when a tree is no longer economical for olive production. A very variable grain pattern that has streaks of brown, green brown, pinky brown and almost black fine lines. There tends to be a distinction between European olive and African Olive. They are the same species but, growing in different habitats, the African Olive tends to have a finer grain. Unless I can find a good piece of European I tend to use the African. It has a very `waxy` feel to it that can be brought to a soft sheen.

Oak/Bog Oak Quercus 
I generally don’t use oak because of it`s open grain and larger markings. The one exception to this is when I use some Bog Oak. In the very distant past trees that had fallen due to a natural flooding event would find themselves buried in silt below the water level. This anaerobic environment would conserve the wood for thousands of years. The more acidic silts react with the tannin in the oak and slowly turn it black. The blacker the older I once purchased a nice black piece that came with a Carbon Dating certificate. The wood was dated back to 3500 yrs B.C. It is rare not just because of the conditions that it is found in but also because of the problems encountered when converting it. Although it has lignified it is full of water. As soon as it hits the air it starts to dry and this is when uneven stresses cause cracking. With bobbins being small I can often work around these defects though there is still much wastage. Still, 4000-5000 years old.

Panga Panga Milletia stihlmannii
From Eastern Africa. When first worked it is a deep straw colour with darker stripes. As it oxidises it slowly turns to an umber with almost black stripes. The grain is even and straight and makes a very attractive bobbin.

Karelian Birch Betula pubescens/ Betula pendula
Karelian Birch or Massur Birch are Names used for Birch that grows with inclusions in in the grain.These are brown flecks in a blonde body. It is sometimes incorrectly called a burr. It is an aberrant growth however which gives little indication of it`s presence until the tree is `opened`. Very tricky to work with but worth the effort.

 

Others

There are oddments that I occassionaly come by: Pear wood or Laburnum for instance.

Burrs/Burls are something I use in my compound bobbins.
These are `warty` growths sometimes seen on a tree. In response to surface damage a tree may produce many small twigs , each with a leaf, that protect the tree from the elements. These twigs mature into heartwood with sapwood on top , the same growth process as the rest of the tree. In the timber this can be seen as circles of activity with a darker center all set in a swirling matrix of grain. As you look at it from different angles it all seems to move.

Less stable pieces of wood may be subjected to a process known as `stabilization`. This is done by submerging a chosen piece of wood in a very low viscosity resin. This Duo is then placed in a vacuum chamber where it is goes through a cycle of  vacuum and atmospheric until the resin has fully impregnated the timber. It is then taken out of the resin bath and cured in an oven becoming a hard and durable material.  During the process coloured resins may be added to create spectacular effects.

For lines and inlays the following are some of the materials that I use; Ebony, Buffalo Horn, Casein Ivory, Acrylic and Polyester resins, Sterling Silver.