LK&T
Member
Cracked open a piece of maple that I've had sitting around the shop for awhile. I knew it was gonna be good, but a pleasant surprise all the same! Pictures don't really do it justice (at least pictures I can take).
The pics are zoomed in a bit and make it look bigger than its is. There are probably four good pen blanks on the end where the figure is tightest, but I'm not sure this piece of maple will end up as pen blanks. Some of it will definitely become knife handles. There are a couple of smaller pieces from the same log that'll probably be "penned". Here's a pic of the maple piece with a pen, for scale.The figure is too big for pens but perfect for small jewelry boxes.
That is an outstanding piece of wood! Of course a very nice turning also. The Wood Merchant in La Conner, WA would put a $300-$400 price tag on that piece.Pete's suggestion above made me think of a piece of wood that I spotted in a wood shop in Toyota Japan some years ago. I contemplated over it for a few months. One corner had some curls on it. The piece of wood was about 18 inches by 28 inches by almost 3 inches thick and was Japanese ash, IIRC. I paid about $75 for the whole piece just so I could use one corner. (But I still have much of it now, here in the States.)
This was the outcome of that one corner:
Valleys Run Through It
Plate, 6 inches in Diameter. Picture 1 Keyaki - Japanese Elm, mostly sapwood. After basic shape was made, stabilized with Acrylic/Acetone mix. Finished with several coats of tung oil and wax.www.penturners.org