Woods with a natural "goldish" color?

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jrista

jrista

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I'm working on some ideas for pens and other items. Black and gold are a big favorite color combination for me. Black in wood is easy...the ebonys, blackwood, or even ebonizing woods with higher tannins. The hard one is gold. I'd like to stick with natural woods if I can, and I'm trying to figure out if there are any woods that have a naturally golden-ish color to them? I doubt that there is any wood with a strait up golden color, although if there is, I'd love to know about it! But, are there any woods with a goldish color, that might do the job? Or maybe with a very light coat of goldish colored stain as well?

Thanks!
 
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Osage Orange and some Birch woods are close as I could suggest. Alder, hickory and woods like that if you get the heart wood in those species you can get close to golden look naturally. You can always stain too.
 
jrista said:
I'm working on some ideas for pens and other items. Black and gold are a big favorite color combination for me. Black in wood is easy...the ebonys, blackwood, or even ebonizing woods with higher tannins. The hard one is gold. I'd like to stick with natural woods if I can, and I'm trying to figure out if there are any woods that have a naturally golden-ish color to them? I doubt that there is any wood with a strait up golden color, although if there is, I'd love to know about it! But, are there any woods with a goldish color, that might do the job? Or maybe with a very light coat of goldish colored stain as well?

Thanks!
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I just bought some cumuru a few weeks ago. It has a nice golden color, at least more so than any other wood I have. As Iohn said Osage Orange is close. Yellow heart or satin wood can be very yellow but might be a candidate too.
 
KenB259 said:
I just bought some cumuru a few weeks ago. It has a nice golden color, at least more so than any other wood I have. As Iohn said Osage Orange is close. Yellow heart or satin wood can be very yellow but might be a candidate too.
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Hmm, hadn't heard of cumuru before. Will have to look that up. Something naturally golden is the ultimate goal, if possible.

jttheclockman said:
Osage Orange and some Birch woods are close as I could suggest. Alder, hickory and woods like that if you get the heart wood in those species you can get close to golden look naturally. You can always stain too.
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Forgot about Osage Orange. I have some pen blanks in that. I guess it might be a bit more "orangy" gold than I was originally thinking, but it might work just as well.

Also hadn't heard of satin wood before, so will check that out.

MRDucks2 said:
I have also found some Mulberry is golden and can have wonderful chatoyance.
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Interesting! Good chatoyance would be awesome. I certainly have heard of mulberry, but I don't think I have any. I know Cook woods has pretty much everything, so they might have some.
 
Second on Mulberry. It's the most yellow wood in my collection.
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Spalted tamarind fits your desired colors decently. It's not "gold," but next to the black lines it has a nice yellow that comes out.
 
jttheclockman said:
If you are looking for straight yellow than you will find no wood more yellow than Yellowheart. It is not burl wood though.
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I have a bunch of yellowheart. Its too yellow, and often more of a muted soft color (it sometimes has grey in it). Its a great color, love yellowheart, but not quite what I'm looking for.
 
Fred Bruche said:
Chittum burl would be my choice (but more difficult to find than other suggestions)

View attachment 362190.
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Whoa! That looks just like gold! Is that finished, or just dampened? If finished, was it finished with something that yellows the wood, like linseed oil? Man, that would be perfect.

Does non-burl Chittum have the same color? I imagine the burl is quite hard to find, but maybe normal chittum is easier...
 
mrburls said:
I second the choice of Chittum Burl, but also have used Gold Desert Ironwood (little hard to find). When held to the light looks like gold dust in the golden color wood.
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Yeah, the Chittum is pretty dead on.

I actually have some desert ironwood...I don't know if its "gold" desert, but, I remember now, it has a goldish color. Maybe a little dark, but, it doesn't all have to be exactly the same color, and desert ironwood might provide some nice contrasts.
 
Fred Bruche said:
Chittum burl would be my choice (but more difficult to find than other suggestions)

View attachment 362190.
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Well, I found some pen blanks of this. They are extremely spendy...$35 each! That is almost as much as a fordite blank (which generally go for around $40-60 each, one of the most expensive blanks I know of.) It is burl, though. I might have to pick a couple of these up.
 
jrista said:
Well, I found some pen blanks of this. They are extremely spendy...$35 each! That is almost as much as a fordite blank (which generally go for around $40-60 each, one of the most expensive blanks I know of.) It is burl, though. I might have to pick a couple of these up.
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The block is "finished" with some shellac or lacquer (it was that way when I got it), and the pen is finished with CA (I posted it a few months back) and is from the other unfinished/raw block. When possible I don't get pen blanks but rather blocks, which makes for cheaper pen blanks in the end when cut myself.

image0 (3).jpeg image0 (4).jpeg

Never saw non-burl Chittum up for sale, guessing the heartwood is the same color, but might not have the chatoyancy of the burl.
 
Fred Bruche said:
The block is "finished" with some shellac or lacquer (it was that way when I got it), and the pen is finished with CA (I posted it a few months back) and is from the other unfinished/raw block. When possible I don't get pen blanks but rather blocks, which makes for cheaper pen blanks in the end when cut myself.

View attachment 362211 View attachment 362212

Never saw non-burl Chittum up for sale, guessing the heartwood is the same color, but might not have the chatoyancy of the burl.
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Pen looks great. That stuff really looks like a rippled gold bar. Amazing.

So researching, this is Sideroxylon lanuginosum, also called Bumelia, is apparently a large bush, not a tree. So there isn't much in the way of wood to make lumber out of, which is probably why you only see the burl.

I'd buy a block as well...but this stuff is RARE.
 
jrista said:
Pen looks great. That stuff really looks like a rippled gold bar. Amazing.

So researching, this is Sideroxylon lanuginosum, also called Bumelia, is apparently a large bush, not a tree. So there isn't much in the way of wood to make lumber out of, which is probably why you only see the burl.

I'd buy a block as well...but this stuff is RARE.
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Let me get in touch with my source if there's still some blocks in the treasure chest šŸ˜…
 
Chittum Burl.... That looks gorgeous! Here is some interesting info found in an old thread here.

It is extremely rare in that the wood was harvested during the civil war to make yellow dyes. It grow in limestone and has to be chiseled out. Mainly grows in the Huntsville, AL area and no where else. It is related to the cashew tree and is also called the "smoketree".

Also...
IDK if He's still active or will respond to messages, but here it is anyway.

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I've had some pieces of marble wood in the past that have come out looking goldish yellow.

If you like yellow Burl I love Alaskan Yellow Cedar Burl. Still pricey per blank but not as bad as Chittum.
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