Bee’s Wing Narra Board
Sustainability
At the time I wrote the original Narra post, I was, for some reason, not addressing environmental sustainability of the species, and I regret that.
Narra, Bee’s Wing or not, is not listed as being in any way threatened or endangered by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices, but it does appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as Vulnerable. The IUCN listing is due to populations losses of over 20% in the past three generations due primarily to exploitation.
To the best of my knowledge, Narra in any form is not subject to any special restrictions by any United States government agency.
I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.
Bee’s Wing Narra Guitar
However, due to the commercial scarcity of some domestic woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.
I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.
Professionally Made Bee’s Wing Narra Pen
My Personal Experience
I was only working with a small pen blank sized piece of Bee’s Wing Narra but I enjoyed the experience. The wood turns beautifully and the figure is truly impressive to behold. Narra of all types will dull your tools, so sharpen frequently or use replaceable carbide cutters such as the ones I use in my Easy Wood Tools to achieve an excellent cut every time. I finished the pen with simple, albeit multi-step, cyanoacrylate pen finish that really highlighted the figure and the reddish coloration of the Bee’s Wing Narra blank. If I can afford additional blanks in the future, and provided I work through some of the massive stockpiles of pen blanks I already own, I would be thrilled to work with Bee’s Wing Narra again in the future, especially if it was an incredibly special project and special pen kit that deserved such an amazing wood.