I have covered Leopardwood, Roupala montana, in previous post when the only experience I had of it was pen blank size. I’ve just finished a set of 4 stacking bowls turned from Leopardwood so I have a different appreciation of it now.
Leopardwood, like some other woods with a similar pattern, is prized for its medullary ray flecks which create a striking and unique pattern that is quite pronounced on the flat surfaces of a turning blanks, especially a quarter-sawn blank. I didn’t realize until I turned the first bowl that the only place you will see that pattern is on the flat surfaces of a bowl, the interior bottom and reverse bottom, whereas the side walls, while streaked, will not show any flecking. That sort of disappointed me although I understand why this should be the case given the anatomy of the wood.
Leopardwood x2
I found the Leopardwood to be mildly chippy, especially on the cross grain areas along the rim. Leopardwood is moderately hard, about the same as a White Oak, but it doesn’t cut cleanly meaning you are in for a fair amount of sanding once you get the shape you want, although I have had to do more sanding on woods like Hickory or Sassafras.
The Leopardwood took the Shellawax finish quite nicely and it even managed to hide a few slight imperfections.
I am of mixed opinion about Leopardwood. It was a mild to moderate pain to work with and I am not sure the result is worth the effort since most of the ray flecking will not show in a finished bowl. I do think Leopardwood would be especially striking if used as flat quarter sawn pieces in furniture, boxes, or other small items but the shape of a bowl doesn’t really display Leopardwood to its best advantage, at least in my opinion.
As I continue working through my wood stocks I find myself wishing that I had only invested in ONE piece per species until I had the chance to turn it and see how I enjoyed it, but alas, I have at least one more very large piece of Leopardwood to turn someday and since it is so large perhaps the flat areas will be large enough to adequately show the unique character and appearance of the Leopardwood.
Leopardwood Bowls x4
All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool system on my Robust American Beauty lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks. Final finish is Shellawax.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!