Pink Flame

In 2016 I purchased a 6x6x3 blank from West Penn Hardwoods that they called Pink Flame.  I know the wood originates in South America, Peru specifically I believe although I could easily be wrong about that.  No other vendor other than West Penn Hardwoods ever offered this particular wood and they closed out their stocks in 2018 as the wood had become hard to reliably source plus it just wasn’t a great seller.  Having never heard of it, I had to try it.

I let the blank dry for the last 4 years and finally got around to turning it as part of a much larger project involving over 70 blanks.

Pink Flame Interior

Unfortunately my usual sources are silent on the subject of Pink Flame.  The only thing remotely close are some photos and text from a wood turner living and working in Iquitos, Peru, which is on the Amazonian side of Peru, who worked with a local wood he called Pink Flame but his coloration is MUCH stronger than anything that I have on hand.  The next most common result is people referring to Box Elder with particularly strong reddish streaks and Pink Flame.  With nothing more to go on in terms of search terms I have struck out.  If anyone has any ideas or any knowledge of this wood, please let me know.

What I can say is that the wood was very dense and very hard and yet, it didn’t cut super clean so I had a good bit of strong and tedious clean up sanding to do.  Personally, I think it takes real imagination to claim that there is pink, much less flame, in this wood, at least not in the piece I have.  If I squint and really wish it to be so, I can claim that some of the reddish-brown streaks are pinkish but don’t expect it to look like Pink Ivory.

Pink Flame Reverse

Whatever Pink Flame actually is, it was an OK turning wood, but, there are so many really great woods with significant color and figure that I can’t get too worked up over not being able to source more Pink Flame.  It makes for a reasonably pretty bowl but I just can’t compete with something like Bocote or one of the true Rosewoods.  I’m grateful that I had the chance to work with a new and obscure wood.  In the odd event that you can locate a source for Pink Flame by all means give it a try.

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!