Shedua is the wood of many names and I first wrote about it years ago under the name Amazakoue. No matter the name it is reasonably easy to work with African wood that has nice golden brown streaks with chatoyance.
Shedua Platter #1 Interior
I found the Shedua easy to cut, but to be fair, I had just replaced or rotated the carbide cutters in my Easy Wood Tools since I had been working with a good deal of woods with high silica content that will rapidly dull edges.
Shedua Platter #2 Interior
I also found that the cross grain areas did not cut cleanly at all and that this effect was greater on the outside of the vessel than the inside which I found odd that it should be do much different. These areas required considerably more sanding detail and attention than the with the grain areas. On the exterior I actually needed to lock the spindle and do focused sanding which quickly resolved the issues although that is a step I don’t often need to take. On the contrary, the interior cross grain areas sanding out twice as easily and didn’t require this focused effort.
Shedua Platter #2 Side View
I find, as I did before, that there is a very slight but not unpleasant scent when working with Shedua.
Shedua by any of its names seems relatively difficult to locate these days. I sourced mine from Got Wood? in South Carolina. Those guys are great to work with, they always deliver a superior product, and their shipping is quite reasonable to boot. They still have good supplies of Shedua in both cut round bowl/platter blanks as well as some spindles. Even 9″ x 2″ blanks are only $23.63 with everything smaller featuring smaller prices as well.
Shedua Platter #1 Side View
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!