D. regia<\/em> is native to the African island of Madagascar<\/a>, where it is endangered, but it has been planted, and in some cases even naturalized, throughout the tropical world. In the United States, D. regia<\/em> is a popular ornamental and shade tree in central to southern Florida and southernmost Texas. It also readily grows in the Caribbean island territories and in the Pacific island territories as well. In fact, it is the official flower of the Northern Mariana Islands<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the sake of simplicity I will refer to D. regia<\/em> from here forward simply as Royal Poinciana.<\/p>\n Royal Poinciana is not a timber wood so it has not been characterized as such. I can only record my experiences below but I cannot provide technical details.<\/p>\n Royal Poinciana wood is seldom available for commercial sale. If it can be found at all, it would be sold through small, independent, hobbyist mills. Because Royal Poinciana is a favored decorative and shade tree, your best source of the wood will be tree services in the areas in which it is grown. Very occasionally, commercial sources will have obtained wood in likely this way that can then be purchased at a comparatively high price due to scarcity.<\/p>\n In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of these fine vendors none are currently selling Royal Poinciana but I obtained my large blank from Wood Turning Blanks 4U. They I turn sourced the material from a local Florida tree service. I in turn purchased the 12” x 3” blank in February of 2017 for $42.00<\/p>\n And in all seriousness, it is worth it to get to know some local tree services in your area if you want to work with non-commercial woods, some of which are a dream to turn. To a tree service, most of the wood is a waste that they will pay to dispose of and they are likely to all too happy to have you take it off their hands for a small fee or sometimes for free. However, if tree services are removing commercially valuable woods such as cherry or walnut, their intent will be to sell those logs, so expect to have to pay market prices in those cases. This is not usually the case with single trees however, but you can encounter that situation when larger lots are being cleared. If nothing else, it never hurts to ask around.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Royal Poinciana, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.<\/p>\n A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!<\/p>\n Royal Poinciana is strictly a hobby wood used in small scale projects such as turning.<\/p>\n Royal Poinciana 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<\/a> nor does it appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List<\/a>.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, Royal Poinciana is not subject to any special restrictions by any United States government agency.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, no further health reactions have been associated with Royal Poinciana.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource<\/a>.<\/p>\n Fortunately, I experienced no negative side effects when working with Royal Poinciana.<\/p>\n I enjoyed working with the Royal Poinciana. It has a lovely degree of figure and shading with gradations of reds to pinks as well as some very light black figure as well. My piece had a few small knots which added interest. There is some degree of chatoyance<\/a> visible in the lighter areas under the right light.<\/p>\n Royal Poinciana is very heavy and dense for its size. The wood is reasonably hard and cuts well with the grain. The cross grain areas do not cut as well although the degree to which they cut roughly was not immediately obvious to me until I started the sanding process. Sanding out the cross grain was very challenging and I finally resorted to a 40 grit paper to make quick work of it. Once the cross grain was conquered the remaining sanding was quick and easy and the Royal Poinciana achieved a nice natural luster.<\/p>\n In the unlikely event that anyone can find Royal Poinciana wood to try I would recommend it for the ease of turning, despite the difficulty in sanding the cross grain areas, and especially for the color and figure which reminds me most closely of Persimmon.<\/p>\n Royal Poinciana<\/p><\/div>\n This particular blank started life at 12” x 3” but ¾” was lost to warping during drying leaving the finished bowl at 11.25” x 3”. This is the largest piece I have completed to date.<\/p>\n All work was done on my Robust American Beauty lathe<\/a>.<\/p>\n Almost all of the cuts were made using Easy Wood Tools<\/a> but I did use a Robert Sorby bowl gouge<\/a> in an attempt to clean up the end grain mess. I found it to be of little assistance.<\/p>\n Nova Chucks<\/a> were used for holding the piece during turning. I attempted to use the Longworth Chuck<\/a> for the reversing work, but again found, as I have in the past, that the Longworth is a great tool unless you want it to work. It won’t and I am now in the process of replacing it with Big Easy Jaws from Easy Wood Tool<\/a>.<\/p>\nGeneral and Working Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Pricing and Availability<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Uses<\/h2>\n
Sustainability<\/h2>\n
Health Hazards<\/strong><\/h2>\n
My Personal Experiences<\/h2>\n