{"id":2796,"date":"2020-03-29T22:12:27","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T02:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=2796"},"modified":"2020-03-29T22:12:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T02:12:27","slug":"burma-padauk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/burma-padauk\/","title":{"rendered":"Burma Padauk"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Geographic Distribution<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Botanists know the tree and wood commonly called Burma Padauk, among various other spellings, as Pterocarpus macrocarpus<\/em>.  P.<\/em> macrocarpus<\/em> is native to, as the name implies Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Thailand.  For the sake of simplicity I will refer to Pterocarpus macrocarpus<\/em> from here forward simply as Burma Padauk.<\/p>\n

General Characteristics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The heartwood of Burma Padauk covers a range from pale golden yellow to deep reddish brown.  As is true of other Pterocarpus species<\/em>, the color will darken over time to a golden brown and this effect is accelerated with exposure to ultraviolet light including sunlight.  The yellow sapwood is clearly demarcated from the heartwood.  If one is familiar with African Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii<\/em>) the color of Burma Padauk will be less red and more subdued.<\/p>\n

The grain of Burma Padauk is generally interlocked with a coarse texture and large open pores that are readily visible in surfaced wood.<\/p>\n

Burma Padauk is rated as very durable against rot and it also has a good resistance to termites and other insects.<\/p>\n

Working Characteristics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall Burma Padauk is easy to work with.  Due to the interlocked grain problems with tearout can occur especially during planing.  These problems may be exacerbated by quartersawn timber.  Methods for minimizing tearout can be found elsewhere.<\/a><\/p>\n

Burma Padauk turns, glues, and finishes quite well.<\/p>\n

One of the ways to know that the orange wood you are working with is  Burma Padauk is the intense sweet and spicy scent when you cut it.  This is present even in fully dry wood and it is a real treat!<\/p>\n

Pricing and Availability<\/strong><\/h2>\n

African Padauk is widely imported into the United States as lumber in a variety of lengths and thicknesses and African Padauk is also commonly imported and sold as turning and craft blanks.  With its wide availability African Padauk is generally moderately priced for an imported exotic wood.  However, Burma Padauk is considerably less common than the African variety.  In general, if a retailer has not specified that the wood you are purchasing is Burma or Asian Padauk you should assume it is African.  True Burma Padauk, given the relatively small quantities that are imported, is of considerably higher cost than the African relative, with prices near the top for an imported hardwood.<\/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>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I am not surprised to find that none of the above retailers are offering Burma Padauk while several of them do offer the African relative.  True Burma Padauk is a rare find and one should take advantage of any offers for it that they find.<\/p>\n

Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers.  In your search for Burma Padauk, 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

Uses<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are a good variety of common uses for Padauk including but not limited to: veneer, flooring, turned objects, musical instruments, furniture, tool handles, and other small specialty wood objects.<\/p>\n

Sustainability<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Burma Padauk is not listed as being endangered by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II<\/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, Burma Padauk is not subject to any additional 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

Health Hazards<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In addition to the usual hazards posed by wood dust, it is important to note that Burma Padauk has been reported to be a sensitizer.  The most common reactions are eye, skin, and respiratory irritation. As always, caution is essential until you are certain you are not sensitive to Burma Padauk.<\/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 associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods<\/a> 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 Burma Padauk.<\/p>\n

My Personal Experiences                        <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Working with the one piece of Burma Padauk that I owned was quite the adventure.  My first impression was the scent!  It was a delicious sweet and spicy scent that would have been at home in a bakery.  I also noticed that the wood was of a distinctly different color, being pinkish-brown instead of the bright orange-red of African Padauk.  The Burma Padauk is also notably more dense than the African variety to it cuts slower but also cleaner than the African variety.  The turning while the piece was on the face-plate was simple, but things got hairy when I reversed it to cut out the center.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Burma Padauk<\/p><\/div>\n

I had cut the usual divot for an expansion chuck but apparently it was too thin because in short order a small catch busted out the rim from the chuck and at first I tossed the piece in the trash because at least an inch would have to be trimmed from the bottom to rescue the piece.  I was sad and a bit angry as this was my only piece of Burma Padauk but I moved on.  However, that piece continued to nag at me, so I took it out of the trash and asked myself, “What would Dad do?”<\/p>\n

I knew he wouldn’t just give up so I though about what I might do.  I’d been clearing the middle of the bowl using the tail stock to stabilize it so I had a column of sorts in the center.  It was the perfect size to be gripped by a 50mm chuck in compression mode!  I tried mounting it that was to clean up the bottom and recreate a divot but it flew off the lathe again!  Back in the trash it went but still I couldn’t let it go.  Next I used the column with the 50mm chuck in compression mode AND used the tail stock to hold it stable.  Now I could cut off the damage, and since the tail stock was in use, I ended up with another nib of material, a nib of the perfect size to grip in another, smaller chuck.  The regular 35mm was too small and the 50mm was too large, but I happened to have a set of 35mm spigot jaws I don’t think I have ever used and those fight perfectly and they really gripped tight!  I was now easily able to cut the center clear then reverse the piece to cut off the nib.  I don’t normally use the jaws for compression but it really saved the day today!<\/p>\n

I am pleased with the resulting bowl of Burma Paduak, but if you gave me the wood and didn’t tell me what it was, I would guess Bubinga.  The color is the same, and there is distinct figure including chatoyancy that is common in Bubinga but not common in Padauk.  The texture, the color, the figure all told me Bubinga but it was labelled from the vendor as Burma Padauk and unless they made a mistake in their labeling and marketing, it really was Burma Padauk.  The feature that decided the issue was the scent.  Bubinga is reported to have an unpleasant scent when cut green but no scent when cut dry.  Burma Padauk is known to have a very pleasant scent on cutting and that was my experience.  So, I’m holding with the vendor’s identification.<\/p>\n

All of the work on the Burma Padauk was done on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe using Easy Wood Tools<\/a> cutters.  Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave discs from Packard Woodworking<\/a>.  Nova chucks and jaws<\/a> were used for holding the piece while working the interior. The platter was reversed on to a Cole Jaws set from Nova.  The Padauk bowl was beautifully finished using Shellawax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The heartwood of Burma Padauk covers a range from pale golden yellow to deep reddish brown. As is true of other Pterocarpus species, the color will darken over time to a golden brown and this effect is accelerated with exposure to ultraviolet light including sunlight. The yellow sapwood is clearly demarcated from the heartwood. 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