{"id":3231,"date":"2021-03-19T04:00:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/?p=3231"},"modified":"2021-03-19T11:41:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T15:41:12","slug":"milo-south-pacific-rosewood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodturningpens.com\/milo-south-pacific-rosewood\/","title":{"rendered":"Milo – South Pacific Rosewood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Milo, otherwise known as South Pacific Rosewood, even though it is not a true rosewood of the Dalbergia<\/em> genus, is one of the woods I have most recently turned. My usual sources for information about the workability and other properties of woods I turn comes up blank in regard to Milo so I will share what I do know which isn’t a great deal.<\/p>\n Milo is known to botanist as Thespesia populnea<\/em>. It is native to the coastal areas of Asia and is also found throughout the inhabited, or formerly inhabited, islands of the south Pacific. Although the seeds of the Thespesia populnea<\/em> are adapted to dispersal at sea, no known specimens exist in a timeframe that is before the human occupation of the islands where the tree is found and for this reason Thespesia populnea<\/em> is considered a “canoe tree” not because it is used to make canoes necessarily (although this is a use for the tree in Tonga for example) but because the seeds or seedlings of this species were intentionally carried by early island settlers for planting in new locations. The tree was often considered sacred to the people of the Pacific islands and was often grown in sacred groves with other sacred trees. The most common use of the tree was in the making of bowls and calabashes whereas today it is often carved into handicrafts for sale to tourists.<\/p>\n