For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to Swartzia <\/em>as Queenwood from here forward.<\/p>\n While the color varies, Queenwood heartwood is generally a light reddish brown, with sections of darker purplish brown, as well as darker black streaks and veins throughout. Queenwood sapwood is a pale grayish brown to cream color, and is sharply demarcated from the heartwood.<\/p>\n Queenwood presents with a fine and even grain with a good natural luster.<\/p>\n There is no data available regarding rot resistance in Queenwood.<\/p>\n Queenwood is reported to have good overall workability.<\/p>\n Queenwood is reported to turn well.<\/p>\n However, Queenwood is prone to end checking during the drying process.<\/p>\n Queenwood does not have a distinctive scent when being freshly worked or cut.<\/p>\n Queenwood is a much more recent commercial species and is only occasionally exported from Peru. Turning blanks and small craft lumber are the most common forms available. Expect prices to be in the mid range 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 None of my favored wood vendors are currently offering Queenwood in any format.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Queenwood 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 Queenwood is commonly used to make turned objects and other small specialty wood items.<\/p>\n Queenwood is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any restrictions on Queenwood.<\/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 Queenwood. However, other woods in the Swartzia<\/em> genus have been reported to cause skin and respiratory irritation.<\/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 significant difficulties while working with Queenwood.<\/p>\n Queenwood is very dense and hard but it cut easily enough on the lathe and thankfully, it didn’t burn up my bandsaw blade either. Queenwood did have a tendency to be a bit splintery at times but it didn’t present a major problem in my experience. Unfortunately, Queenwood, unusually for a very hard wood, did not cut cleanly at all along the cross grain and it required a great deal of concentrated sanding to smooth it out. The areas along the grain cut extremely cleanly however.<\/p>\n Queenwood<\/p><\/div>\n This piece measures 5.5″ x 3″.<\/p>\n I was curious to work with Queenwood, especially since it is so rarely seen in the United States marketplace, but now that I have worked with it I wouldn’t go near it again due to the need for extensive, time consuming, and resource intensive sanding along the cross grain. The level of effort, for me, was not justified by the results. Queenwood just isn’t spectacular enough in its appearance for me to be willing to invest that degree of effort and resource in the future.<\/p>\n All major cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe, although I do use Robert Sorby bowl gouges<\/a> for light final passes before sanding. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck<\/a>, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is 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":" I was curious to work with Queenwood, especially since it is so rarely seen in the United States marketplace, but now that I have worked with it I wouldn’t go near it again due to the need for extensive, time consuming, and resource intensive sanding along the cross grain.\u00a0 The level of effort, for me, was not justified by the results.\u00a0 Queenwood just isn’t spectacular enough in its appearance for me to be willing to invest that degree of effort and resource in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,168,171,181,200,226,230,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Working Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
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Common Uses:<\/h2>\n
Sustainability:<\/h2>\n
Health Hazards:<\/h2>\n
My Personal Experiences:<\/h2>\n