C. platyloba <\/em>native to the tropical areas of southern Mexico and through Central America.<\/p>\n For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to Chakte Viga from here forward.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga heartwood ranges widely in color from a bright orange to a golden brown. The sapwood is a pale white to yellow color.<\/p>\n In general, the grain of Chakte Viga is straight, although interlocked grain has been reported occasionally.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga has a fine and even texture with a good natural luster.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga is highly resistant to rot. Chakte Viga has been used as a fence-post material with reports stating that the wood lasts up to 100 years in the ground.<\/p>\n Despite its high density, Chakte Viga generally responds well to most machining operations, though interlocked grain can result in tearout during planing.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga turns, glues, and finishes well.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga has not characteristic odor when freshly cut.<\/p>\n Larger pieces of Chakte Viga in lumber form can be hard to find, but smaller pieces for turning projects are more readily available. Prices tend to be quite high for this imported species.<\/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 Of my favored vendors, West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, and WoodTurningz<\/a> are all offering Chakte Viga in both spindle and bowl blank formats. The best price is on a 6″ x 6″ x 2″for $13.80 at West Penn Hardwoods which is currently running a sale.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Chakte Viga 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 Chakte Viga is commonly used to make inlays, furniture, flooring, and turned objects.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga is not listed in the CITES Appendices nor is it on the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any additional restrictions on Chakte Viga.<\/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, there have been no adverse health effects specifically reported for Chakte Viga, other species within the Caesalpinia<\/em> genus have been shown to cause skin irritation. The most common reactions include simple eye and skin 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 did not experience any adverse effects while working with Chakte Viga.<\/p>\n I have added Chakte Viga to my short list of favorite woods with which to work. Chakte Viga cut cleanly and required little sanding aside from some rough spots along the cross grain areas. No one likes to sand but it is especially important that Chakte Viga not require it since it rapidly loads traditional sandpaper and rewards the use of Abranet screens instead.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga 1 4.5″ x 1.5″<\/p><\/div>\n The orange color is pronounced and my shop looked like someone had shaken out a giant bag of Cheetos. The color is also highly variable and one piece of Chakte Viga might have colors from bright reddish orange to white side by side.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga 2 5″ x 3″<\/p><\/div>\n I thought myself lucky to have pieces that included interesting inclusions and in one case an actual knot. I think these add character and interest to the finished pieces.<\/p>\n Chakte Viga 3 5″ x 3″<\/p><\/div>\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 as well as Abranet screens<\/a> from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is Shellawax.<\/a><\/p>\n Chakte Viga 4 7.5″ x 3″<\/p><\/div>\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 Chakte Viga Group<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The orange color is pronounced and my shop looked like someone had shaken out a giant bag of Cheetos.\u00a0 The color is also highly variable and one piece of Chakte Viga might have colors from bright reddish orange to white side by side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,161,168,171,181,188,200,210,281,221,230,239,240,241],"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
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