I have a small amount of KD 4/4 spalted hickory, maybe 25 BF, man the stuff looks really nice . I'm wondering what to make out of it, I was thinking some kind of shadow box or maybe a wall cabinet, any ideas?
Thanks
Thanks
you mean like Marimba bars....
Those sorts of things are usually made of low damping/high density super duper hard woods like Brazilian Rosewood, Honduras Rosewood, Granadillo, Wenge, Pernambuco, Cocobolo.... you know.. that crazy expensive sort of stuff that Doesn't grow in North America.
North American woods that I would recommend are:
Osage Orange
Black, Yellow, and Honey locust
and maybe even some of that super dense, hard White or Live oak if you found the right piece...
Here is a little exercise....
Cut a 1' long 1" x 1" board of that hickory, plane it smooth on all sides and give it a tap.. Try holding in various places to see if you can get it to ring. You are looking for some sort of pure musical sounding note.... rather than a mixed note sound with a woody thump... You are trying to find a good clear bell like "Ting" sort of note out of it rather than a muddy sounding "Ti-oing-lunk" or worse... "Clunk" sort of thing
Good luck on your quest.
John