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One stick for all redux

Mike Stafford

Mike Stafford

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2,353
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Coastal plain of North Carolina
I am trying to rid myself of odd sized pieces of wood. I bought some of these sticks when I was making handles for lathe chisels. They have languished in the wood pile long enough and need to turned and displayed.

These four Japanese-style cups are turned from Santos rosewood. They are all about 2 1/2" tall and 2 3/4" in diameter. This fine-grained wood possesses great strength and you can turn really thin without much fear of damage. These cups are 1/16" thick. I love turning hard dense woods.

By the way, this timber is marketed as Pau Ferro, Morado and Bolivian Rosewood in addition to Santos Rosewood. In truth it is not in the rosewood family at all which is the Dalbergia spp. This wood is in the Machaerium family. This wood has many warnings about allergic reactions. I have not (knock on wood) been affected by it to date and over the years I have turned a lot of it. My recommendation is that if you are turning an exotic for the first time make sure someone is around in case you do have a reaction.

IMG_9937 mod.jpg
 
For me the forms on cup #2 and #4 (from left to right) are the winners. #4 is just classic and hard to beat that, the little turned lip on #2 though is super classy and reminiscent of some of the nicer belgian style glasses. The other two do look fun to turn though.
 
Ryan Mooney said:
For me the forms on cup #2 and #4 (from left to right) are the winners. #4 is just classic and hard to beat that, the little turned lip on #2 though is super classy and reminiscent of some of the nicer belgian style glasses. The other two do look fun to turn though.
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Thanks! They are all adaptations of traditional Japanese sake and tea cups, just a little smaller. I think they would hold a lot of spirits for me, I don't drink at all.
 
Mike Stafford said:
Yes, I didn't use traditional Japanese urushi lacquer which is made from poison ivy sap.
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Super concentrated poison ivy sap equivalent, except the other not-quite-traditional lacquer which is made from cashew juice which is the same stuff (this is why you'll basically never find an actually "raw" cashew - the cooking/processing deactivates it). Which is weirdly pretty much entirely non-reactive once cured... but there are some incorrectly cured pieces apparently still reactive over 100 years later.
 
Ryan Mooney said:
Super concentrated poison ivy sap equivalent, except the other not-quite-traditional lacquer which is made from cashew juice which is the same stuff (this is why you'll basically never find an actually "raw" cashew - the cooking/processing deactivates it). Which is weirdly pretty much entirely non-reactive once cured... but there are some incorrectly cured pieces apparently still reactive over 100 years later.
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I worked in the nut industry for a number of years and actually went to several cashew plantations in Brazil. There is a husk that surrounds the cashew nut meat where the poisonous sap is located. The nut hangs under an "apple". Heat is used to rupture the husk and deactivate the poisonous sap. That is why cashews have been previously subjected to heat and as you say are no longer raw. Sometimes too much heat is applied and the cashews are scorched which greatly reduces their value.

I have a few Brazilian cashews still in the husk. Below is a cashew and its "apple".

Cashew_Brazil_fruit_3.png
 
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