Chechen wood

Well, I think I'm slowly improving at this scale-making malarkey. I got a nice Crown and Sword from Tony (portal5) which needed very little work to get it shiny and then used chechen, aka poisonwood, with a CA finish for the scales. Lessons I'd learned from previous mistakes : don't skimp on the coats of CA or you get dull patches, don't make scales too big or they can look a bit clumsy, try and get a similar grain pattern for both sides to get a better symmetrical look and don't drill holes in the kitchen table:nono: .

Now I have to learn how to take better pictures as these don't show the nice iridescence you get in the gold streaks in the wood.

No innovative techniques yet as I've been trying to get competent at the basics first, but I do have an idea about the next one...

very nice job and damn nice wood. The irridescence you speak of does appear in the photos, and, I just love it when wood does that :)

I think you've applied your "lessons learned" very well on this piece. :tu

Malcolm, you did one heck of a job on the C&S. I love it!

Great looking set of scales!

I want one of those! How much would it cost to have someone make one with that type of wood? Or can I buy that one? :D

Nice scales...looks similar to fiddleback swamp kauri..;)

Gary

Wow! That wood looks gorgeous. I really like the graining of the scales. Was chechen easy to work with (i.e., no harmful dust)?

Thanks all - much appreciated.

Alfborge - I'm afraid this one's already spoken for and the rest of the chechen I've got is a bit duller in comparison, if you're still keen, PM me (or speak to Gary about one of his sets of scales which are much better than mine).

The wood's pretty hard so you need good sharp tools to cut it and I took care not to inhale any dust so I'm afraid I can't comment on its toxicity. The fact the sap is caustic made me cautious enough. It is, however, a good deal cheaper than the kauri at £2.00 for 485x30x30mm but, as I say it is quite variable and the rest I have left is duller brown.

Very nice. Compliments to the chef ;)

I shall be going into some scale making soon I hope.