a bit of a wood goldmine, and a question

[maddis]

I come to find out that my neighborhood butcher is a hell of a wood turner (very large, third generation segmented stuff that boggles the mind). He also harvests and mills all his own wood. I went to his shop today and he has offered me, free of charge, large slabs of spalted maple, oak, and virtually every other type of wood native to the Northeast US. I mean these are large 2" plus thick slabs stacked everywhere. He also has a bunch of varieties of burls. Beyond spalted woods and burls, are there other woods I should be on the lookout for using for caps, extensions, etc.?

[LatakiaLover]

Pipe caps and extensions have such a small surface area that the woods which look spectacular for furniture don't really work. Postage-stamp-sized pieces of them are bland.

There are a number of specialty woods that look interesting up close, though. The best sources for those are billiard cue and pen maker supply sites.

[maddis]

Yep, although you can go the other direction too and have something incredibly netural (e.g., boxwood). But that's what's cool about this guy's use of woods is that he's not making furniture. He does use a fair amount of cherry and walnut, but I wouldn't go for that obviously. He accents it with purple heart, various spalted hardwoods, and some burls.

I'm gonna shoot a pic of this slab of spalted maple I brought home.

[Rodneywt1180b]

Sounds like a very good man to know.
Rodney

[maddis]

Sounds like a very good man to know.
Rodney

Indeed! He's a great guy, with a pretty jaw-dropping shop. I'm sure we'll be spending some time hanging out and talking about wood. Speaking of which, here's a pic of that maple - there's a lot of sponge there, but there are also some nice solid spots where the lines the fungi create are very sharp :

[wisemanpipes]

that looks awesome! I wish I knew someone like that!

[The Smoking Yeti]

That could work for an accent- you might need to stabilize it first though- I'm not sure.

The trick with accent rings, is what do you want out of them?

For instance- boxwood is very simple, the grain is subtle, it is single toned- it works great for certain applications, when less is more.

Something like cocobolo has very dense lively grain, which used properly also can look spectacular- but it is much more intense, which lends itself to different aesthetics than say boxwood- which is much more subdued.

Woods like walnut and maple usually are very bland for accent rings, their grain isn't incredibly dense/frequent(think tight stripes vs. lazy spaced stripes)- these are all factors to consider.

Another great wood- if you get a good piece, is Spalted Tamarind- which you see in a lot of Rad Davis's pipes. Again, it gives a different aesthetic, it all depends on what you want.

Most burls can be used to interesting effect, as their grain is denser and more lively- the prime example which comes to mind is Madrone burl- commonly used by Maigurs Knets.

I suppose the list can go on and on- take some time and explore options, try out some of the above mentioned and see if they suit your style. Try something new too, and bear in mind things such as grain density/tightness, and coloring(boxwood vs. cocobolo etc.)

There is no set rule- for instance, I have never seen another maker make shank caps out of Lignum Vitae- but I think it happens to look splendid(http://yetipipe.tumblr.com/image/52201594154)- so feel no qualms about trying something new.

Cheers!

Yeti

[Charl]

That's cool! Wish I had a neighbour like that.

[pipedreamer]

See if he will let you watch him while he works ask as many questions as you can think of. Get all the knowledge you can ,suck him dry. Great opportunity.