Any one know what this is ? 
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Species?
- Thread starter George Speed
- Start date
Any history to go with it?
This could well be it!
No history, just part of a local find.
not a lot of good bark to go by, but images of Persimmon tree bark look close.
it is not a very thick piece. maybe local pen or knife guys will buy or trade.
I do have a piece of Texas ebony around the shop some where. Now I know why it looked familiar, but couldn't quite place it....
robo hippy
robo hippy
It’s absolutely not persimmon. Persimmon is cream colored with a little bit of black near the pith. Definitely not that dark. Persimmon bark is more deeply rowed.This could well be it!
No history, just part of a local find.
not a lot of good bark to go by, but images of Persimmon tree bark look close.
it is not a very thick piece. maybe local pen or knife guys will buy or trade.
Kevin Jesequel
TOTW Team
Looks like a rosewood to me. At first I thought African Blackwood, but it looks a lot like this block of Cocobolo. I’ve never seen Cocobolo bark though, so that doesn’t help.
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The bark of the persimmon tree varies considerably, especially with age. I've got many (probably 100s) on my property and most between say 8" and 12" diameter look much like this:
This one came down in a storm:
I save all the persimmon wood I get, cut into blanks, and dry. Love to turn it!
If the wood itself is in good shape, the sapwood will be large and white (darkens/yellows with age), the heartwood black and usually quite small, sometimes just the diameter of a pencil in smaller tree. It's fairly rare to find persimmon with a significant amount of black in the wood - that can be quite valuable. The meat tenderizer handle below from persimmon wood has some quite unusual black coloring. The two persimmon boxes are more typical of what I usually see.
If Persimmon is left on ground in warm weather it quickly gets full of grubs and the sapwood turns an ugly grey. Makes good firewood.
Persimmon in good shape is wonderful to turn - very hard, fine grain, heavy. Sands well. Sometimes I'll just buff the wood a little and apply some wax, no finish necessary.
BTW, Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is a Ebony - sometimes called American Ebony or White Ebony - widely found in the Eastern US. The female are irritating if growing next to a driveway or a parking space for a tractor or such since the fruit makes a big mess. I had to remove a bunch after paving our driveway which winds through the woods.
Speaking of knife guys - if you want to make an instant friend save scale-sized pieced of all kinds of special and exotic wood, flat pieces too small to turn, and give a box of them to a knifemaker at craft event. I've seen them get emotional.
(best if pieces are wide enough to make bookmatched scales so one side of the handle can echo the other.)JKJ
kevin, yes that looks identical!
it would be out of the ordinary to have bark.
it would be out of the ordinary to have bark.