Hoarded Treasures Vol 4

It’s time for another volume of Hoarded Treasures. This month my selection was inspired by Kaytrim over at Kaytrim’s Kustoms. Kaytrim recently posted about his return to building custom joysticks and his excitement over a beautiful piece of Narra. Earlier this week there were some exchanges on Twitter about some more Narra up for sale on ebay so I figured I would pull a piece out of my stash and show it off.

Narra grows in Malaysia and all around the ring of fire. It’s heartwood smells of roses and the burl is otherwise known as Amboyna. This is the king of burls and I have a few pieces of that that I might pull out in a future month too. Narra has been used for several home remedies as well and is known to combat tumors. Honey is made from the flowers and the wood itself is termite resistant.

This last point I really believe because this stuff is hard. The grain is really tight and it cuts and turns extremely well. I have several pieces that I acquired from a custom pool cue maker. All of my pieces are 3″ square and around 36″ long. I was very fortunate that the pieces I found are quartersawn and have some quilting figure.

These pieces are big enough that I can use them as box parts, but also could make some beautiful bookmatched panels for a door or box lid. Up until now I have only used it for turning. I find that the figure is so intense in these pieces that using smaller pieces have greater effect. I have turned several bottle stoppers and recently completed this kaleidescope.

This stuff holds up really well and forms some very sharp beads and coves. I experienced no tear out on this piece at all and was shocked by the sheen it took on just by sanding to a high grit. It does actually smell of roses while you are turning too so working with it is truly a delight for the senses.

So with every installment of The Hoard, I welcome your ideas and suggestions to help me put this beautiful example to work. Also since Narra is native to the Malaysian area and Borneo specifically maybe my fellow blogger, Eric, can hook us all up with some roadside scraps. I’ll take 20 or 30 board feet!