# Anyone ever heard of Amber Emperor Sandalwood/ Blood Dragon Wood



## Byron Barker (Mar 9, 2019)

I found this wood below for sale on a local wood group here in Taiwan. A chinese search of the names they have listed comes up as Kauri wood. I can't believe that since they also claim it is coming form Indonesia. The wood is so full of resin that is is transparent like amber when carved. Any ideas what it could be. I am going to buy some regardless just to have it around for later date.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 2 | Way Cool 1


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## Byron Barker (Mar 9, 2019)

More

Reactions: EyeCandy! 2


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## Byron Barker (Mar 9, 2019)

And if it comes up, I have some small vases made from it at home I received as a gift. They don't smell like any wood I've smelled before. Initially I assumed it was fatwood from a pine species, but no turpentine smell.


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## phinds (Mar 9, 2019)

I agree w/ you that on the surface it looks like fatwood but I've never seen fatwood anywhere near that thick. No idea what it might be. Can you show the end grain? Not sure it will tell anything but worth a look

Reactions: Like 1


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## barry richardson (Mar 9, 2019)

Wow, very interesting looking stuff..... as usual, you come up with some cool stuff from that part of the world...

Reactions: Like 1


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## Nature Man (Mar 9, 2019)

Powerfully awesome looking wood! Could you sell it to WB members? Is it outrageously expensive? Chuck


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## DKMD (Mar 9, 2019)

Cool! Reminds me of Norfolk pine that has been soaked in oil.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Byron Barker (Mar 9, 2019)

Nature Man said:


> Powerfully awesome looking wood! Could you sell it to WB members? Is it outrageously expensive? Chuck


I am not sure about shipping. This came up on another thread I posted. I looked into it and the information is sort of hit or miss. I've shipped wood to the States with no issues multiple times, but wouldn't want someone putting money down for something with the risk of it not showing up. So, I tried trading last time. At the very least, if their package doesn't make it, I can still pay them for their side if the trade. Americans are a bit spoiled with wood since there is so much available relatively cheap, so I am not sure what expensive would be. The big piece I'm buying in the pic above is 2,000nt, or 60$ US. Seems a good price for something this rare. Wood here is normally expensive as is. The lady has a few pairs of smaller pieces for around 40$ each. Is that expensive? Not sure.


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## Byron Barker (Mar 10, 2019)

phinds said:


> I agree w/ you that on the surface it looks like fatwood but I've never seen fatwood anywhere near that thick. No idea what it might be. Can you show the end grain? Not sure it will tell anything but worth a look


She takes pretty good pics. so maybe she will take some good endgrain shots for you. She is going to take some shots of her stock for me. I will post what she has.


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## phinds (Mar 10, 2019)

Byron Barker said:


> I am not sure about shipping. This came up on another thread I posted. I looked into it and the information is sort of hit or miss. I've shipped wood to the States with no issues multiple times, but wouldn't want someone putting money down for something with the risk of it not showing up. So, I tried trading last time. At the very least, if their package doesn't make it, I can still pay them for their side if the trade. Americans are a bit spoiled with wood since there is so much available relatively cheap, so I am not sure what expensive would be. The big piece I'm buying in the pic above is 2,000nt, or 60$ US. Seems a good price for something this rare. Wood here is normally expensive as is. The lady has a few pairs of smaller pieces for around 40$ each. Is that expensive? Not sure.


For the wood, that sounds reasonable to me. Big question is how much do S&H add.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## rocky1 (Mar 10, 2019)

phinds said:


> I agree w/ you that on the surface it looks like fatwood but I've never seen fatwood anywhere near that thick. No idea what it might be. Can you show the end grain? Not sure it will tell anything but worth a look



Old growth, turpentine gum forest stands left LOTS of stumps that would have exceeded those dimensions for size easily. I've seen stumps heavily laden with pitch throughout that were more than a foot in diameter and 6 feet or more length. When I was kid, which was a LONG time ago, they were fairly common. Their only enemy was fire, they wouldn't rot, and bugs wouldn't eat them. Split a bunch of them we had pushed up on the property Dad bought, using a unicorn splitter, attached to PTO on a 45 hp tractor, and you could stall the tractor pretty easily in the root section of the stump. Had to start on the tap root end and work your way up to the root section. Likewise have seen cat faces, the sections stripped of bark for gum, from the old Turpentine stands that were 8 - 10 inches thick and nearly 8 feet long, that were seriously saturated with gum. 

Been a lot of years since seeing those things, and they are quite rare in this area anymore. But occasionally someone will find one on a creek bank, or the river bank even today. When we moved to Lake City back in '68 there was about 40 acres immediately behind the property that had been turpentined for years. Beautiful stand of timber at the time.

Reactions: Like 3 | Informative 1


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## phinds (Mar 10, 2019)

Good info. Thanks.


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## Byron Barker (Mar 10, 2019)

rocky1 said:


> Old growth, turpentine gum forest stands left LOTS of stumps that would have exceeded those dimensions for size easily. I've seen stumps heavily laden with pitch throughout that were more than a foot in diameter and 6 feet or more length. When I was kid, which was a LONG time ago, they were fairly common. Their only enemy was fire, they wouldn't rot, and bugs wouldn't eat them. Split a bunch of them we had pushed up on the property Dad bought, using a unicorn splitter, attached to PTO on a 45 hp tractor, and you could stall the tractor pretty easily in the root section of the stump. Had to start on the tap root end and work your way up to the root section. Likewise have seen cat faces, the sections stripped of bark for gum, from the old Turpentine stands that were 8 - 10 inches thick and nearly 8 feet long, that were seriously saturated with gum.
> 
> Been a lot of years since seeing those things, and they are quite rare in this area anymore. But occasionally someone will find one on a creek bank, or the river bank even today. When we moved to Lake City back in '68 there was about 40 acres immediately behind the property that had been turpentined for years. Beautiful stand of timber at the time.


But this fatwood you are speaking of has a strong turpentine smell, correct? This wood does not. I suppose it could be from a fir or spruce species with less turpentine content, but I've never heard of such a thing. I'd love to find a huge piece of fatwood like that!


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## Byron Barker (Mar 11, 2019)

This is one of the ones I am buying. It has better shots of the endgrain. Certainly looks like heavy resin impregnated norfolk pine. The growth rings look wide and the way the knots are aligned looks very similar. That stuff does produce LOADS of resin when damaged, but I've never seen it in the wood....and I've looked at a lot of wood from this tree. They get huge and typhoon regularly knock them down.


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## Byron Barker (Mar 11, 2019)

That piece in the pics above is 33cmX13cm and weighs *4.8KG! *Solid chunk of resin pretty much.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## rocky1 (Mar 11, 2019)

Yeah, that sounds like what you're dealing with honestly. Tried turning a bowl out of a small highly figured piece of local fat wood, I found in the field awhile back, but encountered difficulties. It's interesting to work with, no doubt. Made the shop smell really nice for a few days.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Byron Barker (Mar 11, 2019)

Here is the end grain. Still no scientific name after all of it.


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## phinds (Mar 11, 2019)

Well, at least we know for sure it's a softwood like pine, although I don't think there was any doubt about that

Reactions: Like 1


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## Byron Barker (Mar 12, 2019)

Did some more research and it is definitely Kauri (Agathis). It's distribution runs up into Indonesia where they said it was collected. I assumed that stuff was isolated to New Zealand. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathis


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## Byron Barker (Mar 12, 2019)

_Agathis dammara_ or Agathis alba in particular. Goes under the name Amboyna pine sometimes.


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## Mr. Peet (Mar 13, 2019)

Byron Barker said:


> _Agathis dammara_ or Agathis alba in particular. Goes under the name Amboyna pine sometimes.



My _Agathis dammara_ was Malaysia. It looks like the _A. robutsa_ I have.

I wonder if this is one of the woods that you beat as it grows to stress it into making excess resins (copal, kauri gum, etc.), in turn loading the wood..?...


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## Byron Barker (Mar 13, 2019)

Mr. Peet said:


> My _Agathis dammara_ was Malaysia. It looks like the _A. robutsa_ I have.
> 
> I wonder if this is one of the woods that you beat as it grows to stress it into making excess resins (copal, kauri gum, etc.), in turn loading the wood..?...


Good question. The research I did on it said it is normally tapped for its resins like a maple would be. It could be that damage to the tree during this is what is causing the resin build up. Your guess is as good as mine. The people here don't seem to know a lot about it apart from where it comes from. You try turning it?


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## Mr. Peet (Mar 13, 2019)

Byron Barker said:


> Good question. The research I did on it said it is normally tapped for its resins like a maple would be. It could be that damage to the tree during this is what is causing the resin build up. Your guess is as good as mine. The people here don't seem to know a lot about it apart from where it comes from. You try turning it?



No, never had a resin loaded piece. Looks very "cool", good luck with your trade request.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Byron Barker (Mar 14, 2019)

Smells good too. Sort of its own sweet smell, sort of also a very vague pine scent.


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