# Desert Ironwood



## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)

Hey guys,

I'm thinking if picking up some DIW for some projects and I really like the 2 tone black and orange look. I was wondering how integral the black is though. From what it looks like in most pictures I've seen, that looks like it's the heartwood and I always see it heavily cracked. Does that just flake off/ fall off when running it on a saw? Worst case I'm thinking it's a combination of both... Going to be some loss and some that stays attached.

Just curious because I've never worked DIW, but man am I dying to. Also... How badly does it beat your blades down? I mean... It's ironwood. Is it ABW bad? High silica content at all? 

I recently did a job out of Ipe and that was so so... It did beat up the blades, but not as fast as I thought it would. Everything had to be resharpened by the end of the job of course.


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## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)

@shadetree_1


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## Kevin (Aug 13, 2015)

DIW comes in many types of colors and configurations. The type you spoke of orange/black I have quite a bit. 99% of all the DIW I have has come from Barry and Shoeless Joe. I have quite a few pieces of the black/orange you describe, and the end grain will tell you pretty much what to expect. And like most species that has color contrasting striations, the striations can remain somewhat consistent for a while and they can also disappear and reappear and all manner of possibilites from one end of a blank to the next.

Of course, the shorter the blank, the more likely one end grain pattern will be similar to the other one, meaning that the rays (not as in medullary obviously) or striations will be fairly consistent through the length of the blank. The short answer is yes, the black striations will be in there pretty close to what the end grain tells you.

And yes DIW will dull your blades about as quickly as ABW but not quite as quick based on my experience.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)

Yeah, that's what I was fearing... But I can't, NOT, work with it. Just looks way too damn nice. The depth of the grain is incredible. I've been trying to pick pieces based on the end grain to get some idea of how I would cut it to get good contrast. I hear what your sayin. Good stuff, thanks for the info Kevin.


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## Kevin (Aug 13, 2015)

Aurora North said:


> Yeah, that's what I was fearing... But I can't, NOT, work with it. Just looks way too damn nice. The depth of the grain is incredible. I've been trying to pick pieces based on the end grain to get some idea of how I would cut it to get good contrast. I hear what your sayin. Good stuff, thanks for the info Kevin.



You still need to wait until Barry and Joe weigh in before you do anything. My comments are based on my limited experience only, but those two guys have more experience with DIW in their sleep than I have had awake.


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## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)

Will do. It's been 2 years looking at DIW and trying to find a nice ribbon piece. I couldn't afford John's (pinky's) insane slab. So I said the heck with it, before I even attempt to cut something of that caliber/rarity (if I ever do find another piece) I should just try working with straight grain and get a feel for the material.

A lot of what I've seen has some serious checking going on. Makes me think even before cutting stabilization and casting is going to be required.

Edit: Kevin have you ever tried turning DIW?

And...

I'm still waiting to see pics of those insane blue spault/red flame/ box elder slabs. I just want to see them man!


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## Kevin (Aug 13, 2015)

Aurora North said:


> I'm still waiting to see pics of those insane blue spault/red flame/ box elder slabs. I just want to see them man!



I forgot about that. We just got back home a few hours ago and I am spending most of my time going through emails and prnting labels etc. Won't get back in the shop until probably tomorrow afternoon. Send me a PM so we can trade text numbers that the best way to get me real time for reminders.


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## barry richardson (Aug 13, 2015)

This is what I believe is going on with orange/gold and black DIW. It all starts out gold more or less, cracks and fissures, especially up through the pith, introduces oxygen to the wood. DIW darkens when it oxidizes, eventually turning almost black. Usually the darker and more oxidized it gets, the more crumbly and flaky it gets, Kinda like rust on Iron. You can usually still get plenty of usable stuff from it, especially if you can stabilize the small cracks with CA. There are also black veins sometimes in DIW, caused by minerals I guess, which have nothing to do with cracks or oxygen. (the coolest looking stuff IMO) A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you post a picture of what your working with and what you want to do with it, I could probably offer you some suggestions. Like Kevin says, it is very hard on blades. The worst of any wood I have experience with. A band saw is your best bet for cutting it into pieces. If you plan on cutting it on a table saw, or routing it, don't use your good blade/bit, or it wont be good when your done. The best use for DIW is turning, IMO. turning tools are easily re sharpened.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)



Reactions: EyeCandy! 1


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## Aurora North (Aug 13, 2015)

I'm thinking this would be an example of heavily oxidized? I can't really get a good read on how solid that all looks because of the all the chainsaw marks. 

Can something like this (so far as can be determined from the limited pictures) or a flakey piece be stabilized and therefore hold together while milling?


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## barry richardson (Aug 14, 2015)

As you see in the pic, the dark areas radiate out from the pith and cracks. If you want to mill it as one large piece, probably wont hold together without a lot of help. I guess the ultimate would be to cast the whole thing in black resin, don't know if that is feasible for you though. The radial cracks on the end usually go the length of the wood, in fact, this a handy way to break big pieces down and save your blades a bit. Put a wedge on the crack, give it a whack, and the wood usually pops apart. Your piece has by far the widest growth rings I've ever seen in DIW, usually so fine you cant even see them. Everything else looks right, as far as I can tell through the wax, but that part has me scratching my head...


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