Ironwood uses?

M

MidwestDave

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Oct 3, 2006
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A friend of mine is going to be cutting down all the Ironwood trees on his property in a few weeks and he said I can have all of it I want.
While walking the area today, I whipped out my trusty Leatherman Surge and used the saw to cut down a thin straight piece about 6 feet long to be used as a walking stick, but are there any other uses this wood has?


Thanks,
Dave
 
knife handles go for between $20-$50 for a bowie handle slabs sell for about the same depending on the patteren of the rings, little bit of elbow grease and you could make a few bucks, you could also make some martial arts weapons with it like tonfa's or Jo or Bo's nunchucks and they sell for a decent price ,

cya
jimi
 
I've seen some bow tillers made from them. I think one can even make selfbows out of them. I love Ironwood.
 
If you have the room and the patience, you should consider taking it. Down around the root section you'll find burls, and in the rest will be nice-grained wood. You'll have to bandsaw it into reasonable widths, seal the ends with paint or glue, sticker and stack it, cover it, and let it dry for a year or so. Then, you'll need to bring it in to a shop area where it should dry for another 6 months to a year. At that time, depending on what part of the country you're in, you can bandsaw it into more reasonable lengths and widths, let it dry and acclimate some more, and SELL it for knife handles and other projects.

I'd take it if a neighbor offered it to me.

Consider this: Ironwood knife handle blanks measuring approx. 5" x 1-1/2" x 1/4" sell for about $20 to $25 per pair. Ridiculously over-priced, but that's what they're going for. Now these are properly dried, highly figured, select pieces, which you should have plenty of if you received several trees of it! :thumbup:
 
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Its really getting rarer and rarer too. I'd say take it all. It may not be legal for him to cut them anymore. But certainly don't let them get wasted. Its the prettiest wood I've ever used, and maybe the biggest PITA to work.

Some of the prices I'm seeing here are a bit inflated. A good figured piece goes for those prices. But a normal piece can be had for ~10.
 
Are we talking Desert Ironwood here, or the eastern US tree ironwood, aka hop hornbeam?

The two are very different!
 
Good point, Grampa. I didn;t even think about that. Hop hornbeam is a hard, tough wood, but not anything like desert ironwood, which grows slower and is even more dense and figured.
 
Grampa said:
Are we talking Desert Ironwood here, or the eastern US tree ironwood, aka hop hornbeam?

The two are very different!
Click to expand...

I was wondering too and looked to see if "Midwest Dave" gave a location - like, somewhere in the Midwest. Good question, Grampa. Actually, while not as beautiful as Desert Ironwood, "Ironwood," as Hop Hornbeam is sometimes called locally, is also a good tool-making wood and has value in that respect. I hate to see any wood go to waste and sometimes cringe when I split a piece of Silver Maple and see some beautiful quater-sawn flecking or tight curl over a large section. Too late at that point for soft Maple though - into the woodstove with it. I am a shameless wood-scrounge though and would cut it into as long of lengths as possible and put it up for future use. Some lucky dog at my estate sale will probably get 100+ board feet of lowly aromatic cedar I milled almost twenty years ago and as much Black Walnut with lots of crotch wood in 3" planks milled seven years ago - still "air drying" (waiting to be used) in the shop.
 
Knife Handles!!!

Makes some of the best handles, and is expensive too, especially if it has good figure/grain.
 
Hornbeam was traditionally used for wheel hubs, tool handes, and butcher blocks. 'Kinda heavy for walking sticks, but for a REAL MAN . . . . . :D
 
Is this the same stuff we call 'iron oak' in Texas? If so, it makes one helluva long-burning fire.
 
It`s the Hornbeam variety not desert.
Most of it is fairly thin, less than 3 inches in diameter.
Although there may be thicker trees out there.
 
cybrok said:
Knife handles :D

Or Kali sticks.
Click to expand...

Kali sticks out of soild hardwoods is very dangerous, when they break and if you are doing any stick on stick or bag training they will break you will have sharp pointy shards flying across the gym or at your face , rattan is best for kali/escrima
(20 years arnis/siniwalli and plenty of broken sticks)


cya
jimi
 
Because I have a penchant for clouding issues - in Ontario we have 2 kinds of Ironwood - Blue Beech (Carpinus caroliniana) also known as American Hornbeam, and Hop Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) a locally favoured white wood for bow making. So with Desert Hornbeam, that I know nothing about, that makes at least 3 Ironwoods, not to mention at least one in Australia.

That's why it's important on a multinational discussion forum to use binomials. It removes the confusion.

If it's Hop Hornbeam (O. virginiana), grab as many as you can for bow staves!

Doc
 
2 to 3 inch sections 2-3 feet long I'll buy from you, and handle the drying and cutting for myself :D
 
J.Wade said:
Kali sticks out of soild hardwoods is very dangerous, when they break and if you are doing any stick on stick or bag training they will break you will have sharp pointy shards flying across the gym or at your face , rattan is best for kali/escrima
(20 years arnis/siniwalli and plenty of broken sticks)


cya
jimi
Click to expand...

I know, I have some rattan sticks too. But I like to train with heavier weapon, just to practice my drills alone without any impact.
 
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