I heard a loud crash in the yard a few years ago and this flowering tree, which had some malady I suppose.... just narrowly missed our home as it crashed to the ground.
My Lady commented how heavy it was when they {her and my roomate} tried to move it -
"its a Laburnum you know..."
"hmmmph is it?"
was my reply.
Well I curiously had a look on the net to see what info there was about this tree..
Well it was described as poor mans ebony and it used to be died black in substitute of ebony, on account of its similar hardness and grain, closely matched ebony.
"I want it!!"
I told her, and it stayed behind the garden shed for a couple years - a week ago I had it hauled out and it was soaked - I wanted to dry it out,
Well the best those creepy crawlies and fungus and rot demons could do was rot off a small cambium layer about 1/4" thick on the outside of the tree -
actually doing me a favor in the process, seeing as I would have had to peel it otherwise..
Well I took the chainsaw to the end of it, capturing a small piece of the end... I noticed the chainsaw was chewing out yellow shavings!!
took it in the house and ran some slices through the bandsaw to see what I was dealing with and
"Lo and Behold"
to my surprise, the most beautiful coloured wood was hiding in that small piece!!!
I sanded it flat and ran some isopropyl alcohol over it my goodness it was a really truly beautiful golden colour!!! Like a mango sort of but more of a true golden luster!!
The tree isnt large enough to do a guitar unless it was done in 4 piece back... but my gosh it will make nice appointment perhaps,some binding.....mabye a ukulele or something
Its as hard as ROCK too! killed my sandpaper!!
Keep your eye out for some laburnum - its a real treat and I felt truly blessed to have some amazing wood "literally" fall into my lap.
Cheers
Charlie
Oh some pictures???? Sure
Sadly I couldnt capture the brilliance of the golden colour with this crappy cam - youll get an idea - Id love to see an entire guitar made of this!
