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Has anyone ever used ironwood? If so, how is it for bending?billb38573.0715972222

I don't think you'll find ironwood big enough for backs and sides.. If you do be careful with it. The Mexicans that carve with it often do it under water to keep the dust down. It was giving all their craftsmen nose, sinus and lung cancer.

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Thanks Jason. That's something to avoid.

I live in China, so I translated the name they gave me. I came up with black ironwood. It could be something different. The chinese name is hei ge mu. Hei means black "mu" means wood. I don't know what the ge is. It might be blackwood possibly. The color was dark. Some of the wood is from China, so maybe it's something different. It's about 200 years old.

I'll try to get a proper translation.billb38573.1014236111

therre are species referrred to as ironwood in many parts of the world. australia also has an ironwood. was used for many years as railway sleepers(ties) until they switched over to concrete.

OK. The Ironwood I was refering to grows in mexico and I believe the southern US.

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Crazyman you beat me again.

Ironwoods in Australia are a Eucalypt species.

When I was a kid my grandfather told me that you can spot and ironwood by hitting it with an axe. If the axe comes right back at you, that's an ironwood.

Thanks guys. I'll get a proper translation, then let you know what it is. I only had pinyin (which is chinese western alphabet)so the translation might be wrong. I'll get the real words.

From your discription, it sounds like good fret board wood.billb38573.2875231481

A friend of mine (Ithought he was a friend) Who makes knives brought me some that he wanted sawn up to make knife handles. I dulled a couple of blades in short order . I gathered up the stuff and had him come get it!It is simply too hard to work. I seriously doubt that it could be bent. In the old days they used it for shaft bearings on inboards. I replaced a shaft bearing on an old shrimp boat in my Texas City shop one time. No joy working that stuff! Bodarc , spelling incorrect but phonetically that is the way to pronounce it.

Being a knifemaker, I work with Ironwood quite often. I seriously doubt it will bend without extraordinary measures, plus it's rarely available in significant sizes. Very tough to work, but extremely stable and requires no finish. Might make an excellent bridge material.

Just an FYI. Bodarc, correctly spelled boise de arc, is not commonly known as ironwood. The common name for it is osage orange. We have a lot of it around here but it doesn't really get big enough to make backs out of. I have seen larger trees and I am pretty sure they get a lot larger in different locales.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

In the eastern US we have hornbeam or hophornbeam, also called ironwood. I'm not sure but from two minutes of research online I think the scientific name is Carpinus caroliniana

I've cut this tree before and the wood is very strong and hard. I've used it to make tool handles. The tree is recognizable by it's beech-like bark but with muscle-like ripples. In New England where I live I can't remember ever seeing one with a trunk diameter larger than a few inches. TomS38573.4004513889

Tom,
I have both species you mention in my back yard. They are indeed quite hard, but never grow to any remarkable size. (Unless one were to remark how small the tree was.) Crazyman is correct in that lots of species are termed ironwood in the regions where they grow--due to their hardness. "Pau Ferro", when translated, is "Ironwood". I've got some Desert Ironwood that is the hardest thing in the shop, and it is, I believe, what Jerry works with. Really pretty. But who knows what species billb has?

You could always try working with a small piece, just to see if you could bend it. Then let us know!

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