# Rarest wood from Rarest Woods



## DCBluesman (Nov 5, 2008)

This is huanghuali from Dave Lee (rarest woods). A magnificent wood to work and a beautiful timber to finish. 



Thanks to all who look and particularly those who offer comments.


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## desertyellow (Nov 5, 2008)

Great pen.
Beautiful wood.


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## rdunn12 (Nov 5, 2008)

Very beautiful pen.Awesome looking wood.


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## markgum (Nov 5, 2008)

WOW......  that is awesome wood.


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## erbymcbrayer (Nov 5, 2008)

I like what I see, Beautiful job , Beautiful wood.


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## george (Nov 6, 2008)

Great work. Love the wood.


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## el_d (Nov 6, 2008)

Very Nice Lou, looks Great....


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## chriselle (Nov 6, 2008)

Nice warm looking wood Lou.  Got a lift on the end there, yes?,,,cursed CA.


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## philb (Nov 6, 2008)

Nice pen! Where is this site of rarest woods!!


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## rherrell (Nov 6, 2008)

Say it ain't so, Lou!:frown:


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## leehljp (Nov 6, 2008)

Beautiful Grain! Brought it out well!


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## JayDevin (Nov 6, 2008)

Stunning!!

and I like it too!


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## Ozzy (Nov 6, 2008)

Beautiful wood, beautiful pen.


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## workinforwood (Nov 6, 2008)

Very nice Lou. Never even heard of it before, but the color is very nice and warm and it's a great kit choice!  Did a piece of finish chip off the post, and is it a bit proud of the centerband?


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## tweetfaip (Nov 6, 2008)

Very, very nice wood Lou!  Well executed pen as well.


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## diamundgem (Nov 6, 2008)

Have any of you heard of "Kauri" wood? It's carbon dated to be 50,000 years old (expensive) I bought a piece and it's sorta like light walnut Comes from the peat moss swamps of upper New Zealand


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## Dalecamino (Nov 6, 2008)

Another beauty Lou . I agree , that timber has very nice grain . Good finish .


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## Rifleman1776 (Nov 6, 2008)

Looks like walnut, a bit more reddish. Might be photography but you look proud above center band.


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## TowMater (Nov 6, 2008)

Nice wood, I agree with the others though appears proud of the centerband.

If this wood is truelly that rare I think I would return it to match the centerband and fix the finish where the CA lifted.


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## Skye (Nov 6, 2008)

Yeah, I was thinking it was lifting near the foot.

Nice wood, but kinda reminds me of cocobolo.


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## marcruby (Nov 6, 2008)

The tree actually is a rosewood.  Depending on the grain and color it can be very hard to tell it from cocobolo.  It's a bit yellower, although the wood in this pen doesn't show it.

Marc



Skye said:


> Yeah, I was thinking it was lifting near the foot.
> 
> Nice wood, but kinda reminds me of cocobolo.


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## Skye (Nov 6, 2008)

Hmmm... wonder if I'd be allergic to it as well?


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## jasonbowman (Nov 6, 2008)

Beautiful - looks alot like kingwood without the purple...


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## marcruby (Nov 6, 2008)

Unlikely that you or I will ever get to sneeze at it.  Other than a very small trickle from Viet Nam and bits from broken furniture there isn't any to be had.  I think export of it from China is illegal.  Not sure, though.

Marc



Skye said:


> Hmmm... wonder if I'd be allergic to it as well?


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## toolcrazy (Nov 6, 2008)

Very nice.


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## Russianwolf (Nov 6, 2008)

I love the look of the wood.


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## Rarest wood (Nov 6, 2008)

*The timber was from here!*

You can contact myself rarest wood here 
Tzutan.com
although this site is primarily for the highend classical chinese furniture restoration I do have some pens blank sizes in Huanghuali, Zitan Jichimu and Nanmu
the front page showns a close up of a Tzutan log will post some more photos of the rare wood soon 

Love the pen beautiful timber 
interesting how Huanghuali is compared to Cocobolo, Kingwood and the like I find it varies a lot even over a small board and can be dark or light.


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## DCBluesman (Nov 6, 2008)

That's the problem with old eyes.  This one will get re-finished tonight.  Thanks for keeping it real!


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## Brandon25 (Nov 6, 2008)

Lou, very pretty pen, but I have to agree that it looks like cocobolo, and if you were trying to get proportionally higher prices for the pen, a buyer might have to be "into that sorta thing", and believe you about its worth. 
Just saying I'd be too scared to invest from a maker's standpoint, and likely from an ignorant buyer's standpoint unless I knew you personally, since to most you might be just "the guy at the booth."


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## OKLAHOMAN (Nov 6, 2008)

First, Lou that's some nice timber.



Brandon25 said:


> Lou, very pretty pen, but I have to agree that it looks like cocobolo, and if you were trying to get proportionally higher prices for the pen, a buyer might have to be "into that sorta thing", and believe you about its worth.
> Just saying I'd be too scared to invest from a maker's standpoint, and likely from an ignorant buyer's standpoint unless I knew you personally, since to most you might be just "the guy at the booth.
> *Brandon you have a good point but easy to overcome. On rare woods-Bakelites-etc or even unusual blanks a quick trip to the internet for info on the object then print a "catalog" or info sheet and  now you have somewhere to start your "sales pitch". Just my way and not right for all.
> *
> "


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## DCBluesman (Nov 6, 2008)

Brandon25 said:


> Lou, very pretty pen, but I have to agree that it looks like cocobolo, and if you were trying to get proportionally higher prices for the pen, a buyer might have to be "into that sorta thing", and believe you about its worth.
> Just saying I'd be too scared to invest from a maker's standpoint, and likely from an ignorant buyer's standpoint unless I knew you personally, since to most you might be just "the guy at the booth."


 
Fortunately, Brandon, I'm not just the guy in the booth.  I've spent the better part of four years establishing a presence on the internet.  Four years in internet time is a lifetime in "brick and mortar" time.  I sell a large number of pens from $200 - $750 each year to folks who have either already purchased from me, who know someone who has or who believe longevity tells you something about a business.


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## marcruby (Nov 6, 2008)

I'm a little curious about what you mean by 'web presence.'  I have a dickens of a time finding your site using Google.  Or would if I didn't know its name.  I assume you mean that there are a lot of people who know your site address, but am willing to be corrected.  After all, someday I'll want to create a site of my own once I can devote full time to turning and I'd like to get it right.

Marc


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## OKLAHOMAN (Nov 6, 2008)

Marc, you had me curious also so I googled wood pens and his site was #10 out of 739,000.*wood pens, handcrafted, heritage fine writing instruments by ...*

Heritage _Pens_ is home to the finest custom, handcrafted _wood pens_ available today. (See our Testimonials!) Our fine writing instruments are also available *...*
www.heritage*pens*.com/ - 16k - Cached -





marcruby said:


> I'm a little curious about what you mean by 'web presence.'  I have a dickens of a time finding your site using Google.  Or would if I didn't know its name.  I assume you mean that there are a lot of people who know your site address, but am willing to be corrected.  After all, someday I'll want to create a site of my own once I can devote full time to turning and I'd like to get it right.
> 
> Marc


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## hunter-27 (Nov 6, 2008)

WoW!!!!


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## Fred (Nov 6, 2008)

A Google search for this wood has several sources. Also, prices for several e-Bay items vary from $25 to $6800.00.

http://shop.ebay.com/items/huanghua...huanghuali&tt_encode=raw&crlp=1866358853_9395


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## marcruby (Nov 6, 2008)

OKLAHOMAN said:


> Marc, you had me curious also so I googled wood pens...



Ah there he is.  He also shows up under fine writing instruments, and first under handcrafted pens which which I just thought of - I tried wooden pens, custom pens and handmade pens and got nowhere.  

Thanks,

Marc

And I just tried wood pens and he wasn't there again.  It seems to fluctuate based on what you try first.  When I start with wooden pens and then try wood pens he has disappeared.  Figure that out!


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## Rarest wood (Nov 7, 2008)

Is there any Huanghuali on ebay I perused the offerings and saw a load of fake stuff from china it is better to go to a reputable auction house to see the real thing try the Christies site or even Sotherbys as a restorer of chinese classical furniture I can say that if you had a piece of Huanghuali furniture why would you put it on ebay??? look at this link for the real stuff http://www.christies.co.uk/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5112607
ille take some photos of some of my peices to show what the real stuff looks like soon.


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## Glenn McCullough (Nov 7, 2008)

Lou, 
   Stunning wood and beautiful finish.


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## DurocShark (Nov 7, 2008)

Stunning wood. Thanks for sharing!


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## Brandon25 (Nov 7, 2008)

DCBluesman said:


> Fortunately, Brandon, I'm not just the guy in the booth.  I've spent the better part of four years establishing a presence on the internet.  Four years in internet time is a lifetime in "brick and mortar" time.  I sell a large number of pens from $200 - $750 each year to folks who have either already purchased from me, who know someone who has or who believe longevity tells you something about a business.



Well there you go then! I'm very glad you have customers that can appreciate what you've got to offer. I think we can all strive for that.


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## gerryr (Nov 7, 2008)

I'm jealous, you actually got some of this stuff.  Beautiful work as always.


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## altaciii (Nov 7, 2008)

Wow, I guess I got in at the end of a pretty tough crowd, Lou.  It was fun reading through all the stuff (good and bad) that everyone had to say.  I take it by your post that we will get to see another pic of this particular pen in the near future.  My 2 cents, I think the pen looks great, but with this hard crowd here, I have to agree, I would be hard pressed as a buyer to spend a premium for a special wood if it were not perfect, like most everything else I've seen you post.


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## PR_Princess (Nov 8, 2008)

That is a beautiful looking wood, Lou! And of course, it has a great "story" too. We are always looking for something extra special and rare to intrigue the couple of collectors that we have. These almost never available timbers from rarest woods look like they will fit the bill perfectly.

Thank you for taking this on and posting! If we get it in gear, we may still be able to get some of this in for Christmas.


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