# A treasure found in a odd-shop for AU$4...!



## robutacion (Nov 7, 2011)

Hi peoples,

Look to what I found at a little local store that sell second hand items, most are donations as the proceeds are going to St. Vincent organization...!

I spotted this old wooden frame mirror  looking at me and reflecting a weird image of myself, just to realize that the mirror (the whole think, really) was that old that the mirror surface was all fading or missing the reflective material...!

Saw the price marked on it and looking at the wood I though, "burled stuff" of some nature and the size and thickness of the frame will make lots of very "porch" pen blanks, what do you think...??? for 4 bucks...!:wink::biggrin:

Can you tell, what burl this is...???

Cheers
George


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## philb (Nov 7, 2011)

Looks like Bird-Eye something! Only Birds-Eye Ive seen like that is Maple, great find whatever it is though! Especially for $4


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## Glenn McCullough (Nov 7, 2011)

great find, tho pens would look good in that wood, seems sad to have the mirror dismantled and cut up. It's pretty the way it is.


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## Dai Sensei (Nov 7, 2011)

Nice find George 

Not sure of timber, nor if the figure would last on something small like a pen, it would be a shame to cut it up.  If frame still ok I'd be putting in a new mirror or a photo etc.  If the frame is wonky though, pens it is


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## louie68 (Nov 7, 2011)

Birds Eye Maple my choice!!! I would not cut this frame up, it's to nice my .02cents


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## Justturnin (Nov 7, 2011)

I am thinking tiger maple myself. Good find.

Edit:
1st post was from my phone.  I se ethe eyes on my pc.  Not TM.  It could be ANYTHING!!!  It is beautiful no matter what.


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## bitshird (Nov 7, 2011)

George, if it's a timber form Australia, only heaven ,(or an Australian timber expert) kind of like you, could tell. But it is some nice looking wood, , I'm not sure I'd chop it into pen blanks though.


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## kludge77 (Nov 7, 2011)

$4 for a stash of burl is pretty good score. If you don't have a need for a mirror then chop it up!

If it's not an obscure Aussie wood, it sure looks like maple with a shellac finish from here...


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## robutacion (Nov 7, 2011)

Well, well, well...! it looks like WE are all "suckers"...!:redface: why...???

Not that I'm totally surprised, as I only had a quick look at it and behind, the frame was all covered with some glued thick paper material.  I have also go a little suspicious when I got home and had a better look even before I smash the bad mirror and got my hand held metal detector, looking for nails and 2 spots where I could cut one complete section of the frame, and reveal the mystery...!

Before I show to everyone what I found, I should point out that, I never got it to keep it as a mirror, as the the reflective surface was all damaged, nor I had any intention to keep it as a pic frame or something of that nature, the frame was to be cut up into pen blanks regardless...!:wink:

Now, the $4.00 tag did help me to make the decision to take it, if the tag would say $20 I would have done the same thing, not because I need more wood as such but because I can ALWAYS make good use of some nice looking wood, regardless of what it is, however, I realized that the old saying "If it looks to good to be true, it probably is...!" did apply here also, and my investment did prove worthless, not that was much of a loss, anyway...!

The frame itself would have given me at least 40 full size pen blanks and as far as I'm concern, it was worth the effort, not only I confirmed that, my gut feeling was correct as always, that is never a "free ride" with me, it gave me some expectations that went from, excitement to disappointment to funny and, if wasn't for my decision to take it home, I wouldn't be here, enjoying taking everyone on my "free ride"...!:wink::biggrin:

Yeah, it turn out to be a very well made burled wood "forgery" on some old piece of pine.  See, one of the reasons why I got suspicious , is that my father was a house painter, in the days that you make your own paints and colours, he was a mongrel as a father but he was an amazing artist in his art which I was born into and got forced to work with/for at the age of 8 (eight) years of age, until I was old enough to have a say, when I was called for the compulsory army services at 19.

Anyway, I saw how these things are done and I learn to do them myself, (not that I had much of a choice, anyway...!:frown, he was a much better artist in these wooden imitations than I ever was, am or will be so, and while is absolutely no chance in hell, that this could have been made by him (he never  left Portugal), there are hundreds of identical artists like him was, all over the world.

This piece was done many years ago, and in fact was done over the existent frame that was finished with a different finish, I would say, golden paint as the gold powder is still present at the lose joints of the miters...!
This frame was already of some age when someone with the knowledge of these wooden imitations (I would say a retired bloke with nothing better to do) decided to strip the original finish and make one of its own, which for any purposes and reasons, was extremely well made, so much so that fouled all of us...!:wink::biggrin:

So, don't be upset by it, in fact, all this has been a very funny experience, I may say...! One that I knew would attract some attention and reactions, therefore lets all have a good laugh at my expense please, I don't mind...!:wink:


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## el_d (Nov 7, 2011)

And I was going to say Birds eye Sticker wood.....


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