Paudak Projects

[wing nut]

Can wn's post pix of projects done in paudak?
is it easy to work with?
thanks

[R Clark]

I made this dresser top valet for my son-in-law last year.  It's from a Woodsmith plan (available for free download on their TV show page).  The pic below was before I made the final additional of felt-covered bottom for the tray on center top and for the inside.

The main body is padauk, with a cherry lid and some purpleheart (lid handle).

It was easy to work; I liked it.  Didn't have a problem with tearout.  Wear a mask.  It threw off quite a bit of fine dust during machining.  Also, when you machine it, it will look like you devoured a bag of cheetos with the color of that dust on your hands and work surfaces.

I only had one board of the padauk.  I bought it on a whim a number of years ago, and finally decided to use it on this project.

   

[FS7]

I have made a few things out of padauk. One was a coffee table with metal legs for a friend of mine (not my style). I will ask him for pics. I have a few cutting boards that have used padauk scraps. Also, my father-in-law has a humidor I made for him that used padauk and walnut as the top. 

I find it pretty easy to work with. The only caveat is the dust. It is somewhat sticky and gets everywhere. If you have it adjacent to another light wood (like maple) sanding will cause bleeding of the color as the dust gets into the maple. Also, some finishes and solvents (particularly alcohol, so shellac) will actually dissolve whatever natural colorants are in the wood, and you can get color bleeding that way. This does not seem to happen with oil, which is why it's safe with cutting boards (mineral oil doesn't bleed).

I recently saw the coffee table after a year or two and the original color is gone. Most exotics do tend to lose their color over time. However, I will say that with padauk, the naturally darkened color is a brilliant and deep reddish-brown, akin to finished bubinga or bloodwood. I actually plan to use padauk more often now that I've seen the beautiful color it wants to turn.

[DaveR1]

This jewelry box is made from padauk. I made much of this box in the summer of 1981 when I worked for the fellow who produced them.






It's really a bit more red than the photos show, especially the ring tray and the inside of the box but after nearly 40 years, the outside has definitely lost the vivid red color.

About 20 years ago I made a tray from padauk (sorry. no photos) and the white ZCI for my tablesaw is still stained red from it.

FWIW, the tray the box is on is made of walnut.