A couple of saws in Thuya burl

[Isaac S]

I had never heard of Thuya burl before a customer asked about making a pair of saws with it. It turned out to be a very interesting wood.

The wood has so much oil in it that it started smoking when I ran it through my planer. Other than that, it was a pretty nice wood to work with. It worked very well with edge tools, although the eyes were a bit crumbly at times. The worst part was that the oily wood clogged my rasps and sandpaper VERY quickly. On the positive side, the wood smelled absolutely wonderful.

I used a single coat of shellac (I don't know if any other film finish would have stuck to the oily wood) followed by buffing with carnauba wax.

The first saw is twelve inches long, and the second is ten inches long.

[TobyC]

Beautiful! You make the best looking saws anywhere!

[kenl]

Wow! You could charge money for those!

[lilrichard2]

Stunning!

[Martin S.]

Beautiful, as usual.

Nicely done, Isaac!

[Timberwolf]

Outstanding!!!!!!

[eg54string]

Beautiful for sure. I like how the end grain flows with the face grain.

Eric.

[Steve N]

Purdy

[Jonathan S]

Very nice! That lambs tongue is spectacular.

Jonathan

[Steve Friedman]

Isaac,

You know how much I love your work. You seem to keep reaching new heights in handle artistry. And the saws cut incredibly well too. I need to bit the bullet and get onto your list, but I use handsaws so much more than back saws.

What about adding panel saws to the mix and finding a reasonable way to taper grind them?

Steve