# Spalted persimmon



## Dave Boyt (Mar 13, 2013)

Gotta love some of the oddball stuff local woodworkers bring by the mill. I usually delegate this kind of work to the weekends so that they can bring the log in and take the lumber home with them, all in one trip. This spalted persimmon was new to me, though. It is in the ebony family, and very dense. The clamping system on the Norwood bandsaw mill handles this kind of log nicely, and I know a couple of woodworkers that have one.

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Of course, I just HAD to find a nail... a few inches from the end of the last cut. Gotta love yard trees!

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## jessejames (Mar 18, 2013)

Right on. always wanted to see what persimmon looked like, only read about it in books. 
Ebony is realy nice to work with, if persimmon has the same qualities it should be a treat to work with.
thanks for sharing


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## Dave Boyt (Mar 18, 2013)

Jessejames, the color of persimmon is usually white, with a dark stripe right up the center. Really not much character to it, normally. That's why this piece surprised me. The traditional use for persimmon is golf club heads, though that has has fallen off over the years. I've never worked with ebony, but I imagine they are close in properties. I have wondered about using it for guitar fingerboards, since it is so hard and dense, but getting a uniform black stain would be a challenge. Good persimmon logs are hard to come by.


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## Lorax1959 (Mar 26, 2013)

*Wait!!!*

Persimmon, when its fresh cut is non-descript, as are lots of woods, BUT let it sit for a while and dry and you'll see its character. IMHO it looks like barn board, and in a good way. I have some planks I had milled from a huge tree I cut down on the flood plain here a couple of years ago. The guy with the mill had never seen the stuff before. Here is an image of a some I used in a project. View attachment 286951

I don't know of any native wood that has color anything like it. It would be a crime to stain anything with this kind of character.
I think its great stuff. Have been playing with the idea of using it for guitar necks. To me it looks like antiqued wood.


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## Dave Boyt (Mar 27, 2013)

Lorax, just what is it inside that cage? Whatever they are, it looks like you don't want them to escape. Nice wood. I can send you some hedge if you want to try that for guitar parts.


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