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Horse Chesnut

Hi all
An Australian author, who I follow on Twitter, has just posted a photo of a bowl made from Horse Chesnut which was a gift from a couple she met in America.

The contrast of the light coloured wood with an almost black grain running through it looks amazing. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone post a finished handle using this wood. Has anyone tried?
 
Hi all
An Australian author, who I follow on Twitter, has just posted a photo of a bowl made from Horse Chesnut which was a gift from a couple she met in America.

The contrast of the light coloured wood with an almost black grain running through it looks amazing. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone post a finished handle using this wood. Has anyone tried?
It sounds like the bowl could have been made with spalted horse chestnut. It is usually a lighter colored wood that is on the softer side. I haven't had the opportunity to work with any, so I don't have any first hand experience with it.

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Does the denseness of the wood make a difference to the end product?

It can, or at least with less work is required with denser woods. A harder, denser wood turns and sands better than a softer wood, which leaves a better base for the finish. They also tend not to soak up the sealer/finish as much, again making for a better (or at least faster) finish, especially when using a high gloss. An exception is when you use CA glue, but I only use that for pens and brushes. The tradeoff is they dull your tools faster, sometimes unbelievably fast. This isn’t to say you can’t achieve a great finish on a soft wood, but they can be fuzzy so sanding to a higher grit is required. Open grain woods like oak and even walnut tend to be more problematic than something like soft maple in my experience due to the large pores, but harder woods like hard maple, osage orange, and ebony always seem to turn, sand, and take a high gloss much easier than less dense woods.
 
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