I was at my local Woodcrafters store and ran across all these ‘burl blocks.’ I asked about them. Somehow they got them from Italy. They were going to be turned by a car manufacturer into shift knobs and other high end wood accent pieces. A friend of mine makes knives and thought he might like them for knife handles. One of the guys that works there made a hidden box out of one of them. (didn’t get a picture of it) but here is a pic of the blank. I am thinking of getting me a couple of them.

 

 

You and that new machine ought to do something spectacular with those

I am hoping to get down there and get a few for me. I just picked some up for my buddy. I hope they have some left.

Added tag.

Those will make some beautiful knife handles or even tool handles. Keep us posted if you score some of the blanks Kevin.

Would make a beautiful box

13 hours ago, Gerald said:

Would make a beautiful box

I scored 2 for myself. And you read my mind Gerald. I was going to try build my first hidden box project.

I know you stated they are from Italy, but that block in your hand look like Claro Walnut.

Well, I did find this John... just below Dallas

 

2 hours ago, Cal said:

John... just below Dallas

Now that's funny Cal! But Claro can only be from one area of the world, right here in Kaleeforn-I-A. 

I never knew there was an Italy, Texas!

On 7/3/2022 at 12:01 PM, John Morris said:

I know you stated they are from Italy, but that block in your hand look like Claro Walnut.

Yes sir that’s it. I was going with the information they gave me. Hmmmm 🤔.   Thanks!

Perhaps they (Woodcraft purchasing buyers )did procure the blocks from the car manufacturer in Italy...maybe as cut-offs or???

7 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Perhaps they (Woodcraft purchasing buyers )did procure the blocks from the car manufacturer in Italy...maybe as cut-offs or???

Even that Claro could have come from Italy, there are buyers of Claro all over the world for gunstocks, auto dashboards, gear shifts, so the Claro was purchased from an Italian company from a stateside dealer, and it made it back to the states round trip.

Woodcraft is a large enough company it's plausible their purchasing department "sold" the car manufacturer equipment like router bits or??. In exchange for partial or full payment, they received the walnut at a current world market value against the dollar. Happens all the time. Most global companies do this at some level. Plain old fashion bartering system. Want to make the sale, customer is strapped for "cash flow", Whad'ya got? They in turn either resale if it's in their wheelhouse or barter with someone else for cash or whoppie cushions. Eventually they convert to cash. Just a thought.

4 hours ago, John Morris said:

But Claro can only be from one area of the world, right here in Kaleeforn-I-A. 

 

 

Are you sure?  Because it is known to cause cancer, and thus BANNED in Cauliflower.     

 

Here is the story

https://cswoods.com/blogs/news/the-story-of-claro-walnut

28 minutes ago, Gerald said:

Here is the story

https://cswoods.com/blogs/news/the-story-of-claro-walnut

Nice read Gerald thank you..,