# Handle - Sandalwood



## Dhoff (Oct 11, 2019)

So, this is a tough one. I have this old dry piece of sandalwood being 17cm long and 19cm in diameter. Cutting this seem to be near impossible for the woodworkers near me. The bandsaw failed!

I have no skills what-so-ever at cutting stuff (For *** sake I sawed myself in the knee last time).

Any advice on which profession to contact or how to handle this?

Disclaimer: I will be sending the wood to Jonas from isasmedjan when it is cut for a custom, I will not do it myself since I'd likely never be able to type again


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## RonB (Oct 11, 2019)

If it's too hard for woodworking tools, try a machinist shop.


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## Bensbites (Oct 11, 2019)

I cut everything on my tablesaw, from thin aluminum and copper to stabilized dense woods.


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## Tim Rowland (Oct 16, 2019)

do you have a picture of the wood blank?

There are retailers who sell "green sandalwood" and is actually lignum vitae which would makes sense that it is so hard to machine.
Others sell "red sandalwood" which is red sandal or Zitan and is highly sought after/extremely high priced/and is illegal to harvest and export from I believe China as its so endangered. 

There are some farms starting to harvest crops out of Hawaii and Australia and that should be true sandalwood , spicy scent when warmed, or sanded and kinda looks golden with black peppering/streaking almost like dark olivewood but more golden color.


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## Dhoff (Oct 16, 2019)

Tim Rowland said:


> do you have a picture of the wood blank?
> 
> There are retailers who sell "green sandalwood" and is actually lignum vitae which would makes sense that it is so hard to machine.
> Others sell "red sandalwood" which is red sandal or Zitan and is highly sought after/extremely high priced/and is illegal to harvest and export from I believe China as its so endangered.
> ...



First of all, thank you everyone. Secondly, Tim, this is the piece. I've inherited it as I was the only one taking interest when my grandparents passed. They lived in India for a while and this is likely when it was imported. This is 40-60 years ago or so. It is extremely dry. It was thought to be sandelwood, but I am in doubt as the fragrance is weak. It seems mildly irritating to the airways (I have so many allergies and asthma, so this might be the reason)


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## Dhoff (Oct 16, 2019)

Also, it is quite dense. The piece is about 38cm length and 19cm in diameter. The weight is approximately 7.7kg.


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## Tim Rowland (Oct 16, 2019)

Very Interesting. 
That is one extremely rare log.
That actually looks like real Mysore White Sandalwood..................and if so that single log would fetch a price over $10,000 usd


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## Dhoff (Oct 16, 2019)

Tim Rowland said:


> Very Interesting.
> That is one extremely rare log.
> That actually looks like real Mysore White Sandalwood..................and if so that single log would fetch a price over $10,000 usd



Looks really similar to many of pics online! Seems quite expensive. Top bad I already had it cut partway. It is now two Pieces of 19 in length and 19cm in diameter. One of those is partly cut lenghtwise.

Pricing seems to vary a Lot on siges. Even small sticks om amazon.in


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## HRC_64 (Oct 16, 2019)

Tim Rowland said:


> Very Interesting.
> ... if so that single log would fetch a price over $10,000 usd



Wow. Interesting thread. 
Thanks OP for sharing as well.


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## Dhoff (Oct 29, 2019)

So, update. I managed to have a specialty woodworker cut it and await time to collect. Meanwhile I lightly sanded with p120 the endgrain of the remaining piece and gave it some oil (only had some sunflower oil at hand....)

This jogs my memory, but cant place my finger on it? Quite sure it is not Sandalwood.


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## Dhoff (Oct 29, 2019)




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## inferno (Oct 29, 2019)

whatever it is it looks nice imo.


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## Dhoff (Nov 3, 2019)




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## Tim Rowland (Nov 9, 2019)

hmmmm, well the color looks like teak but I have never seen really slow growth rings like that on a teak log. Then again most of the teak I have ever seen is new growth.
The only other thing that comes to mind could be Hububali.


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