Beauty of burls
Working with burls is a rewarding and wonderful way to celebrate one of the finest figures produced by trees.
Peter Mac Sween
Peter's woodworking journey began with a career in carpentry followed by a decade buying and selling veneer. His spare time is spent abusing his guitars and exploring the great outdoors.
Articles by Peter Mac Sween
Pigment figure in wood
It’s hard to imagine where the world of woodworking would be without figured wood. For thousands of years, exquisitely figured pieces of wood have inspired woodworkers from the Egyptians to the recent works of James Krenov and Michael Fortune.
Bois de Rose
I remember my first and only encounter with Bois de Rose. I had just started working at a respected wood dealer and they had some in stock. I was amazed at the deep translucent purple of the heartwood.
Merbau
Merbau is an attractive wood, strong as hickory and almost as stable as teak.
Southern Magnolia
Often described as the most beautiful tree in the American forest, the southern magnolia impresses with its foot long white flowers and an unmistakable floral scent.
Tamarind
It’s easy as woodworkers to see trees solely as a source of wood for our projects; but in fact, there are a lot of species that we use for other purposes such as food, paper or cooking. Tamarind is such a tree. While often planted as an ornamental, it is mostly propagated for its fruit.
Tineo
Tineo is a strikingly beautiful wood, usually available as a veneer only. The heartwood shows colour tones progressing from pink to apple red to orange.
Black spruce
Despite being one of the dominant tree species of our boreal forest, black spruce is a tree that doesn’t get much respect. Harvested mostly for studs and making pulp for paper, it’s a tree that has rarely made it into the arena of fine woodworking.
Pecan
Famous for the tasty fruit they produce, pecan is a wood that is usually taken for granted by woodworkers. A member of the hickory genus, pecan shares many woodworking characteristics with its more widely known relatives.
The truth about wood grain
It’s hard to imagine a conversation among woodworkers that doesn’t include the words wood grain. Learn more about what gives wood its unique and beautiful qualities.
Greenheart
Working with Greenheart can be difficult due to its density. It will blunt tools quickly. Straight grained pieces will plane nicely, but the interlocked pieces are prone to tear out.
Apple
The grain is usually straight but is often irregular and occasionally wild. This can give the wood a distinctive look but tearout when machining or shaping can occur.
Sitka spruce
It is renownrd as an acoustic soundboard in stringed instruments, harps and pianos. It is also a favoured wood in the aircraft and shipbuilding industries.
Palm
Once a true specialty wood with specific applications, the Palm woods are seeing a resurgence in use.
Bog oak
Bog Oak is one of the rarest woods in the world. Each piece has a singular life history, driven by a process of fossilization, interrupted by an act of discovery.
Katalox
Often called Royal Mexican Ebony, it is increasingly being used in place of the well-known Gaboon Ebony from Africa.
Medullary rays
One of the most common characteristics of the Arts and Crafts Movement is the strong visual of medullary rays in white oak. Learn what medullary rays are and how you can make the most of their striking look to create eye-catching furniture.
Banksia pod
The Banksia pod is probably the most bizarre looking item to land on the bench of any woodworker. Difficult to describe, they bear a faint resemblance to a large pinecone, albeit a psychedelic one.
