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A lucky find


ElgaKoster

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So...yesterday I had an hour to kill in Johannesburg and went to the nearest mall intending to do some browsing at a bookstore...well, I never made it to the bookstore...

In an open display area there was an exhibition of traditional Cape tables made from recycled yellow wood and modern items made of leadwood...it was the leadwood that stopped me in my tracks, I have never seen it before and after researching a bit I understand why, it is a protected tree in South Africa and very little comes on the market...but just fantastic wood, and yes it is very heavy.

I got talking to the woman in charge and told her that I was more interested in the wood than the actual items and mentioned that I make miniature furniture...well it turns out she knows Barbara Brear from Somerset West near Cape Town who makes miniature books very well, her best friend is married to Barbara's son...she said it was a small world and I had to agree with her in more than one way.

Well, they had these bookends made from almost solid branches and I caved in and bought two, apparently it turns very well and I could imagine cutting a beautiful table top with interesting grain from the bookend on the right, I have a feeling this wood is going to be even harder than black wood to work with, the pieces are about 10" tall.

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The story of where they got the wood.

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Their website if you would like to see what they make, look under lodge http://thecapeworkshop.com/

And an interesting article on the tree itself http://www.sabisabi.com/wildfacts/leadwood-tree/

Does anyone have similar stories to tell...I love it when what you thought was going to be just another normal day suddenly has a nice surprise in store for you!

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What a great find! And it is nice to read that the trees were already dead, fun to put them to good use. I don't have a story for you, although today (nothing work or mini related) started crazy and not good, but much like feeling my way through the dark, my gut instinct kicked in and I got results :) Anyhow awesome wood, so cool you found it---

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Very interesting story Elga. The wood is very nice and it will be interesting to see what you do with it.

Carolyn (who is very glad to own a few of the pieces of furniture you made from blackwood!)

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What an interesting piece of wood. Are you going to make separate things out of the two different colors or are you just going to use the center?

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I have no idea about what I am going to make with it Catherine...or whether I will use both colors...some day it will be just what I need :-)

I guess furniture makers stash wood like other people do with fabrics etc...mmh, I do stash fabric too of course, plus a few other things!

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