Black heart sassafras

[peter.coombe]

Anyone used black heart sassafras? There was a guitar at the National from one of the makers that sounded real sweet made from Sassafras and I made a mental note to try it. I also have noticed that Taylor have been using it and the guitars have been very well received, although I thought they sounded fairly ordinary on the videos. Unfortunately, good guitar sets are nose bleedingly expensive so is difficult. Anyway I found some on that buyer beware place that I thought would be perfect for guitar rosettes. It arrived on the doorstep yesterday and came in two pieces, one was exactly what I wanted for rosettes, the other was a bonus. After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I started to wonder what to do with it. The other half saw it, picked her jaw off the floor and said "I would like you to build a piece of furniture from that wood". Silent groan from me!

Anyway here is a picture of it. 300mm wide, about 1m long, and 35mm thick. Plenty enough for a few guitar sets, but it is flat sawn. Growth rings near vertical on the edges, but in the middle are horizontal. Don't know if it is worth risking it.

Also found some quarter sawn and perfect size for flattop mandolins or a couple of tenor guitar backs, so that piece is taken.

Any ideas (and I will ignore the "send it to me" suggestions)? Worth risking?

Peter

[Allen]

I use it a fair bit Peter. It bends like a dream, though it also can straighten itself out overnight if you leave it out of a form. Really easy to finish. Requires bugger all pore filling and looks great under finish.

There is this one in the gallery of a recent baritone I did for a fellow in France.

[Bob Connor]

Sassafras sounds a bit like Mahogany to my ear.

I'll concur with Allen, it's one of the easiest woods you'll ever bend.

It's selling for stupid prices in the US but it's as cheap as chips from sawmills in Tassie.

Regards

[demonx]

I've also used it several times (for electrics). As the other have said, it's great to work with. soft, but user friendly!

One thing I have had (which can happen with any timber) is I was carving a top and an open cavity appeared inside the timber. I had to cut it out and replace with new body pieces, it was a beautiful Sass set which ended out in the fire. In saying that though, I've had the same happen with Blackwood, Wenge and Mahogany before as well.

It's also difficult to bookmatch if you are going to carve at depths as the figuring is usually fairly random in its direction, so by the time you slice and dress it, it wouldn't be so much a problem with a flatter piece like acoustic style builds as you're not working at carving deep like an electric.

Another point I worth mentioning is on the more extreme figured pieces, like the spalted black heart, you have to be very careful sanding as the light and dark )soft and hard) parts next to each other can scallop out before you even notice.

For example: This one pic below didn't like being sanded with any heavy grits so I used a scraper up until fine sanding stage.



This is another impressive Sassafras set I have for an upcoming build and one of the best I've had personally:

[ozwood]

Hi Peter,

I have built two guitars out of it, they both sounded great, the stuff is pleasant enough to use, but does some funny things when exposed to moisture , ( i once applied some glue to a headstock veneer and in the time it took me to turn and grab some clamps it had rolled up like a newspaper) and can cup a little across the grain when bending , but is generally great to finish and work with, as Bob Said , it's cheap enough in Tassie , I bought a slab from a little craft shop on the side of the road somewhere along the Murchison hwy for $90 it was 1200 x 380 x 98 mm and dead quartered.

Should get a few sets from that.

Anyway there are some links below too the two I built , the second link has some sub links to a sound bite and video.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=6566&hilit=sassafras

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=4891&hilit=sassafras

Cheers,

[curly]

Only Thing I'd add is that the Blackheart is fungal in origin , the trees can actually be inoculated to produce it .
That's not any necessary problem except to say that if it goes to far then the wood is denatured or partway rotten , some of the cellulose is consumed .
Plenty of builders use spalted wood to good effect , the go is to watch for areas that excessively drink moisture like a white spirit , that's a real give away for material that's too far gone .
Pete

[peter.coombe]

Thanks to all. Looks like it is well worth a try. Bought some quarter sawn stuff yesterday. Also sliced up the piece I was going to use for mandolins, but it is more likely to end up in a couple of tenor guitars. Stunning piece. If it sounds a bit like Mahogany that is all good. Will be matched with a Red Spruce top.

[mhunte12]

I'd echo what others have said - moisture can be a problem!!

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6200#p70515

Looks great though!!

[hooked]

P1030485.jpg (157.45 KiB) Viewed 17231 times

Plus a sound bite of finished instrument.

Blue Grass Day.mp3

(1.79 MiB) Downloaded 785 times

[ZOOTMAN]

It's selling for stupid prices in the US but it's as cheap as chips from sawmills in Tassie.

Regards

_________________
Bob, Geelong

Hey Bob Can you send me some of that cheap as chips Black Sasafrass? May be worth it even with the ridiculous shipping costs.

I'm serious if you see any on one of your trips.

[Bob Connor]

No Probs Bob. I'll look into it.

Regards

[ZOOTMAN]

Thank you Mr. Bob

[J.F. Custom]

The last Melbourne Working with Wood show had one of the suppliers from Tas - Tasmanian Timbers I think was the trading name. He apparently has a stall at the Wooden Boat Festival in Tasmania too, though no online presence and if he is to be taken on his word, that was his last Melbourne WWW show. But, he had the biggest selection of quality Blackheart Sassfras I've seen in a long time.

Back to the OP (and others), one thing to watch for with the Blackheart Sassafras - often the prettiest spalted stuff is right on the edge of rot. Some of the most spectacular pieces I saw at the show, with wild colour and ink pattern, were unfortunately too far gone to the fungus. Close inspection showed your thumbnail could scoop out the apparently stable timber like ice cream. Not what you want unless you are using it for a solid body cap and want to consider resin stabilising. Another way to check is with a wipe down of alcohol/metho - the good wood will remain shiny and wet looking for a short time while the rotten stuff will drink it in almost instantaneously; spongy.

Jeremy.