Ceratonia siliqua of the family Fabaceae. This is primarliy a craftwood with an attractive color and grain that ages very nicely. Fairly large slabs are available, although frequently misshapen as the tree rarely has much of a straight bole.
my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions
NOTE: The next 3 planks were all donated to the site by Ira Matheny, whom I thank for this and other contributions.
plank
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
plank and a new pic of it after it sat on the shelf for a couple of years and gained a patina
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above but taken after the plank had sat on the shelf for a couple of years and gained a patina
plank and a new pic of it after it sat on the shelf for a couple of years and gained a patina
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above but taken after the plank had sat on the shelf for a couple of years and gained a patina
both sides of a small plank that has really terrific color. HUGE enlargements are present
face grain closeup and side grain closeup of the piece directly above (these were not particularly well sanded)
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
big slab of carob (about 3" thick) loaned to me by Mark Peet. This chunk was too large and irregular for me to process (without making cuts that Mark did not want) so I just took this pic and returned it to Mark who made a couple of formal samples, the pics of which are directly below.
both sides of a sample plank of carob / Ceratonia siliqua --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of carob / Ceratonia siliqua --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
All the pics in this section are from a batch that I bought and are probably all from the same tree
NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR the pieces as I received them, with a coat of finishing agent that shows how the wood will look finished.
NOT A RAW WOOD COLOR I took this extra pic of the other side of the long piece to show how sunlight has improved the color where it was not covered up by another piece
both sides of a piece
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of carob / Ceratonia siliqua --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This piece has a lot of knots and somewhat irregular grain due to that
sticks and their end grains --- pics contributed to the site by Barry Richardson, who also contributed a couple of the bowl pics at the bottom of the page.
pen blanks
both sides of a bowl blank and the end grain
crotch pieces
pics from the BogusColorVendor ... assuming the wood is moistened for the pics, this color "correction" is not as bad as their usual dishonesty
planks, most likly moistened for the pics
both sides of a plank and a closeup
pens
slab table with a finish that I think has enriched the color considerably
log cross section table --- not sure if the dark color is due to a finish or ageing.
spittoon
box and turned box
vases
hollow forms
beautiful turned and carved vase
crotch bowl
bowls
two views of the same bowl
turned and carved bowls
natural edge bowls
bowls by Barry Richardson, whom I thank for the pics.
two views of a bowl --- both enlargements are available and they show the grain very nicely
bowl / platter listed as carob burl
two views of a bowl by Ira Matheny, who also contributed my own samples of carob, pictured up at the top of this page. Ira used a wax finish on this so the colors are much more true to the raw wood than would be the case had he used a grain-poping polyurethane or shellac or other penetrating liquid type of finish.