Panopsis rubellens of the family Proteaceae. This South American wood has an appearance VERY similar to Roupala brasiliense (South American lacewood) but can often be distinguished from it with a small amount of experience --- it is darker brown in color and is harder and heavier and with a noticibly finer texture. It is sometimes called lacewood just as lacewood is sometimes called leopardwood. The two woods Panopsis rubellens and Roupala brasiliense often confused with each other, because they share both common names and characteristics. More on that in the this link:
another "special figure" plank and closeup (details below)
small plank cut from the larger "special figure" plank above and shown along with a normal plank. The "special figure" plank doesn't look like normal leopard wood at all and the reason seems to be the broken rays shown directly below
end grain of the "special figure" plank showing the discontinuous rays --- compare this to the 4 planks shown directly below, all of which have normal (continuous) rays)
end grain of several planks; details below. The right-most plank is the "special figure" one and its end grain closeup is shown in the set above
end grain closeup of 4 of the 5 planks shown in the single pic directly above
planks
planks
plank
plank
plank
a set of small planks and a closeup
planks and a closeup photographed at a woodworking store --- really big enlargements are present
web pics
end grain --- the first pic has a ridiculous black color
planks
planks listed as leopardwood / Panopsis rubellens
plank and closeup
turning stock
waxed turning stock listed as leopardwood / Panopsis rubellens
plank and closeup
planks and closeup
knife handle scales
pen blanks
veneer --- this doesn't look anything like the planks and I believe it is an unrelated spiecs that is widely called leopard wood (I've seen this veneer sold by at least 3 vendors), but I'm not sure yet WHAT species it is. One of the joys of "common" wood names.
guitar by Gregory Pizzeck; enlargements are present
shaker set
bowls by Bryan Nelson (NelsonWood). Bryan fine-polishes his bowls with 1200 or even higher grit sandpaper while they are spinning at high speed on the lathe and then finishes them there with a friction polish of his own devising, thus achieving a shine and color vibrancy that is beautiful to behold. I believe these bowls are all about 5" across.
%201%20s50%20web.jpg)
%202%20s50%20web.jpg)
%20turning%20stock%201%20web.jpg)
%20turning%20stock%202%20web.jpg)
