GUAYACÁN ice cream scoop

[Dave Peterson]

I had a little time today, so turned this scoop in 3 hours. As the wood is [FONT=&quot]GUAYACÁN[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Caesalpinia paraguariensis, [/FONT][FONT=&quot]did not put any kind of a finish on it. This wood is also called ARGENTINE BROWN EBONY, and while it is not of the Ebony family, it sure is hard stuff! I bought the 2X2X12" blank at Woodcrafters and it was sold under the name of GUAYACAN (bar code 841776) and it was cheap at $10.99 for the blank (CHEAP! in my opinion). I polished it up to a 2000 grit, and went both directions. Even up to that level, I then had to go back to the 800 grit level to get out some fine scratches (most likely put there by the 150 grit paper). Sanding took longer than the turning. I know a lot of people express that the sanding is the least enjoyable part of turning, but I like it from the aspect that this is the part of the project that makes it turn into a work of beauty! I used 2-part epoxy to glue on the hardware. The wood has sort of a 'soapy' feel to it. Not really oily, just soapy. Very dense wood. As I was turning it, the wood was coming off in a continuous ribbon off of the chisel. The scoop kit is available from Rockler's. This is a gift for my niece.

If you have never turned a piece of this....It is a lot of fun! Excellent material for any kind of shop tool or kitchen tool. (the wood is so heavy, it won't float). It is very similar to Lignum Vitae. I did a bunch of reading up on this wood, and the wood is not toxic to work with, and I noticed no odor from the wood like I did when I turned some Argentine lignum vitae.

Dave Peterson (this is an unpaid and unsolicited endorsement of the wood blank, and I did not make any money by dropping company names).

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[Mark Stewart]

Wow thats sure purdy wood you got there.

Thanks Mark

 

[toolferone]

Nice scoop and thanks for the info on the wood (even if you didn't get paid for it) :gar-Bi