Experiment with African Padauk

I bought some of this stuff on E-bay a couple of weeks ago....and today I resawed some of it into slices to see what it's like to bend..."Pete" says it's not easy..the colour is very red and it's made the bandsaw look like a Martian landscape...I should have changed the blade to one with less teeth before cutting but I was too lazy.
...I have a pair of Soprano sides in the bender at the moment and I'll let you know how it goes.

Wow! That IS RED! Will be interesting to see what the sides look like once bent. What do you plan on pairing it with for top/back?

Gmoney said:

Wow! That IS RED! Will be interesting to see what the sides look like once bent. What do you plan on pairing it with for top/back?

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The same stuff I hope.

Timbuck said:

The same stuff I hope.

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Thats going to be SWEET.

Well that went a lot easier than expected!...I just soaked the sides for 10 min's in soapy water and took it nice and steady in the bender....I've had Mahogany that gave me more trouble than that...No cracks or wrinkles, no burn marks, and hardly any spring back...It must be beginers luck
It made the forming jig go a funny colour tho'

Make sure you don't get that stuff on the carpet or Mrs. Timbuck is going to have your head.

Heavens that is pretty grain...can't wait to see the finished product!
:drool:

Although I'm a beginner, I'm hoping you'll post all of your "paduak incite". Beginner's luck is so hard to replicate even with a good jig. Beautiful!

Timbuck said:

I bought some of this stuff on E-bay a couple of weeks ago....and today I resawed some of it into slices to see what it's like to bend..."Pete" says it's not easy..the colour is very red and it's made the bandsaw look like a Martian landscape...I should have changed the blade to one with less teeth before cutting but I was too lazy.
...I have a pair of Soprano sides in the bender at the moment and I'll let you know how it goes.

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That made your bandsaw even more red than cutting salmon.

Ken W said:

That made your bandsaw even more red than cutting salmon.

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Yup!..It took weeks to get rid of that fish smell.

Woo woo...that some beautiful stuff...just can't wait to see more....Thanks for sharing!!

Well done Ken - I had no success trying to hand bend it. Only problem with AP is it won't keep that vibrant red color.

Pretty wood. I did one of those with a spruce top once. What a nightmare it was to keep the spruce from staining. I finally had to do a tobacco stain to hide it. Good luck with it.

Pete Howlett said:

Well done Ken - I had no success trying to hand bend it. Only problem with AP is it won't keep that vibrant red color.

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I've read that exposure to the sunlight/UV light causes it to slowly turn to a brown colour....If so ? like "Dracula" it will have to be kept in it's coffin during daylight hours...There is a UV resistant laquer i've seen advertised on a furniture site that is supposed to keep Padauk from fading but I don't know where you get it in the UK....I sliced a piece up into 4 sets of soprano sides..and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with them yet...Is a bright red uke desirable???

if I have the money I'd buy it!

then again I always like the odd ukes XD

I have always loved that stuff. It will be very interesting to hear what a soundboard of it sounds like.

Paduek is a very underrated wood. I love the color. I would be willing to bet if it were in short supply it would be highly sought after. Have you noticed that all the woods that don't cost an arm and a leg are not as popular. Could there be a snob factor in tonewood. It is kind of like how we look at the spruces. They are crazy about Sitka Spruce in Asia but a lot of american builders think the spruces from europe are the best.

The spruce thing is to do with classical guitars being made from Swiss Pine - I never found it as good as the North American/Canadian varieties. I prefer wide grain Red Spruce for steel string guitars - it performs really well and many a great sounding classic vintage Martin I played when I lived in Ohio had fronts which would barely pass on a Chinese guitar these days; no 'Mastergrade' then!

And yes you are very right about the 'premium' concept. Back in the day when fpc koa was less than $5 a bf you wouldn't find many guitar makers using it. It almost had that Hawaiian novelty kudos that prevailed against using it. Sadly, many mainland ukulele makers struggle to break free of the koa mindset that exists in the buying public- and I mean this from a conservation view: koa is the natural and indigenous material for Hawaiian builders and is a 'right and proper' choice for them; cherry, walnut, maple are the mainstream indigenous mainland US woods with black acacia Oregon myrtle being more 'exotic' so to speak: the natural choice for those not living in Hawaii. Here in the UK I should be using cherry, walnut and yew much more than I currently do.

However, in the conservative uke buying and playing community, one is hard pressed to make this point. I am currently stocking English/French cherry because I intend to do a limited edition run later this year and my back stock will be depleted. This wood is the perfect 'stand-in' for koa and mahogany; I love it because it looks and finishes great and makes brilliant sounding ukes. Frustratingly, the marketing of such ukes takes so much more time than those made from traditional woods...

Interesting point Pete. Australians are pretty patriotic when it comes to wanting guitars made from local woods, but with Ukes it doesn't seem to carry over or even come into consideration. Pity because Australia has a lot of really outstanding hardwoods that also look spectacular and suitable for instruments.

I noticed that too - very impressed with stuff on the ANZLF; great looking woods.