Thanks Lonzo, you could say the colors of the Afzelia Lay and the Box Elder are in fact, unreal. They are dyed woods. I prefer to use only naturally colored woods but just look at them! How could I pass those up? :)
The others are all natural.

The Desert Ironwood is more than can be caught in a photo. The gold specs jump to life when the light hits right so there is some wild chatoyance action going on with that wood!

Beautiful for sure. For me I like both examples of the Desert Ironwood the best! Very nice!

Desert Ironwood has the figure of Amboyna Burl, the hardness and lack of pores of Snakewood and the colors of Cocobolo. On top of that it has those amazing flecks of gold that sparkle in the light.

Here is a Desert Ironwood fretboard blank I just got in:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a79f29c3_z.jpg

That looks like it would make a beautiful fretboard...wow!

It really is a great wood. I am getting more, it’s inspiring stuff!

Mark

Sugaring Season
 

Winters are long here in New Hampshire. Sugaring Season is the first sign that winter is waning. When the days start getting into the 40s and the nights are still going down to the 20s, the sap for making Maple syrup starts running in the Sugar Maple Trees. Here in southern New Hampshire Sugar Season starts around the end of February:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8598fb30_c.jpg

Why am I talking about Sugar Maple Trees? Because Sugar Maple trees are Hard Maple Trees and I make guitars out of Hard Maple, it's my favorite Maple:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...0ac70c43_c.jpg

In recognition of Sugaring Season and the coming of spring I looked into buying some Sugar Maple. They have been making Maple Syrup around here for centuries and the fact is, all trees fall.

Look at this board:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...5a548d11_c.jpg

Yes, those are tap holes in that board which spawned all that wonderful spalting across that lovely curly grain:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...320cb0fc_c.jpg

Now I am strategizing just how I'm going to get some guitars out of there!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...a94f81f2_c.jpg

Mark,
you mention "after a couple days of sun" How exactly did you accomplish that? Was it in a room with indirect light or did you set it outside in a protected area?
As always I am enjoying your build threads!

Thank you for posting. I have learned a lot from you.

Thanks for following Roksbug, If you go back to post #90 in this thread I have a picture of the where the top is on one of my workbenches getting sun through the door window.

..I had missed that post somehow...
 

..how deep do those sapholes go?
Apparently they seem to be the source for the spalting if I understand correctly..
But I assume the holes are detrimental to both sound and looks.. unless you sell them as bullet holes and make it a wild west guitar ;o)

The maple with quilting and spalting looks good !

OK, if tap holes are the cause of spalting in maple, what causes spalting in hickory? Or other woods? I thought it was a fungus-related thing.

..wrong wording maybe.. I meant the sapholes provide the ‚open door‘ for the funghi to get in and do their thing. In other woods they get in via other wounds probably? .. woodpecker marks, bugholes, cracks, broken off branches...

Spalting
 

Spalting comes in a lot of ways but it is various fungi that cause it. In standing living trees where you see streaking, like this Sugar Maple, it usually starts from bugs drilling holes. I’ve heard it said that the fungi find bug poop quite enticing and it grows out from there. I think the tap holes left in the trees and the sweet sap in them is all you need to attract plenty of bugs or maybe that is all that is needed for the fungi to start.

I usually see the white rot fungi with the marbled black lines in wood that is in a more advanced level of decay. I see this mostly in woods that are laying on the damp forest floor. There is a finite window of opportunity if we’re concerned about the strength in of the wood because the fungi are making the wood lighter weight but are definitely weakening the wood.

There is a lot of science in all of this and it’s fascinating to read up on. There are hazards to avoid so it’s important to gain some understanding before working with it.

You can even buy fungus cultures that bring up a variety of different colors if you want to start growing your own!

Curly Brazilian Rosewood
 

Here is a curly figured Brazilian Rosewood set I just got in:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9caf941f_b.jpg

I has beautiful color and figure and its ring is all that only Brazilian Rosewood can do.

You may have noticed I have been on a bit of a new woods shopping spree. This should be it for awhile. I can stop, I know I can stop! We'll be returning to your regular program shortly!

Thanks for viewing,
Mark

Holy cow! that’s going to make a beautiful guitar.

Shazam!!! That's an incredible set of BRW, Mark!

Can't wait to see you make it into something!