Izombe

[rtropp]

Has anyone heard of this wood. If so, would it be a decent replacement for Boxwood. 

Its description says, "Izombe by the Piece - Fine texture and warm golden tones make Izombe pleasing to both touch and eye—color is very stable over time!"

[mtaylor]

I've not heard of this wood.  If you don't get any responses, I'd suggest ordering a piece or two and test it.

[Dave_E]

How does it bend, take heat, stain and paint? Things to ponder.

 

[Jaager]

It is in the Wood Database. 

It is not yet an endangered species but may be getting close.  It comes from the Congo region.

Only an estimate of its hardness puts it about equal to Hard Maple.

The photo does not show that it has open pores, or obvious grain.

 

My read of it

Probably meets our requirements

It is likely to be a one off situation as far as being able to depend on continuing to source it, if you like it.

It sort of puts one in a dilemma. 

     Buy one plank and immediately process it for look at scale.  Then hope it is still available for a larger order.

     Gamble with a ~> 100 BF first order and hope that is not something that you only use for hidden areas, jigs.

     Get enough for a project or two, then in a few years not be able to get any more.

 

My perspective on how much is needed per hull is for POF -framing stock - at near museum scale  - 10-20 BF per hull - a lot going to sawdust or scroll cut waste.

[allanyed]

On 9/4/2022 at 4:30 PM, Jaager said:

10-20 BF per hull

I had never really looked at how much wood goes into a model but after going back on my last orders of castello and what has come out of it, your figures look to be right on for full framing, planking and misc things.  Breaking it down further, that is less than $50 for a fully framed model and even less for a POB.  Add in holly and maybe pear or some such, the cost in materials is not as bad as many think it would be for materials that are far superior to those used by many, not all, kit makers.

Allan

[rtropp]

Thanks all for your thoughts.

I'm thinking that I would be better of trying to find a good source for costello and swiss pear.  I may buy one or two boards just to see what it is like but would probably be better off with tried and true.

Richard

[Chuck]

The issue is its not easy to find boards that clean and clear.   If you look at that wood on many sites it can get very grainy.  So unless you can go in person and pick out some nice clear and color correct boards you may end up tossing a lot of it.  I buy my woods in bulk and you have no idea how much of it turns out to be not useable for our purposes.   It just ends up as firewood.  

 

If you arent in the business of making thousands of parts commercially your best bet is to just stick to the classics and buy a little at a time.   Just stockpile it over time so its not a big one time expense.   Hold out for the best holly too.   Nice white pieces.  I know Joe at Modelers sawmill just picked up a batch of really nice holly.  It was a small batch but when you see nice stuff you should grab it.

 

Chuck

[Jaager]

4 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Hold out for the best holly too.   Nice white pieces.

Chuck,

When looking around the Wood Database  it looks to me that the species of Holly readily available in Europe is not snow white.  It is closer to Pine,  which would make the European species sort of realistic as deck planking.   As far as I can tell, there is no species of wood  commercially available for full size decking that is even close to snow white.

 

I wonder if a translation error is in play here.  I made a similar error when I mistook what Underhill meant when he recommended Sycamore - which for him was a species of Maple that is about 80-90% of the way to Hard Maple.  I thought he meant the American Sycamore species.  It is similar in color to Maple, and it is hard enough but not as hard,  but the grain is highly figured ( Lacewood), it stinks,  the grain fibers want to roll.

All in all sort of foul stuff.

[Chuck]

 

Really nice holly in the USA can be found that is really really white.  But eventually it will mellow and possibly darken a bit.  But I have pieces that are years old and still remarkable bright white.  As you can see.  Its hard to find and expensive.   This is a 1 7/8" thick by 5" wide and 15.5" long brick of very nice holly.  It cost me around $50 years ago.

 

 

[glbarlow]

Looks pretty white to me.

 

I have models with holly decks that are still quite white even years later.

[rtropp]

Thanks all,

I guess as I run across wood that looks like it would work I should at least give it a try.  It seems to contain "luck of the draw" elements.  I found I can't always tell how accurate the pictures depict color and grain.  

I shall stick with some of the dealers that are mentioned on the site.

 

Richard