Wenge Boards

In my last post on the slide puzzle table I mentioned wanting to use some wood from the Rare Woods collection here at RISD. After spending some time on my hands and knees looking at the hundreds of boards in the collection, I decided that they didn't really have what I was looking for. I am hoping another opportunity will present itself but in the meantime I went ahead and purchased wood elsewhere. Specifically, I was looking for a wood with a strong grain pattern but not so strong as to be totally dominating.

I collaged this sample with Photoshop using an image of some Tigerwood boards. The grain is distinct but the strong contrast in colors was just a little too much. Throughout the whole research process, Graham was a big fan of Wenge (a wood native to Africa) and after seeing some samples of the actual wood I was sold. I found a company in Pennsylvania that was selling boards from a "flitch" (an entire tree cut into boards and then labeled in sequence) and bought #23 and #24. I needed boards that were exceptionally long and wide, otherwise I could have purchased the boards locally. These particular boards are 13 feet long and 23" wide each.

The entire studio has been quite impressed with the boards in their raw state. They really are good looking - hopefully I can maintain that beauty as they transition into furniture.