@chadmart1076 its in the backhills of western NC. I never knew it was there, but it happens to be about 15 minutes from my moms house, so I will be going back quite often.
Turns out they are a mass distributor of exotic hardwoods to vendors. The seemed interested in working with me to offload pieces similar to what I showed in the first photo (and slightly larger), so if people are interested in getting some of these thinner hardwood pieces let me know and I will look into setting something up.
I love the google listing," people tend to spend 15 mins to 1.5 hours here". I bet I could hit 2 hours…then out for BBQ. Nice finds. Have fun with all that potential!
Its Leopardwood! But thank for looking out! It does look similar to lacewood.
From what Ive heard, lacewood is not only bad in a laser, but the dust from any type of milling is an irritant. People have had to empty their entire shops, clean it from top to bottom, and even throw out their shop vacs to get rid of the issues. Lacewood also describes a number of different woods that look similar, including sycamore.
I didnt happen to pick up much with strong grain to use in the laser, as it would be hard to see the engravings, but I did pick up a TON of purpleheart, yellowheart, padauk, and cherry. ( along with some cool samples of others for non laser projects)
Was just notified that some new proofgrade materials got here today too! I’m bustin at the seams! Really excited to try out the cherry hardwood, walnut ply, and maple hardwood for 3d engraves!
Yeah, back row is walnut ply, cherry ply, maple ply, and black acrylic. Front smaller pieces are the hardwoods: cherry, maple, walnut, 1/4" acrylic black, and clear
So after reading more into it, some woods are known as sensitizers, and can cause you to develop allergic reactions over time. Lacewood reactions are commonly caused by allergies to the wood. Rosewood is apparently a very bad sensitizer as well. If you are in contact with rosewoods (especially cocobolo), you can develop an allergy, and even pink eye. I overheard a discussion while I was in woodcraft where one guy was telling another guy that if he was working with Afrormosia to pull out any splinters immediately, or it could lead to gangrene/sepsis.
This page has a list of woods and their effects: (some scary stuff! knowings half the battle…)
