Wide Padauk?

I want to make a padauk tray engraved with his favorite team’s logo for my son who bought me my Glowforge. However, the widest 1/2" thick board I can find is 8". That seems pretty skinny for a nice tray. Does anyone know of a supplier who carries reasonably priced, thin, very wide Padauk?
Thanks!

in which region, I have a wood supplier here in Las Vegas that carries a multitude of woods. But his shipping costs are Nuttier than squirrel poo.

2 Likes

I don’t have a source for you. I do have alternatives. I’m assuming that padauk is essential for its color in your concept, so I’ll come at it from that angle.

Alternative one: use a butt joint or two to make pieces of arbitrary width.

You can use contrasting woods to get a symmetrical striped look, as well.

Alternative two: use a more common species and stain it padauk orange. Maple is inexpensive and readily available. (And bonus it’s also domestic to most countries so easier on the world). Maple has chatoyancy that’s similar to padauk, I’m betting you could make a pretty close match.

Alternative three: use a nice plywood for the base and use padauk veneer to make it look like solid padauk. Source: https://www.veneersupplies.com/categories/Raw__Wood__Veneer/Wood__Veneer__N__-__Z/Padauk__Wood__Veneer/

Anyway if you don’t find a good source there are other options.

7 Likes

Thank you very much for the suggestions!

1 Like

I’m in Florida at this time, but thanks for the reply.

I’ve been trying to figure out this very thing, but with purpleheart. What I think I’m going to try is doing some kind of “shiplap” thing with the 3 or 4 inch wide boards, gluing them to a baltic birch base. If that doesn’t work I’m going to punt and just use something else entirely :slight_smile:

But then again, I’m not going to engrave anything, so that may not be the best solution for you either.

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 32 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.