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Pickin' Wood

I've decided that I'm going to narrow down the woods I make my rings with. Right now I have rings in my show made out of Argintine Lignum Vitae, Bocote, Chakte Viga, Cocobolo, Ebony, Guayacan, Lignum Vitae, Louro Preto, Mopani, Osage Orange, Pink Ivory, Purple Heart, Redheart, Rosewood, Tamboti, Tulipwood, Wenge, Ziricote, and maybe a few more. I love working with a few of these woods, while others I despise working with.

 I've already decided that I'm going to cut out are:

Argintine Lignum Vitae

 some of the rings seem to turn green after some time

Purpleheart and Ziricote 

these woods are just such a pain to work with that i don't really want to make a ring out of them unless someone really wants one

Bocote and Louro Preto 

because they seem to never sand smooth or some are just to week and break too often. 

Cocobolo 

 because people don't seem to like them.

I still have some of these woods for sale in my shop, but I don't think I am going to renew then once the listing expires. Eventually I think I might post these rings in one group listing, or donate them.

I would like to get to the point where I have around 10 consistent woods that I work with. I'm testing new woods every so often but the last few haven't met what I think is needed for a good stable ring. The woods I stand by now and love to work with are:

Guayacan 

Ebony

Chakte Viga

Osage Orange

Pink Ivory

Redheart

Tulipwood

Mopani

Tamboti

I would like to start making more rosewood rings, I just need to find a good source. All these woods I feel extremely confident in their strength and durability. If someone was to ask me which ring would last the longest I would with no hesitation say Guayacan. That's not to say that the other rings won't give it a run for it's money. It's just that Guayacan is just above all the most durable wood that I have, because it is by far the most durable wood in the world. But it's also one of the easier woods to work with, some of the lighter woods are actuly some of the harder ones to sand and saw.

Finding a consistent supply of good grade stock is also a challenge for some of the woods a I work with. I try to buy as much as I can when it's available, especially wood from the same tree. There are some woods, such as Guayacan and Tulipwood, where the wood varies greatly from tree to tree. Sometimes I can't match a ring for someone because I just don't have any more stock from the one they want.

Anyway, I just thought I would share about the woods I'm sort of picking through and choosing to make rings with.