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Old 6th December 2014, 09:07 PM   #8
spiral
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,712
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kronckew
i was recently reading an article on the striped maple. seems that while very decorative it did not serve well on weapons, especially axes/tomahawks as it had a bad habit of breaking along the dark stripes. thus a good wood, such as ash, or hickory.
Indeed! Athough rarer fiddleback does occur in Ash & hickory as well, & in all species it make the wood stiffer , which can lead to breakage from sides loads or impact. {Good for pillars, not good for beams!}

The added stiffness helps the Violin sound/structure as well as being beautiful.

It great for gun stocks & is still used, but it seems to me only the last few decades some have used it for axe handles?

The chemical burning etc,. is not something I was ever aware of before this thread.
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