Very Rare Tamo Ash turning blank knife scale 5.5 x 2.1 x 1.3 Grade A+ #TA7

Description

Very Rare Tamo Ash turning blank knife scale 5.2 x 1.7 x 1.2 Grade A+ #TA7
Very Rare Tamo Ash turning blank knife scale 5.2 x 1.7 x 1.2 Grade A+ #TA7
Description
This listing is for VERY RARE Tamo Ash knife handle material shipped by Priority Mail Flat Rate US mail to anywhere in the U.S. or Internationally. Tamo Ash has an extremely beautiful luster when used as a knife handle. Buy these blanks and the price is only .00 each plus shipping. Sizes vary slightly. NICE HIGH FIGURE BLANK. GRADE A+. Not stabilized.
Pictures ARE OF the actual blanks. Great low price. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED. WE COMBINE SHIPPING.
Tamo Ash (Fraxinus mandshurica)
by
Peter MacSween
Tamo is a specific term that describes the stunning three-dimensional figure that can appear, very rarely, in some trees of Fraxinus mandshurica also called Japanese Ash. The figure is quilt like, sometimes swirling, often appearing like scattered peanuts on a lustrous brown background. It is never boring and unique in its appearance.
The tree itself is fairly nondescript  It grows throughout Northern Asia including China, Korea, Russia and Japan. Tamo Ash originated from trees growing in Japan, particularly the island of Hokkaido. It grows from 60 to 100 feet in height with diameters of 1 to 2 feet.
The wood from Tamo Ash trees is similar to North American Black Ash (Fraxinus nigra). The heartwood is a medium brown with a creamy to light brown sapwood. The sapwood can be quite large and is not sharply demarcated from the heart.  It is ring-porous, so the resulting wood has a coarse uneven texture.  The grain is usually straight except for areas containing the Tamo figure. Tamo Ash figure is found only on small areas of the trunk; therefore, the rest of the trunk is plain figured and usually not harvested.
Mostly, Tamo Ash is available only as a veneer.  It is rotary sliced which enhances the figure and generates sequenced sheets. Solid Tamo Ash is very rare and usually has minimal figure. Data on solid Tamo Ash is incomplete since it is rarely used by woodworkers. If you do find some solids, you will find a wood that works well by machine or hand. Tools should be sharp to deal with the irregular grain  It glues and finishes well.  It will stain beautifully; but given the beauty of the figure, staining is frowned upon.
There are stories that the Tamo figure is the result of vines encircling the trunks of the trees and interfering with the movement of nutrients in the trunk. Apparently, this results in an altered pattern of growth which generates the Tamo figure. Historically, Japanese craftsmen reserved Tamo for royalty. Given Tamo’s rarity, they mimicked the process by tightening ropes around the ash trees to generate a more stable supply of this rare wood.
Others suggest that the Tamo Ash figure occurs only on trees that grow on steep mountain slopes and are exposed to strong winds blowing in off the oceans. I can’t confirm either theory regarding the formation of the Tamo figure, but both ideas are widespread in the literature. Either way, this wood is rare and expensive. Tamo Ash is on the CITES list, so only buy this material from reputable dealers.
We unconditionally guarantee your satisfaction. Customer care is our number one priority.
Payment
Buy it now items require immediate payment. We accept PayPal payments only. You will need a PayPal account in order to purchase with us. PayPal does allow you to purchase with your credit card so if you want to use a credit card to purchase that can be done with a Paypal account. If you want us to combine shipping on auction items DO NOT PAY FOR ITEMS YOU HAVE WON UNTIL YOU ARE DONE WITH ALL BIDDING. Then send us a note when you are finished bidding and we will send you an invoice with the proper shipping amount. We can no longer hold orders. Once paid for they will be shipped within one day.
Shipping
We combine shipping when possible but since we sell so many different items with so many different shipment options there is no single profile that can work for everything. Also, and this is very important, in order to maintain our status we must ship within one day. If you want us to combine shipping on auction items DO NOT PAY FOR ITEMS YOU HAVE WON UNTIL YOU ARE DONE WITH ALL BIDDING. Then send us a note when you are finished bidding and we will send you an invoice with the proper shipping amount. We can no longer hold orders. Once paid for they will be shipped within one day.
We have found that because of the high weight of ironwood the best option for shipping is nearly always USPS priority mail flat rate whether the shipment is domestic or international. For small items that we have listed as first class mail, those can be combined into flat rate boxes for a savings. Small flat rates can sometimes be consolidated into medium flat rate boxes. Medium flat rate boxes usually do not combine, they are already the best shipping option. Sometimes FEDEX is the best option but generally only when we are shipping to the east coast and the box is heavier than medium flat rate. Usually people buy all they want and we refund the extra amount they have paid for shipping. If you aren't comfortable doing that we understand and you can write to us asking that we make a listing for exactly the items you are interested in and we will make a special listing and send the link to you.
Terms of Sale
Desert Ironwood – Olneya Tesota
All international orders are shipped at full purchase value. We cannot and will not lower the value to avoid taxes. We are aware that tax rates can be high in some countries but we can’t afford to run the risk. Please don’t ask.
We use a grading system in order to sell blanks that are different in quality instead of mixing all qualities together into one box. Our standard knife handle size is 5.2 x 1.7 x 1.2 (sizes can vary slightly) and come in boxes of 38 blanks for domestic shipments. For international shipments we put as many into a medium flat rate box up to 20 pounds as possible (usually 36-38 blanks) because this is the maximum weight for shipping internationally with medium flat rate. The information below describes how we sort the blanks. We always stand 100% behind our blanks and if you are not satisfied, they may be returned with no questions asked. Upon request pictures and/or samples are available that show the overall quality of each grade.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: IRONWOOD, EVEN MORE THAN MOST WOODS, IS SUBJECT TO FLAWS SUCH AS CHECKS, VOIDS, PITS, AND CRACKS. YOU CAN EXPECT THAT IN A BOX OF EVEN GRADE A BLANKS SOME WILL HAVE SOME MINOR FLAWS. Minor cracks and voids can be easily repaired using CA glue or epoxy.
Grade A Blanks – These are top quality blanks, high figured and clean. These have little or no flaw. The highest figured wood is usually near the sapwood and near branches and diseased parts of the tree. If I threw out all the Grade A blanks with a tiny flaw there would not be much left in that category. So if you like high figure, you need to embrace some slight flaws also. Grade A blanks will have a combination of straight grain and swirly pattern. Most ironwood is straight grain so you can count on over 50% of the blanks being straight grain. May have small flaws of less than 5% of the overall blank.
Grade B Blanks – These are pretty nice blanks, usually with some small detail that makes it less than top grade. It may be the coloring is a little off, or there is a dark or light area. Most of these are figured. May have a small flaw of less than 8% overall. We only offer a generic version of this blank where the photos are not of the actual blank. We always clearly state when the photos are not of the actual blanks.
Grade C Blanks- These blanks will not have much figure. Most of them are just plain, smudged, or have a large dark or light area. These are suitable if you do not desire high figure and want a low price. They still make excellent knife handles despite the low figure. They may have a small flaw of less than 8% overall. We only offer a generic version of this blank where the photos are not of the actual blank. We always clearly state when the photos are not of the actual blanks.
Flawed Blanks – These blanks can be figured or plain and always have at least one flaw, but not over 15% flawed overall. Some of these blanks are really quite nice aside from the flaw. Generally these blanks are higher figure and nicer color than the Grade C blanks. I don’t recommend you buy them unless you are willing to repair or work around the flaw. Not for everyone but a great value if you are up to the challenge. These are great for hybrid scales.
Yellow/gold: These blanks are very low to no figure but are uniformly light in color. When polished to a very high sheen these blanks resemble marble. Grade A only, 5% or less flaw.
Dark blanks: These blanks are dark in color, sometimes solid dark and sometimes with light streaks. Beautiful wood, very popular. Grade A only with less than 5% flaw.
Sapwood blanks:
These are a combination of high figure and sapwood. The most beautiful wood is near the outside of the trunk, just inside the sapwood. These are usually the most striking wood from the ironwood tree. Spectacular high figure wood combined with a lovely sapwood offset makes fantastic carvings.
About Us
We have been selling desert ironwood (olneya tesota) on E-Bay since 2012 and have steadily built the business over the years. We started out selling just figurines but soon moved into raw wood for carvers, knife, and pen makers. We pride ourselves on our attention to the quality of the wood we sell, our quick and safe shipping, and our quick response to any questions our clients may have. We ship worldwide with the exception of China because of problems with customs officials in China. Our number one priority is customer satisfaction. If you ever have a problem with anything we ship you we will find a solution satisfactory to you.
Please feel free to write us anytime for special requests, combined shipping rates, or any other questions you may have.
Thanks for helping us become the successfull E-Bay business we have over the years.
Bill DeJarnette
Contact Us
You may contact us by writing through E-Bay.
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