Snakewood A to G

Snakewood, or “Letterwood” is from Suriname in the northern part of South America. The logs are carried usually on foot out of the jungle and they are super heavy. The part we call snakewood is the hard core of a much larger tree. The tree is mostly a white wood but the core is this hard wood which sometimes has interesting figure in it. We have found it is near impossible to actually buy a snakewood log, do the labor to make it into pieces, reject the majority which has no figure and still make money. We are just selling off most of what we bought many years ago, and lost thousands of dollars and many saw blades and hours of labor to do that. So if you think you are going to make out buying a snakewood log, the only slight chance you have is to select a small one and make sure the figure shows all the way into the core but checking the ends of the log.

Note that all snakewood, or nearly all has some small checks in it or will develop them. We do not guarantee you will not find checks inside, in fact we almost guarantee you will! It is the nature of this wood type and you should always be ready with a thin superglue applicator when working it. (if you catch them right away they are usually invisible after finishing) Avoid heat of sanding/boring as that is the cause of most cracks.

All the snakewood we sell was dried many , many years ago. It is as ready to use as it can be. Not for those without experience in working difficult woods.

The prices shown are the same prices we charged over 14 years ago. This is just an effort to recoup some of the losses, rather than to make money.