Bubinga, is it a "mucky" wood?

[OscarG]

I was resawing a 7" wide slab of Bubinga on a bandsaw.

Afterwards the blade teeth were covered in like almost sticky gunk...

The blade is an older one (one that came with my second hand machine, a Tuffsaws replacement is on its way), 3 or 4 TPI, but it cut through it easy enough and left a relatively clean finish.

I had the main dust extraction going and an additional one clamped to the fence near the guides so I don't think dust extraction was an issue.

First time I've used bubinga, is that typical to leave a mess on a blade? Is it a mucky/oily (whatever the correct term is!) wood?

 

[sunnybob]

Definitely not.
I use bubinga a lot, and although the dust is brightly coloured and will coat the bandsaw blade (and anything else in three feet of it), its just dust.

Are you SURE its bubinga? Are there any soft parts in the wood? Most of all, are you sure the blade was clean before you cut?
Another thought; is that blade oiled?

 

[OscarG]

Bought it as bubinga, hope it's the real thing!

The ends of the original slab were a bit dark, I assume it had it's ends sealed to stop cracking etc. The beginning and end of the cut it would smoke a little, the other 99% it was as good as gold.

I didn't oil the blade but it's a 2nd hand machine so maybe previous ownwer did? Think it was clean-ish! Only cut pine on it prior to this.

After machining up, got this...

 

[sunnybob]

definitely bubinga. The dark ends are burnt from being cut either with a dull saw blade or by letting the wood linger against the blade. Because this wood is so hard it heats up very quickly and discolours.
I suspect its just a blunt blade that has collected the burnt fragments. The teeth dont look all that sharp under the muck.

Be careful of burning when sanding. Hold the end grain against a powered sander and it will go dark in seconds.
Hold it till it darkens and then try to hold that part, it will burn your hand. The dark burn marks have to be fully sanded out with slow light pressure.

Beautiful wood to work with, but tricky to keep burn free especially on the grain ends.
Sometimes its a bit oily, so sand the slabs immediately before glue up and use a lot of pressure to keep the pieces in full contact while drying.
Whats the sandwich filling? is that oak?

 

[OscarG]

Yep, the middle bits are oak recycled from some 15cm floorboards.

Ha, yep the bubinga behaved exactly as you described when sanding. It doesn't like my bobbin sander at all ;-)

I do love the smell of it though

I've added some progress pics in the "projects" thread if you want to take a look.

 

[Yojevol]

This thread reminded me of the only time I've used Bubinga. I bought a piece of "Red Hardwood" from a Pugh's of Ledbury auction. I didn't know what it was but it looked a nice bit of stuff. I later had it identified by a local interesting timbers expert as bubinga.
A few months later my daughter asked if I would make a coffee table for her friend as a wedding present. I said "I've got just the thing". As the wedding day approached I hadn't had a chance to discuss possible designs with the betrothed couple, so for the Big Day I decided to clean up and polish the said piece of Bubinga. At least Jo would have something to give on the day. At the reception all the wedding gifts were on display and the future coffee table top was leaning up against the marquee post complete with white bow and best wishes card. As I was standing nearby with glass om champers in hand, I heard this rather loud voice(female) exclaim
" Ooh, somebody's given them a plank of wood!"
Well this is how it turned out:-

It now resides in New Zealand
Brian

PS the legs are maple

 

[sunnybob]

Brian, what size is the coffee table?

And how did you make the "legs"?

 

[Yojevol]

Brian, what size is the coffee table?

And how did you make the "legs"?

Going by memory now - 42 x 18" or so.

Coopered - I made up 16 angled staves and glued them together. I then made end caps so that I could mount them in the lathe for turning into true cylinders.
The "feet" were made up in a similar way but mounted on a faceplate for turning. I think the feet segments were biscuited rather than relying just on endgrain gluing.
Brian

 

[sunnybob]

A very unusual wedding present alright.