"Jaguars Paw" HELP!

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Woodythepecker

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I went to see an old client today who wants to commission a large cabinet that will house his wifes clock collection. In the main it will be made from Maple, with 5mm bevel glass in the doors and side panels.

This is all easy enough but it is the wood for the inlay and door knobs that has got me stumped. She wants these made out of "Jaguars Paw" and nothing else will do. Now i am far from an expert on exotic woods but i have never heard of this. I have looked in every book i have got but none of these mention it. A search on the internet also proved fruitless. I did ask his wife if she had seen any of it before and apparently her sisters husband who lives in the USA had some which he came across in his dads workshop. He in turn got it a few years ago at a wood fair. All he remembers is that it was very expensive, but worth every penny as it is beautiful.

I have now come to a dead end and so i hope that someone here can help.

I do not want to let this client down because he has put a lot of business my way. in fact it was him who convinced me to start up on my own.

Regards

Woody
 
Woody, I've heard of Paw wood (I think, mostly used for carving and turning, maybe) but never Jaguars Paw Wood? Nope, and a search turns up nowt.

Noel
 
Can't help, but another idea might be that "Paw" is a vernacular of "pau" which is brasilian for stick or wood. "Onca" is a jaguar-like cat found in Brasil. Mind you "pau d'onca" doesn't bring any results either. Possibly look for other variations on the idea?

Did you take a photo of the wood panels? Might be able to identify it that way.
 
Woody,

I've punted your question over the pond to my Mum who lives in Florida. Her husband's nephew is a master carpenter so hopefully he can find someone who knows the answer.

Cheers

Tim
 
Hi

I don't know if its what you are looking for, but I have bought Jaguars Ear from Timberline in the past. www.exotichardwoos.co.uk It is a very hard S.American timber

If its not on their website phone them and they should be able to help
 
Thank you all for your help. This is certainly going to be a hard one.

Aragorn, no i don't have a photo because i haven't actual seen the wood. It was seen in the US.

Tim hopefully your mum will come up trumps.

After speaking to someone today i might have one lead. Apparently this bloke i was taking to remembers seeing Tommy Walsh in one of his programs on Discovery Home and Leisure. He cannot remember what it is called but it is the one where Tommy went and helped a different trades persons for a day. Anyway on this particular show he was helping a top class flooring specialist, who had restored the floor at Winsor Castle after the fire, and he remembers this bloke showing Tommy a piece of wood. He said that it was called Jaguars something or other but he couldn't remember if it was "Paw"
He went onto say that this flooring guy told tommy that it was very expensive and very rare.
This is a long shot but if i email Discovery they might come up trumps.

I will let you know what happens.

Regards

Woody
 
Tim hopefully your mum will come up trumps.


God knows what my mum was doing up so early but she has replied to my email.

She is seeing her nephew at a lunch tomorrow so will ask then but she also said that he is likely to ask where in the States your client heard about it because the vernacular names are so different. I imagine if you can't find out it won't matter hugely.

Also Aquila's mention of Timberline is a smart one - I imagine they are definitely worth talking to.

Cheers

Tim
 
Tim her sister lives in Santa Monica california which if my memory serves right is in or just outside LA.

I forgot to add earlier that i have also spoken to my son who at the moment is working up near Ohio to keep a look out for some. I maybe lucky because he has changed companies and will now be working in a number of different towns over the next few months, so he will have more chance to hunt some down.
The only bad thing about this is he was meant to be coming home soon but now he could be staying there for a long while yet.

Thank your mum for me.

Regards

Woody
 
I seen the start of this thread this morning and for some reason cats paws sprung to mind
then the link to tommy walsh brought it all back,yes I watched that episode I think he was interfering with a rather expensive wood floor that was being laid in a rather posh pad in Mayfair I think?
The center or border had this rather expensive wood that looked like cats paw prints cant remember if it was solid wood or a veneer.
Try you search at veneer sellers in London

Cheers
 
SP, thanks for your reply. No it definitely wasn't veneer. apparently Tommy asked this bloke something like what was the rarest, most expensive, or his favorite wood and the man then showed him a piece.

I am still going to try veneer sellers though because they may be able to point me in the right direction.

Cheers

Woody
 
Hello Woodthepecker,
I was in the a timber yard a while back and was talking to a chap about sapwood being on both faces of the timber in walnut. And he went onto to say that this is not acceptable as it should only be seen on one face which would give you the choice wether you would like it to be seen in the piece that you were making. Anyway to cut a long story short he went on to say that a lot of people like the cat paws marking in which i cant remember but is really a attractive defect. Will repost later if i can rem what timber he was refering to.

Hope this might help

Simuk
 
Woody

This also gets me thinking along the lines of Cat's paw. Chris' link to the wonderful hobbithouse website shows a sparse figuring on cherry but the figuring can be quite extensive in, say, oak and maybe a jaguar is a big cat?

If you can't get to the bottom of this just show your client this thread to prove everyone tried.

Regards

Roy
 
Jake i am positive that is him, its got to be. Thanks mate i really appreciate your help, and of course everyone else that has tried to help.

I will let you know how i get on.

Regards

Woody

Edit, sorry Roy i posts must have crossed. Thanks to Jake (re Tommy Walsh, Winsor Castle, Flooring Specialist link) i think we have at least found the guy who might know something about it. If not thanks to everyone involved i can at least show the client we tried
 
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