Yellow Wood Scrolls. Lumix M4/3 14mm

A few weeks back, I went rummaging through my lumber cache, and discovered, having completely forgotten about it, that I have just one plank of Yellow Wood (Podocarpus Latifolius) which grows in Southern Africa. I have been hoarding this precious plank for more than thirty years, waiting for the appropriate furniture project to come along.  After weeks of sketches, squinting at South African antique furniture in my books on the subject, and then producing a scale drawing, I have some firm dimensions.  There's an adage amongst woodworkers about measuring twice and cutting once...  So, with tape measure, saw and Sharpie in hand, off I went to cut me some Yella Wood, approximate a third of my  plank.  The first job was to saw oversized pieces for frames, and then to plane everything absolutely flat.  That takes a very sharp plane and an accurate straight edge.  Here are some of the shaving fresh off the plane.  The wood seems to have no figure at all, and the grain is extremely fine.  It's almost not like wood in some way, as if it was created in a lab.  It has an exquisiteness to it which makes it even harder to understand how these enormous and majestic trees could have been felled in such quantities as to now be an endangered species -  to make railway sleepers.  Fortunately, it also proved to be a very suitable wood for furniture making.  More to follow.