A friend of mine had 4 old boards in his attic. About six and a half feet long and 17" wide. Rough sawn and five quarter. Been stored for 70 years or more by his grandfather who supposedly brought them home from Asia. He knows I'm a wood guy and he asked if I wanted them or he was going to cut them up for firewood. As soon as I picked one up I said you're not burning these. Very heavy and I knew they were something special. Some splitting from heat in the attic and not stickered properly but I'll put it to good use. I ripped up a split board and ran them through the planer. Old growth, tight vertical grain Rosewood! the tree must have been hundreds of years old.
Rainy day project yesterday. I pulled apart a split board by hand and noticed the curve in the grain. I had a beat up 4lb. sledge head that needed a handle. Got a little carried away and I probably will not be hitting stuff with this hammer.
The handle came from this split
Finished with Howard's Feed-N-Wax