Birdseye Maple and Cocobolo Box - 165
Measures 13" long by 9" wide by 6" tall. $140
Birdseye Maple - Birdseye Maple is not technically a distinct species of Maple, but rather, it's a figure that's occasionally found in Sugar Maple trees. It's named “birdseye” (sometimes simply written out as: Bird's Eye Maple) because the figure resembles small bird's eyes. Trees that grow in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States yield the greatest supply, along with some varieties in the Rocky Mountains. It is not uncommon in Huon Pine, which grows only in Tasmania. Although there are a few clues in a tree's bark that indicate the lumber might have bird's eye figure, it is usually necessary to fell the tree and cut it apart to know for sure.
The figure is reportedly caused by unfavorable growing conditions for the tree. The Sugar Maple attempts to start numerous new buds to get more sunlight, but with poor growing conditions the new shoots are aborted, and afterward a number of tiny knots remain. Research into the cultivation of bird's eye maple has so far discounted the theories that it is caused by pecking birds deforming the wood grain or that an infecting fungus makes it twist. However, no one has demonstrated a complete understanding of any combination of climate, soil, tree variety, insects, viruses or genetic mutation that may produce the effect.
Cocobolo - Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood of the tree Dalbergia retusa from Central America. Only the heartwood is used: this is typically orange or reddish-brown in color, often with a figuring of darker irregular traces weaving through the wood. Cocobolo is oily in look and feel. This oil lends a strong, unmistakable floral odor even to well-seasoned wood and occasionally stains the hands with prolonged exposure. Standing up well to repeated handling and exposure to water, a common use is in gun grips and knife handles. Besides its use in gun grips and knife handles, cocobolo is favored for fine inlay work for custom high-end cue sticks, police batons, pens, brush backs, and musical instruments, especially guitars, drums and basses. Jerry Garcia's Tiger (guitar) has a cocobolo top and back.