I'm needing to pick up some really special wood for a couple special duck whistles for a customer, and have settled on ordering some amboyna burl online. I've never worked with it before, and from what I've read it is a pretty good turning wood. For my whistles I really prefer using woods like blackwood or cocobolo....Very dense woods tend to allow me to make the sharp edges I need at the sound hole. I've seen it for sale stabilized (which I know would work), but I don't know how it compares to other woods and of course stabilizing it adds to the cost. Is it necessary to stabilize it in order for really figured burl in this species to be cleanly turned? Or will the raw wood compare to cocobolo, bocote, or similar exotics?
Never gave it a lot of attention until I saw a call J.Rode is working on last weekend. Beautiful stuff!