Crotian Plumwood Scales

Description

Dimensions: 10 x 50 x 130mm approx. Sold as a book matched pair

Croatian Plumwood is one of the best fruitwoods for knife handles – and Croatia is a perfect source for it.

Most of it is European Plum / Prunus domestica – the same species that covers half of Slavonia and Posavina for sljivovica. When those old orchard trees – Bistrica, Požegača – get grubbed out after 30-40 years, you get small but very dense logs. That’s where the good stuff comes from.

What it is like

• Hard and dense: Around 1,660 lbf (7,380 N) on the Janka scale, harder than cherry, close to hard maple.
• Grain & colour: Tight, dense grain with fine even texture, like many fruitwoods. Heartwood is vivid reddish-brown with purple veins – fresh cut it can look almost violet, then matures to a deep reddish brown with dark streaks. Sapwood is pale cream, often book-matched for contrast.
• Feel: UK toolmakers have long rated it as one of the nicest woods for chisel handles, London pattern handles, saw handles – any tool handle.

Croatian stock tends to be more figured than northern European plum. Old, un-irrigated trees on limestone get mineral staining, burrs around graft unions, and that deep purple heart you don’t get from a garden plum.

These blocks will make excellent scales and carved handles.