Snakewood
(Piratinera Guianensis) The Snakewood tree can grown to 65-80 ft tall, with the trunk only measuring .5-1 foot in diameter. Snakewood or also know as Letterwood can be challenging to work. When polished, it is one of the most beautiful species of hardwood. The heartwood is a dark red or reddish brown and looks like the patterns of a snake skin. Grain is typically straight. This wood comes from South America. Extremely heavy, hard and strong wood but splits easy. Very smooth when finished; has natural polish. As a rare and small tree, prices for surfaced and milled Snakewood that display the characteristic snakeskin pattern are perhaps the most expensive of any exotic lumber worldwide in terms of per-boardfoot cost. I am looking forward to working with snakewood, I think it is going to make a beautiful knife.