Padauk – Sawn – Turning – 75×75×300mm

Supplied as a rough-sawn turning blank. Photo shows the dressed face to reveal the grain; the blank ships in its sawn state, ready to turn.

Supplied as a rough-sawn turning blank. The face shown is dressed so you can see the grain; your blank arrives unturned in its sawn state, ready to mount and turn.

This padauk spindle blank is the colour that makes a plain pen or handle look deliberate. Padauk’s fluorescent orange settles to a rich russet, and at spindle scale it does its best work as the contrast piece in a project, not the whole thing. It’s a small, limited parcel — while stocks last.

What it is. This is African Padauk, Pterocarpus soyauxii, a dense West African hardwood the turning trade reaches for specifically because of its colour and stability. Genuine Padauk in this size doesn’t come through often — this parcel is rare.

What you’d make with this padauk spindle blank at 75×75×300.

• Turned pens and letter openers
• Tool and chisel handles
• Bottle stoppers and small finials
• Light pulls and drawer knobs

Working notes

• Density: ~745 kg/m³ — dense
• Hardness: ~7.6 kN Janka — hard, holds fine detail on spindle work
• Grain: mostly straight, tight and even at this cross-section
• Surface: Supplied rough-sawn — dress one face true before templating or glue-up.
• Working: turns to a crisp finish between centres, fine orange dust — wear a mask
• Finishing: a coat of Danish oil then a buffed wax topcoat holds the colour longest against fade

What turners say about it. Pen and spindle turners on the major turning forums pick Padauk specifically for the contrast it gives against paler timbers in segmented or multi-wood pieces — it’s a colour tool as much as a timber.

The stack it came from. This padauk spindle blank is old stock — it sat in the back of the shed for many years before we recovered it and got it ready to sell — genuine parcels at spindle scale are rare, and this one’s limited. See the rest of the Padauk range or browse turning blanks generally. Once it goes, the listing closes.