Now that I’ve got a carbide-tipped bandsaw blade, I decided to do something that is almost suicide on a regular steel blade: I was resawing some Bloodwood sides/back for an upcoming psaltery that I’m working on.

I admit that when I first saw Bloodwood—with its amazing blood-red coloring, and its astounding hardness, I was enamored. I could definitely see some useful applications for this wood in musical instrument building.

Yet, as a woodworker, the more I work with this stuff, the more I have grown to disdain it. This wood is so dense, it wrecks just about everything it touches. It dulls saw blades very quickly, it clogs sandpaper, and it bleeds its reddish color into surrounding wood surfaces unless extreme care is taken during its finishing.

So why am I undertaking yet another project with this annoying wood?

Well, to be honest, the color and tap-tone is simply unlike any other wood on the planet. So I guess I’ll endure one more project with this punishing wood!