Exotic Wood Cutting Boards!

I recently made some more cutting boards. I'm constantly trying to create different patterns using different species, in different orders and thicknesses. I love working with different species of wood because every one works differently. I was looking through craigslist and found a guy selling tables that he'd made. Well, I called him because he said that he was from Chapin. I'm always looking for local woodworkers because it's cool to see what they are making and plus you can talk with someone who shares similar interests. Well, it ends up, I went to high school with him so I went over to his house to check out his shop and his work. While I was over there, I saw a big ol' pile of wood that was just sitting outside without protection or support. I asked him if I could look through it and explained that I love recovering and salvaging wood. He said to take a look. I found a few good pieces of purple heart. He let me have those and then showed me a stack of wood that was also not being stored properly but these were actually long planks of Angeline and more Purple heart. I asked him if I could buy some because I couldn't stand to see it go to waste. So he sold me some wood and I also told him that he needed to re-stack that wood and cover it up if he didn't want it to warp and rot. He promised me he would and told me to come back if I wanted to buy more. But for now, I've got plenty to work with. I made some cutting boards using both. The pictures are of just that. I still consider these recycled because I definitely saved this wood from being wasted. Purple heart is a beautiful exotic wood that originates from the rain forest areas of Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname. It is extremely dense and is pretty resistant to sandpaper. I went through quite a bit of paper trying to smooth these down. But it's gorgeous. I noticed that when you pair the purple heart with the walnut heartwood it makes USC gamecock colors, garnet and black! Pictured above, you can see how you gamecock fans could pull this out while tailgating before a game and get some comments (but maybe not from the Clemson fans, haha!) So I'm gonna burn the gamecock logo into these boards using a branding iron and make some South Carolina Gamecock cutting boards. The Angeline is a unique wood with a distinct odor. It grows throughout the West Indies and from Southern Mexico through Central America to Northern South America and Brazil. It has a very coarse texture and irregular grain. It's the tan/blonde colored wood paired with the purple heart (purple) in the picture above. I like it! Check em out.