Snakewood Scales

Snakewood is a fairly rare, exotic hardwood that often exhibits a striking snakeskin like pattern in the figure.  Very beautiful stuff!

Snakewood is notoriously hard to dry, with a lot of loss to checking.  Snakewood trees are rarely over one foot in diameter.  This along with the difficulty drying the wood leads to high prices.

Snakewood is one of the densest, hardest woods available and does require stabilization.