I've been calling it rosewood... but really I have no idea, only that it
is *very* hard (compared, for example, to a girls hip), a bit interwoven
in the grain (here and there), and the spokeshave chips look like this:

http://www.xenius.org/tsudonimh/20051103/cwc-close.jpg (sorry the image
is a little big...)

Any ideas?

I also don't think the blade was as sharp as it could be (I'm new at
this...) or is that chattering (which I don't remember feeling)
something unavoidable?

--
er