On 02/22/2016 2:46 PM, Cydrome Leader wrote:
Larry wrote:
On Fri, 19 Feb 2016 21:24:57 -0600, Martin Eastburn
wrote:

It is typically full of silicon. Tough on tooling. Tough on what it
slides against... :-)

Bamboo is also full of silicon and is thus hard on tooling.

I've heard stories that you can get sparks cutting large pieces of
rosewood. How do all these minerals even get into the wood in the first
place? It doesn't seem like silica/sand get be absorbed by plants and end
up in the wood.

They're formed internally from the dissolved minerals in the water taken
in and then crystalize.

Ash are another altho again it's "silca" and "silicates", various oxides
of silicon the element.

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