On Mon, 22 Feb 2016 20:46:43 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader
wrote:

Larry Jaques 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.

That's exactly how it gets in there. The whole process is a bit
mysterious, but the idea is that silica is absorbed as silicic acid
and silica is deposited on the cell walls. Some plants absorb more
than others. Grasses, like bamboo, absorb a lot. FWIW, rosewood is
related to the sweet pea. I don't know if that has anything to do with
its silica absorption, but it's a curious aside.

[Courtesy of the Master Gardener program I almost finished at Rutgers,
before I got too sick to finish it.]

--
Ed Huntress