Padauk

Padauk (or padouk) is an orange wood - often brilliantly so - from Africa or Asia.  Most padauk is probably African, from the Pterocarpus soyauxii tree.  Padauk is very hard and dense, and generally nice to work with.  

Padauk will fade to an orange-tinted, warm brown over time due to exposure to UV light.  Therefore, it's a good idea to protect your padauk miniSpinner from the sun as it will accelerate the color change.  It helps to use a finish with a UV inhibitor, but even then the orange color will eventually fade.    

This wood was marked as bloodwood but it quickly became obvious that it was, in fact, padauk.  It can be difficult to tell the two woods apart, particularly in a dim warehouse.  In better light, the more bluish, oxblood tone of bloodwood is easily distinguished from the brilliant orange of padauk.