Types Of Wood
All of my items are designed to be a celebration of the woods used. But what woods are which? How can you tell? Well here's a bit of a primer to give you an idea, and possibly help should you wish request a custom product made just for you.
Angelique (Dicorynia guianensis) heartwood is reddish to brown and shows wide purplish band. It has a straight grain and medium texture. It weathers well and is resistant to fungi and insect attack. A very hard wood
Ash (Fraxinus americana) has a light brown heartwood with almost all white sapwood. The wood has straight, coarse, open-pored grain of even texture
Bloodwood (Brosimium paraense) or "cardinal wood" as it is commonly referred to, is a medium to hard wood with red to crimson color and tight straight interlocking grain. The bright, vivid red color can darken to a darker brownish red over time with exposure to light and air. Applying a thick protective finish, and keeping the wood out of direct sunlight can help minimize this color shift. Bloodwood is extremely dense, and may have a blunting effect on cutters.
Bocote (Cordia spp.) has a yellowish brown body with dramatic dark brown to almost black stripes. Color tends to darken with age. Also, the grain patterning can be quite striking, particularly on flatsawn areas. It's not uncommon to see many "eyes" and other figuring in Bocote; though unlike knots, they do not seem to present any special challenges in machining.
Bubinga (Guibourtia spp.), an African species also known as African Rosewood, is a beautiful dense hardwood with a rose-colored background and darker purple striping. Turns and machines well with sharp tools. Due to bubinga's high density and natural oils, it takes a high polish.
Canarywood (Centroloblum orinocense) color can vary from a pale yellow-orange to a darker reddish brown, usually with darker streaks throughout. The color tends to darken with age. A medium texture hardwood, the grain is typically straight, but can be irregular or wild on some pieces.
Aromatic red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) is a soft wood with aroma that is a natural repellent to moths and insects. Sapwood is white to cream and is intermixed and contrasts with the salmon to dark red of the heartwood. Expect tight, closed knots throughout the material. Aromatic red cedar is easy to work and it reportedly has a high silica content, which can dull cutters. Aromatic red cedar glues and finishes well, though in many applications, the wood is left unfinished to preserve its aromatic properties.
Cherry (Prunus serotina) features heartwood in reddish brown to deep red, with brown flecks, and will naturally darken with age. It is stabile, straight-grained, and has a decent strength-to-weight ratio, though it’s not as hard as some other denser domestic hardwoods.
Brazilian Cherry (Hymenaea courbaril), also known as Jatoba, can vary in color from a lighter orange-brown, to a darker reddish brown, which tends to become darker with age. The grain tends to be wavy and interlocked much like mahogany. Brazilian Cherry glues, stains and finishes well, and also turns well on the lathe. Grows in Central America, southern Mexico, northern South America, and the West Indies. Jatoba is exceptionally stiff, strong, and hard—among the very toughest of all timbers worldwide.
Macassar Ebony (Diospyros celebica) has a dramatic striped appearance, somewhat similar to zebrawood, that is dark brown to black heartwood with contrasting bands of yellow to golden brown. Very hard, dense, and heavy, it can be very brittle at its heart.
Guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) has a light to medium brown heartwood with a reddish hue and streaks of darker brown. The sapwood is a pale yellow, clearly demarcated from the heartwood. The grain of Guanacaste is slightly interlocked, with a very coarse texture and a moderate natural luster.
American Holly (Ilex Opaca) is milled from the familiar landscaping broadleaf evergreen native to the eastern United States. Holly is a close grained, moderately heavy, creamy white wood with almost indistinct growth rings. One of the lightest colored woods, holly is traditionally used in inlays and purflings for the striking contrast it provides
Maple (Acer saccharum) sapwood color ranges from nearly white, to an off-white cream color, sometimes with a reddish or golden hue. The heartwood tends to be a darker reddish brown.
Curly Maple is not actually a species, but simply a description of a figure in the grain. Curly Maple occurs most often in soft maples, but is also seen in hard maples. The heartwood is typically a light tan to reddish brown color and, of course, features a pronounced grain pattern. The sapwood is usually cream colored with a reddish tint.
Bird's-eye Maple (Acer saccharum) is so named because the figure resembles small bird's eyes. Bird's-eye figure is a phenomenon that occurs within several kinds of wood, most notably in hard maple. The figure is reportedly caused by unfavorable growing conditions for the tree. The sugar maple attempts to start numerous new buds to get more sunlight, but with poor growing conditions the new shoots are aborted, and afterward a number of tiny knots remain.
Ambrosia Maple is technically not a specific species of maple, but rather a general description of any type of maple that has been infested by ambrosia beetles. The beetles bore into the tree, and with it bring fungus that discolors the wood creating a variety of greyish-blue to brown streaks. Ambrosia Maple is considered a decorative feature which gives the wood additional character.
Genuine Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is also known as Honduran Mahogany, South American Mahogany, Caoba and Chiculte. It is planted throughout the whole of the tropics as a sustainable forest crop, and is widely available. It has a short grain which grows in a swirling pattern.
African Olivewood (Olea Capensis) has heartwood that is often pale to medium brown with irregular streaks that vary from brown to dark-brown and dark grey. The sapwood is generally pale yellow. Wood has excellent strength properties. Material can be difficult to work due to interlocked grain
I should perhaps note that Olivewood tends to be very seasonal. The fact is that olives tend to be a rather high cash value crop and as a result tends to only be available after the harvest is finished and the farmers are starting to prune the trees and remove those which need to be replaced.
African Padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) is a medium to hard wood, color can vary, ranging from a pale pinkish orange to a deep brownish red. Most pieces tend to start reddish orange when freshly cut, darkening substantially over time to a reddish/purplish brown. The grain is generally straight to slightly interlocked with a fine to medium texture.
Pau Rosa (Bobgunnia madagascarensis), also called snake bean, has beautiful heartwood that tends to vary in color from a pink or yellow to a darker reddish-brown with a subtle to pronounced striped figure with darker brown tones. The colors found in Pau Rosa will tend to darken with age. It is a hard and heavy wood with a fine to medium texture.
Purpleheart (Peltogyne spp.) is a medium to hardwood with tight, fairly straight grain and moderate to coarse texture. Bright purple when cut, it darkens to a deep purplish brown
Patagonian Rosewood (Anadenanthera colubrine) color ranges from cream to orange tones and over time changes to a deep orange/reddish-brown. Unique to this wood is it's pronounced black striping. Naturally lustrous with a fine uniform texture. It is hard and dense wood, which offers great durability.
Bolivian Rosewood (Machaerium scheleroxylon), sometimes referred to as morado wood, is deep, dark, chocolate brown to purple-black in color with occasional strips of even darker grain patterns. This species is hard and heavy with a fine texture in variable tones and when worked, exhibits a smell reminiscent of walnut.
Yucatan Rosewood (Dalbergia yucatensis) is a hard, light-reddish cinnamon brown wood with darker stripes. Grain is straight to interlocked with a medium to fine texture. Overall easier to work than other rosewoods,
The bright red background of Redheart (Erythroxylon mexicanum) is host to a number of very interesting streaks and closed knots. It is smooth and tight grained, and sands to a nice workable surface. Redheart does not tear out when planed, and is nice for scroll sawing. In many ways it is similar to Bloodwood in character and color.
Sapele (Entandrophragma cylindricum) is a genuine substitute for Mahogany. It is widely used in Europe. Although a member of a different species, Sapele (a.k.a. sapelli or sapeli) has a similar reddish-orange color as mahogany. When quartersawn, Sapele boards exhibit a uniform ribbon pattern that shimmers in the light. In flatsawn boards, this squirrelly grain makes for wild swirls and surfaces that shift color depending on how the light strikes.
Spalted Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) has a spectacular heartwood with background colors of ivory, yellow and black lines, which gives an unpredictable landscape effect. Grain is wavy and interlocked with a medium uniform texture. Because of its density and interlocked grain, tamarind’s heartwood is notoriously difficult to work.
Black walnut (Juglans nigra) heartwood can range from a lighter pale brown to a dark chocolate brown with darker brown streaks. Color can have a grey, purple, or reddish cast. Sapwood is nearly white. It has a medium texture, the grain is usually straight, but it can be irregular. Black walnut can occasionally also be found with figured grain patterns such as: curly, crotch, and burl.
Wenge (Millettia laurentii) is very dark brown in color with very close, straight grain and fine black veins. Wenge is a dense exotic wood with excellent strength and hardness properties.
Although I rarely work with Pine since I rather dislike the fact that any food that comes in contact with it tends to end up tasting something like Christmas trees. Still, Pine can be an excellent choice for plaques, boxes, and other decorative items as well as mission style and shaker style furniture.
SOFT PINES characterized by pines with a low density, even grain, and a gradual earlywood to latewood transition. Species within this group can’t be reliably separated from one another, but it can be helpful to recognize their features in order to distinguish them from the hard pines.
HARD PINES somewhat opposite of the soft pines, not only in obvious areas of hardness and density, but also in regards to earlywood to latewood transition, and grain evenness. Hard pines in general tend to have a more abrupt transition from earlywood to latewood, and have an uneven grain appearance (though there can be certain species that are exceptions).