Mystery tropical hardwood identification

[se7enthdevil]

i know it doesnt look like your typical block of cocobolo but it does come in many different colours other that the usual ruby red we all know and love. that colour is uaualy all we see because thats what the loggers know will sell first.

 

the tell tale signs are the black and orange staining around the flaws and cracks in the log. this is only something i've seen on cocobolo and indan rosewood.

 

looking at the picture below you can see just what an aray of the paler shades and colours cocobolo can be and for me the clincher may be that turned bowl as its very close to the moistened pic big j put up.

 

although this is paler than any that i've seen before i think cocobolo is what were looking at but if i'm proved wrong then i'll hapilly accept it.

[RobArb]

Some sort of African iron wood?

[Chippy]

Looks very similar to some bubinga I just got

[muttley9050]

What about Goncalo alves?

[se7enthdevil]

its not goncalo alves as that is orange when moistned with thick black streaks sometimes in the grain. it also has no obvious rings either.

 

 

 

it does look vaguely similar to bubinga i'll admit but bubinga wont sink and should be pinkish.

[liam]

Is it Lignum Vitae? that sinks and looks very similar.

[se7enthdevil]

not sure what lignum you've been looking at my friend...

 

genuine lignum is dark brown to black and even the argentine stuff (also called verawood) which admitidly can be olive brown but usually has no discernable rings as such. anyway this wood obviously has pores and any pore structure on lignum will be microscopic and only visible with a powerfull jewlers lense.

 

 

come to think of it taking in to consideration the pore stucture visible in the closeup big j provided there are only a few tombers that have that sort of pore structure that will actually sink in water. the ones that i know of are cocobolo, kingwood, african blackwood and leadwood. well blackwood and lead wood are both very dark and look nothing like the picture so thats them out of the window in my opinion. the colour of this wood is an odd one but could be a srangely coloured bit of either kingwood or cocobolo (most likely cocobolo) as they are very closely related.

 

i should point out that there are about 6000 comercial timberes in the world and near on a quater of a billion species of tree. so we may never get to the botom of it.

[RobArb]

You know your tropical wood:thumbup:

 

Now give me there latin names an I will be impressed:lol:

[se7enthdevil]

leadwood is combretum imperbe

genuine lignum is guayacum officianle

vera wood/argentine lignum is bulnesia sarmientoi

african blackwood is dalbergia melanoxylon

cocobolo is dalbergia retusa

kingwood is dalbergia cearensis

 

both the lignum species are from the same family called the zygophilaceae hence they have similar characteristics.

 

i may have spelled their names wrong and thats because i "am" reciting from memory and not copying from the web.

 

 

 

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[stumpbuster]

is it jarar wood?