Bocote
Bocote, Siricote, Salmwood Bocote-Cordia elaeagnoides
Sometimes called Mexican Rosewood. Creamy yellow to golden orange with dark black to brown zebra like streaks. A striking wood used for accents and turnings, from Central and South America.
Bubinga
Guibourtia Demeusei-Bubinga
An African wood of a deep red with purplish brown grain, often with striking figure patterns. It is often used in furniture veneers, and its beautiful color makes it excellent for jewelry boxes.
Cedar
Eastern Cedar, Aromatic Red Cedar, Juniper, Spanish Cedar, Cedar
Juniperus virginiana - An aromatic wood that is a natural insect repellant, hence its use in blanket chests and the like. Pink to orange-red with creamy yellow-white sapwood, lightweight and rot resistant. Found in the US and Canada.
Cedar, Spanish-Cedrela Odorata - a wood traditionally used in humidors and cigar boxes, aromatic and tight grained. Reddish brown to light pink in color, from South and Central America.
Carob
The Carob Tree is the only Tree in the Holy Land that can outlive the olive tree. The carob fruit is known as St. John's bread. You can count the Carob Trees in Bethlehem using your fingers because they are very few. The most popular one is the tree by Rachel's Tomb at the entrance of Bethlehem on the Bethlehem Jerusalem Road.
The seed of the Carob Tree is the ancient and original weight used by goldsmiths for a carat because the carob seed is always the same weight. On the other hand Carob woods have a varying and different color; it can range from dark red to pink and creamy colors. And, some carob woods have veins running through them.
Cherry
Cherry Wood, Black Cherry, American Cherry, Wild Cherry Prunus Serotina
Cherry trees are found throughout the US and Canada. It varies from a yellowish pink when first cut to a deep rich reddish brown, often getting darker and more rich as it ages. Its smooth texture and working properties make it a favorite wood among furniture makers.
Cocobolo
A variety of rosewood Dalbergia retusa -
Cocobolo grows in Central and South America and is valued for its dense properties (it does not float) and beauty. The color is deep red with dark almost black streaks to rust brown. The sap wood is often bright yellow and in striking contrast to the rest of the wood, with the amount of figure and color varying widely from tree to tree.
Ebony
African Ebony,
Macassar Ebony Diospyrus crassiflora is a very heavy wood generally jet black in color with variable gray streaks. It is very durable and hard to work with but its rich color makes it excellent as an accent and it is often used in musical instruments.
Macassar Ebony Diospyros celebica is dark brown to black with contrasting beige or gray streaks. It's striking figure makes it valuable for use as decorative accents.
Karelian Birch
Karelian Birch
A strain of European Birch, found in Finland and Russia, a rare creamy white wood with contrasting brown flecks.
Koa
Acacia Koa
Koa is found only on the Hawaiian Islands and is much prized for its beautiful irridescent wood that is reddish brown with dark black or brown lines. The great depth of figure makes it ideal for use in musical instruments and jewelry boxes.
Lacewood
Australian Lacewood, Fishtail Oak, Silky Oak, European Plane Cardwellia sublimis
Australian lacewood, silky oak or fishtail oak, is an orange brown in color and when quartered has a distinct scale-like pattern. It is often used as an accent wood in furniture. Platanus hybrida-European plane, when quartered, is known as lacewood. It is a pinkish to orange brown with scale-like patterns and rays. See also Sycamore, Platanus occidentalis. This is the American sycamore or plane tree, which is sometimes refered to as lacewood when quartered.
Mahogany
Khaya Ivorensis
Mahogany is found in West, Central and East Africa. The wood varies from a light to dark reddish-brown with irridescent flecks in the wood.
Swietenia Macrophylla
Central American Mahogany grows in Central and South America. The color varies from a reddish brown to a deep red.
Manzanita
Manzanita wood, Manzanita Root Burl Arctostaphylos manzanita
Manzanita grows from Southern California up to Washington State. It is a smaller shrub growing up to 20 feet with twisting branches. The wood is a deep red with yellow tones and since the burls usually grow on the roots the wood, they often have interesting imbedded stones and voids. Used mostly as a decorative accent wood or for animal perches.
Maple
Maple covers many different trees in the Acer family. In general it is a light colored wood, creamy white to yellow in hue with darker soft brown or yellow grain.
Bigleaf Maple-(Acer macrophyllum) a large tree native to the Pacific Northwest, often has hightly figured wood, spalting and burls.
Ambrosia Maple-also called sugar maple, is a creamy white maple with grey streaks and often has worm holes.
Box Elder-A type of maple whose wood is creamy yellow with occasional pink streaks. Maple boards can also be a combination of descriptions such as "flaming birdseye maple burl"
Figured
Maple wood with a flaming, curly or tiger stripe pattern above the grain, very decorative.
Birdseye
Maple wood with a unique pattern of circles in the surface that resemble eyes.
Spalted
Maple wood with a dark veins caused by a pattern of rot or bacteria in the wood that once stabalized often looks like a pen and ink drawing through the wood.
Burl
Often darker in color, yellow ochre and brown, with many whorls and birds-eye like patterns, common to the Northwest.
Myrtle
Myrtlewood, Bay Laurel, Pepperwood, Myrtle burl Umbellularia Californica
A Northwestern wood with creamy, white to gold tones with darker grain. Often highly figured and decorative, used for guitars and accents as well as turnings.
Oak
Red Oak, White Oak and Quarter-sawn Oak
In the Quercus family they grow primarily in the Eastern US and Canada. The color is lighter yellow-brown with Red Oak having a redder tinge. Quarter-Sawn refers to the method of cutting the wood to reveal the medullary ray patterns found in the wood.
Padauk
African Padauk Pterocarpus Soyauxii
Padauk is found in Central Africa. It is a vivid blood red with darker streaks. It is an attractive and durable wood.
Pernambuco
Caesalpina echinata Lam. Also known as Brazil wood
Pernambuco belongs to the Leguminosae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Caesalpinia is a pantropical genus of about 200 species, distributed throughout the Americas, Asia and Africa. The wood is very hard and compact. The heartwood varies in color from bright orange to reddish brown, turning darker when cut. The sapwood is sharply defined, consisting of a narrow, whitish or yellowish strip.
The Country of Brazil was named for this wood.
Purpleheart
Peltogyne Pubescense
Purpleheart is grown in Central and South America. It is naturally a striking purple-violet in color, maturing to more brown hues, depending on the finish used. Its unique color makes it valuable for decorative accents and marquetry.
Redwood
California Redwood, Redwood burl, Sequoia Sempervirens
Redwood is found in the US, a very fast growing tree. The wood is red in color with distinct growth rings, lighter in weight than many woods. The burl is particularly striking with distinct eye like patterns. It's resistance to moisture makes its valuable for use in outdoor furniture and as exterior shingles, and the burl is often used as veneer.
Sycamore
Acer pseudoplatanus
Sycamore is a creamy white wood with a fiddleback or lace-like figure when quartered. It is often used as veneer in furniture. It is found in the United Kingdom and Central Europe.
Platanus occidentalis-is the American sycamore or plane tree, see also lacewood.
Walnut
Walnut, American Walnut, Black Walnut, Juglans Nigra
Black Walnut grows in the Eastern US and Canada. It is a dark wood varying from a purplish black to a rich red brown, varying from tree to tree. It is a very durable wood often used in making furniture.
Claro Walnut- is a highly figured walnut grown on the West Coast of the US and Canada. European Walnut- also know as English Walnut, depending on its origins, has similiar properties as Black Walnut.
Wenge
Millettia Laurentii
Wenge is an African wood, a dark coffee brown in color, with a regular, closely spaced grain of dark brown to black. It's unique color and regular grain make it valuable as an accent wood.
Zebrawood
Zebrano Zebrawood-Microberlinia brazzavillenis
An African wood used for accents, medium beige to creamy yellow with contrasting black and brown zebra streaks.
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