Has anyone used Jatoba in their projects?

[scott vroom]

I brought home a sample piece of Jatoba from the lumberyard. It's also know as Barazillian Cherry, although not remotely related to cherry. From what I've read it's as common in Brazil as Oak is in the U.S. At first glance it's a rich amber or red brown with attractive black streaks; at $6.50 bd/ft the price seemed too good to be true for a Brazillian hardwood. Here's the problem: when tilted at a certain angle, the wood becomes very splotchy....it looks as if someone botched the finish big time. I don't know if this is typical or unusual....my sample board is only 10" long. below are 2 sets of photos....each showing the straight on look, and a corresponding angled shot showing the blotchiness.

Does anyone have experience with this wood? Is the "chameleon" effect typical?

Thanks-

[jerry cousins]

i've used it a lot - the "chameleon effect" is pretty common unless you have lots of stock to pick and choose from to get the more consistent grain. there are also some boards that the grain is just crazy chaotic. it's pretty hard wood - dulls tools quickly. but it finishes beautifully.
jerry

[Brad Shipton]

Scott, it is great to work with if you have the right machines. I have went through around 2,000bdfft in the last two years and tearout can be a problem with some of the stock. It does not have the same oils as many of the other hard exotics, so it glues very well. If you are planning to use screws for any of your projects you will need to pre-drill everything. One creeker built a Jatoba door, but I cannot imagine how heavy it would have been. All in all I think it is a good wood.

Good luck
Brad

[Brian Kincaid]

Does anyone have experience with this wood? Is the "chameleon" effect typical?

No experience with jatoba, but from the pictures it looks similar to the 'translucent' effect I have gotten on cherry (of course) and pine (I'm serious) when I hand planed then put on a top-coat. The boards change colors at different angles and look '3-d' when you take a close look. I love the look of it. Really cool :D I did not get the same effect when sanding before top-coat.

-Brian

[Russ Kay]

A couple of years ago, I built some candleholders from Jatoba. The project involved drilling 1.625" holes into end grain. I went through one Forstner bit before the drill press (an inexpensive benchtop model) gave up the ghost and froze solid. Later on I found better (and a lot more expensive) Forstner bits and finished the job with a cordless handheld drill. (In the photo, the block on the left is Jatobah; the others are black cherry and white oak; base is ash, grid is wenge.)

[scott vroom]

Russ, very nice work!

[Jay Jolliffe]

I built a whole kitchen out of it. Nice to work with but you have to watch the grain as it does tend to tear out. Brad is right in what he said. You have to pre drill if you going to screw it. It does get redder as it ages. I thought it would get darker as some said. It did but also turned red.

[Andrew Gibson]

I made a rocker from Brazilian Cherry. I don't recall there being any significant figure in the couple pieces I got. What I did find is that it causes me to break out in hives, especially when I sand it... therefore no one else is allowed to request it for a project. maybe in a hundred years or so it will come up at auction and be listed as the only piece of furniture Andrew Gibson ever made from Brazilian Cherry :)
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk294/handyandy3459/Earlenda2.jpg

[Tom Lowry]

My FIL used it for steel guitars. When he pass my MIL told me to take all his wood. When we remodeled a bath, I used it to make the face frame and drawer fronts on a floating vanity. Beautiful wood and not hard to work with is you are patient.

[James Carmichael]

I've only played with scraps, and they're hard as a rock.

I don't know that $6.50 PBF is that great, but wood prices vary regionally quite a bit.

My local WoodCraft currently has two bins, one labeled "Brazilian Cherry" and one "Jatoba". I don't recall which was which, but one was around $4 pbf and rather drab, the other was a brighter red with some figure and quite a bit higher (I'm thinking $7 or more). They also had some humungously-wide boards.

[Kevin Groenke]

IMO Jatoba is a good value, not much figure and the interlocked grain that has been mentioned can be problematic. But it's tough as nails, finishes well and is relatively inexpensive (ie vs Teak). It also weathers pretty well for exterior projects. Several years back, I made two of the benches below for a community garden down they street . They've aged to a silver grey, but they're holding up well after the snow and cold of 5+ Minnesota winters.

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rHdeE-SI5cc/SWA2NTsnE5I/AAAAAAAAAUs/YxLJdD5yHM0/s720/meridian.jpg

[Neil Brooks]

Scott-

Isn't that just the chatoyance (http://www.answers.com/topic/chatoyancy) of the species?

I kind of marveled at watching the chatoyance of the African Mahogany from which I built my night stands.

From what my crappy eyes can see in your pictures, that would be my call....

[pat warner]

Have cut some.
Takes a few pieces (http://patwarner.com/images/jtable.jpg)to learn its nature.

[mreza Salav]

It's a nice wood IMO. I have used it in a few projects. It does darken a bit.
It's very heavy and hard as hell. It will be very hard on your tools (cutting/planing). In fact, it will dull your tools much faster than maple.

[Larry Edgerton]

I have done quite a few jobs out of it, and it is a beautiful wood, and will take a beating. I did a whole office out of it including desks, and they still look good years later.

A few points.

There is much more wood movement than you would expect for a species this heavy, so keep that in mind.

Climb cutting is almost manditory, or you will have blowouts. Small cuts.

Get your machining as good as you can with what you have, sanding or scraping Jatoba is a labor heavy process. It took me 8 hours to sand each desktop flat, with air sanders, and they were very close to begin with. The stuff is like iron.

Cut you pieces a bit oversize so you can joint them back straight, there is a lot of stresses in jatoba and it comes out when ripped. I rip to 1/4 over at least and then joint one edge and one face, plane to thickness and rip to width again. Time consuming and you do lose some wood but it was better than losing the whole piece.

I add 20% to the labor cost if Jatobe is the wood of choice. I learned that on my first job........:rolleyes: