Any one know what this wood 'really' is?

[Bill Cunningham]

I just did a bunch of plaques for a University. They supplied the artwork, and the sanded, unfinished wood. I tested a couple of pieces of the wood before engraving, and found that the best sealing finish was 3 coats of hand rubbed paste wax. The wood engraved very nicely, with a good contrast colour change (nope! no colouring was added). I would love to find some of this wood. Someone at the University brought it back from San Salvador, and said it was called Conestoga Wood?? Unless it's made from old Conestoga Wagons sunk and aged in a tropical swamp, Google seems to know nothing about it.. Wood species is not something I'm very well versed in...Any Ideas..
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[Duncan Crawford]

Bill,

Tough to tell based only on a picture-- weight, smell and the like help. That said, this link: http://freestatetimbers.com/stock_cumaru.html has some possible candidates in the "C" list... and the others, they have good pictures and you might have other clues once you read origins and the wood descriptions. Nice engraving :-)

duncan

[John Frazee]

This may not help any but there is a company called Conestoga about 20 miles from me. They make cabinets and specialty wood items and I think they may use some specialty woods. I wonder if someone got some information turned around or something and it actually came from this company. It may not hurt to call being they have the same name as what you may be looking for.

[Mike Null]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's mesquite.

[Zsolt Paul]

It could also be brazilian cherry (jatoba). Some of the lighter boards look similar. Another possibility is amendoim.

[Lee DeRaud]

My guess is canarywood (centrolobium) (http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/canarywood/), although the stuff I get here usually has more color streaking.

[Neal Schlee]

Looks a lot like Koa, or in that family.

Neal

[John Noell]

Sure looks a lot like Albiza samana. (I don't have a good picture of the wood alone. The layout, wording, and spelling were from the client. :))

[Bill Cunningham]

Hmmmm No shortage of answers.. John, if that sample you posted (Albiza samana) was not darkend after engraving, that might be it.. It sure looks the same.. The one thing I did notice was when working on the sample they sent me first, to see if it would engrave OK, I had to run it across my bench belt sander.It was just a little piece, so I didn't hook up the vaccume. The dust coming from it made me cough and choke a bit, so I put the vac hose on the discharge, and the first thing through my mind was: this stuff must be toxic? There was no problem engraving it, because the fumes were going outside and there was nothing dead on the lawn when I cut it that weekend :p

[James Spach SC]

My guess would be Bocote (mexican rosewood) It has yellow and black tones...

[John Noell]

John, if that sample you posted (Albiza samana) was not darkend after engraving, that might be it.. It sure looks the same.... The dust coming from it made me cough and choke a bit, so I put the vac hose on the discharge, and the first thing through my mind was: this stuff must be toxic? :p That example is straight off the laser. No stains (and not even varnished again after engraving). It is a common wood here (usually called "raintree") and the wood I use most often (for signs, plaques, keychains, frames, etc.). We always wear a mask when sanding ANY wood (even with a dust collector going) so I have not had the irritation you describe but while there is no reported toxicity I am aware of, there are reports of the dust being an eye irritant. It seems to be the same species as Hawaiian monkey pod (although that species is sometimes listed as Pithocellobium samana) but the pictures I have seen from Hawaiian wood rarely show as much color and variation as I see in my pieces here is Fiji. If you want a sample of Fijian raintree just drop me a PM.

[Bill Cunningham]

Thanks John.. I will check the name "raintree" with a exotic wood supplier a customer recommended to me, he makes custom wood planes, and uses some nice exotics.. I never tried 'varnish' on it. But ordinary lacquer made it look shiny-plastisized-cheap, and the carnauba paste wax really brought out the grain of the wood with a nice rich finish..

[John Noell]

...ordinary lacquer made it look shiny-plastisized-cheap..Yep, too glossy and things can just look WRONG. We do a lot with coconut shell and polish it beyond anything people around here have seen. When my star sander/polisher got even better, the response to the pieces was "What kind of plastic is this?" We had to back off on the finish (just sand-sand-sand then buff with a speck of paste wax) to keep it lookng "natural."