Help identify this Exotic Wood

[Ken Glass]

Hey Gang,
Since we seem to be in the mood to identify wood species, let me show you a Wood type I ran into of the West coast of Mexico at a Villa we stayed at. I was really impressed with the grain and hardness of this Wood. It was used in the Villa for cabinets, Doors, window casing and most other trim. It was very smoothly finished, tight grained, and was used a lot in Villas as we traveled around the Peurto Vallarta area of Jalisco. I am going back soon and wish to look at a lumber yard or two to get some ideas. Anyone have any guesses, as to the species?

[Randy Denby]

That looks alot like Macawood...also known as Coyote.

[John Shuk]

I'd say mahogany

[Dave Avery]

Looks like mahogany - African Mahogany more than Honduran.......

[Paul Girouard]

I'm with Dave, African Mahogany flat sawn.

[Rafael Carias]

I vote for African mahogany

[Danny Thompson]

Ditto on the af-mahog

[Ken Glass]

Fellas,
Normally after seeing African Mahogany pictures, I would agree with you, had it not been for the abundance of this same wood used extensively in the region. Honduran Mahogany would make more sense. I wish I could remember the slang name for the wood, I heard on my last trip to Puerto Vallarta. I am leaving on Jan.16th for 8 days there, so I will make sure I get the name when I am there. Thanks for the responses. If anyone else wants to chime in, by all means do so..

[Mark Singer]

African mahogany. Not my favorite! It is unstable.

[Mike Armstrong]

I'm gonna go with some kind of South American Rosewood.:confused:

[Dave MacArthur]

I love these threads! It's like watching the election results, you never know who's going to win until the stats start piling up! At least we have some good consensus here!

[Jack Briggs]

Some sort of mahogany.

[pete skjold]

It looks like ir could be jatoba , check out Hearne hardwoods pics and discription in the lumber section .

Pete

[Jim King]

Identifying wood from photos is less sure than winning the lottery but I would guess Andiroba as it is substituted in many cases for Mahogany and people dont know any better. Plus it grows locally in Central America.

It is actually a much better wood than Mahogany in my opinion. Here is an article from Gene Wengert of the USDA forestry lab intertwined with the USDA Tropical forestry Lab.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-992527311.html
Andiroba: Mahogany substitute

From: FDM (http://www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=andiroba++mahogany+substitute publication:[%22FDM%22]) Date: February 1, 2006 (http://www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=andiroba++mahogany+substitute pubdate:[20060129;20060204]) Author: Wengert, Gene (http://www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=author:[Wengert%2c+Gene]) More results for: andiroba mahogany substitute (http://www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=andiroba++mahogany+substitute) http://www.highbeam.com/Aspx/GetPubLogo.aspx?pub=FDM (http://www.highbeam.com/Search.aspx?q=andiroba++mahogany+substitute publication:[%22FDM%22])

wood explorer
Andiroba (Carapa guianensis) is found throughout Central and South America, from Cuba to Peru and Brazil. It is an extremely tall tree, reaching heights of 100 to 170 feet. Diameters are often 5 to 6 feet. The central stem is often straight and free of branches for 50 feet or more. As a result, clear lumber is common.
The tree is fairly adaptable, growing in various climates. As a result, the wood properties and characteristics also are variable. This can be a problem in some cases, so, to avoid variations, it is probably wise to find a supplier that will be obtaining its wood from the same geographical location.
Andiroba grain and color appears identical to Honduras mahogany, ...

[Jim King]

A couple of days ago I happened to see an Andiroba log being cut. Here is a photo. Even when freshly cut it is pink like Mahogany and later turns Mahogany color.

[Bill Wyko]

I built a wall unit from Jatoba that looks a little like that. As it aged it got darker and more red.

[Russ Sears]

I'm late to the party on this one but I was visiting one of my customers today, a large, custom cabinet maker. The local facility happens to be their door-making operation.
They had a supply of Sapele that a customer sent them and it looked a lot like this.
I'm just throwing that out; I'm more confident on northeastern hardwoods than exotics.