My Tonewoods

Black Poplar: Populus nigra, , is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section Aigeiros of the genus Populus, native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.

Yew :  Perhaps among the hardest of all softwood species, Yew is certainly a unique wood species. Its density and working characteristics are more inline with a heavy hardwood than a softwood, yet its tight, fine grain and smooth texture give it a lustrous finish. is usually a thin band of pale yellow or tan color, while the heartwood is an orangish brown, sometimes with a darker brown or purplish hue. Color tends to darken with age.   Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, Yew has been reported as a irritant. 

Laburnum anagyroides (maggiociondolo):   the common laburnum, golden chain or golden rain, is a species in the subfamily Faboideae, and genus Laburnum. Laburnum alpinum is closely related. It is native to Central and Southern Europe.  The plant grows and flowers in damp and mild habitats, especially in the calcareous soils of Southern Europe.

Amara Ebony: is a rare and sought after species. It’s beautiful, black stripes contrast with reddish brown undertones. Similar in density and workability to Indian Ebony, it is extremely dense and is best worked with sharp tools. Uses include: picture frames, humidors, jewelry boxes, veneer, musical instruments, inlay, boxes, tool handles, pens, bottle stoppers, carving & more.

Lenga:  The Lenga is a tree that can reach 30 to 40 m at its best development, even though more north side presents scrub, gnarled trunks, very different from the cylindrical Magellan and Tierra del Fuego. The beech is a species that regenerates easily after the intervention of the forest. The leaf is deciduous, serrated and form more or less elliptical. Monoecious. The result corresponds to a winged nut. its seeds are winged, enclosed in a woody dome 1 / 2 cm in diameter. The beech wood is one of Chile’s most promising species for management immediate business because of the extent of area covered, the quality of its timber and the quality of existing forests. Wood moderately durable, easy to work.

Black Willow: Salix nigra, is a species of willow native to eastern North America, from New Brunswick and southern Ontario west to Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and Texas.  Black willow roots are very bitter, and have been used as a substitute for quinine in the past Ethnobotanical uses of black willow by various Native American tribes include basketry, and treatment of fever, headache, and coughs. The bark of the tree contains salicylic acid, a chemical compound similar to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid).

Mahogany Khaya is a genus of seven species  of trees in the mahogany family Meliaceae. The timber of Khaya is called African mahogany, and is generally regarded as the closest mahogany to genuine mahogany (of the genus Swietenia).

Black Walnut: the eastern black walnut Juglans nigra, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to eastern North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central Texas. Wild trees in the upper Ottawa Valley may be an isolated native population or may have derived from planted trees.

Lebanon Cedar: The Cedars of God (Arabic: أرز الربّ‎ Arz ar-Rabb "Cedars of the Lord") is one of the last vestiges of the extensive forests of the Lebanon cedar, that once thrived across Mount Lebanon in ancient times. Their timber was used by the Phoenicians, Israelites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, and Turks. The wood was prized by Egyptians for shipbuilding; the Ottoman Empire used the cedars in railway construction

Wengè: Millettia laurentii is a legume tree from Africa and native to the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. The species is listed as "endangered" in the IUCN Red List, principally due to destruction of its habitat and over-exploitation for timber. Wenge, a dark colored wood, is the product of Millettia laurentii. Other names sometimes used for wenge include African rosewood (ambiguous), faux ebony, dikela, mibotu, bokonge, and awong. The wood's distinctive color is standardized as a "wenge" color in many systems.

Flame Maple : (tiger maple), also known as flamed maple, curly maple, ripple maple, fiddleback or tiger stripe, is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern, producing wavy lines known as "flames". This effect is often mistakenly said to be part of the grain of the wood; it is more accurately called "figure", as the distortion is perpendicular to the grain direction. Prized for its beautiful appearance, it is used frequently in the manufacturing of musical instruments,

Olive wood: is very hard and is prized for its durability, colour, high combustion temperature, and interesting grain patterns. Because of the commercial importance of the fruit, and the slow growth and relatively small size of the tree, olive wood and its products are relatively expensive. Common uses of the wood include: kitchen utensils, carved wooden bowls, cutting boards, fine furniture, and decorative items.

The yellow or light greenish-brown wood is often finely veined with a darker tint; being very hard and close-grained, it is valued by woodworkers

Padouk: Pterocarpus is a pantropical genus of trees in the family Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, and was recently assigned to the informal monophyletic Pterocarpus clade within the Dalbergieae. Most species of Pterocarpus yield valuable timber traded as padauk (or padouk); other common names are mukwa or narra. Pterocarpus santalinus also yields the most precious rosewood in China known as Zitan. The wood from the narra tree (Pterocarpus indicus) and the burmese padauk tree (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) is marketed as amboyna when it has grown in the burl form. The scientific name is Latinized Ancient Greek and means "wing fruit", referring to the unusual shape of the seed pods in this genus.

Black Limba: Terminalia superba, the superb terminalia, limba, or afara (UK), korina (US), is a large tree in the family Combretaceae, native to tropical western Africa.The wood is either a light (white limba) or with dark stripes (black limba or korina) hardwood. Used for making furniture, table tennis blades (as outer ply), and musical instruments and prized for its workability and excellent colour and finish.

Walnut: Walnut trees are any species of tree in the plant genus Juglans, the type genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are referred to as walnuts. The 21 species in the genus range across the north temperate Old World from southeast Europe east to Japan, and more widely in the New World from southeast Canada west to California and south to Argentina.  The common walnut, and the black walnut and its allies, are important for their attractive timber, which is hard, dense, tight-grained and polishes to a very smooth finish. The colour ranges from creamy white in the sapwood to a dark chocolate in the heartwood. When kiln-dried, walnut wood tends toward a dull brown colour, but when air-dried can become a rich purplish-brown.

Ash: Fraxinus, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous, though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The genus is widespread across much of Europe, Asia, and North America .

Cherry tree: Prunus avium, commonly called wild cherry, sweet cherry, or gean, is a species of cherry, a flowering plant in the rose family, Rosaceae. It is native to Europe, Anatolia, Maghreb, and western Asia, from the British Isles south to Morocco and Tunisia, north to the Trondheimsfjord region in Norway and east to the Caucasus and northern Iran, with a small isolated population in the western Himalaya. The species is widely cultivated in other regions and has become naturalized in North America and Australia.

The hard, reddish-brown wood (cherry wood) is valued as a hardwood for woodturning, and making cabinets and musical instruments.[20] Cherry wood is also used for smoking foods, particularly meats, in North America, as it lends a distinct and pleasant flavor to the product.

Sapeli: Sapele Mahogany, Entandrophragma cylindricum is a tree of the genus Entandrophragma of the family Meliaceae. It is commonly known as sapele or sapelli (/səˈpiːliː/ sə-PEE-lee), as well as aboudikro, assi and muyovu.  Entandrophragma cylindricum is native to tropical Africa. There are protected populations and felling restrictions in place in various countries. The commercially important hardwood is reminiscent of mahogany, and is a part of the same Meliaceae family. It is darker in tone and has a distinctive figure, typically applied where figure is important. Slightly heavier and finer grain than Honduras Mahogany, this species is also called Sapele Mahogany. Originating from Africa, this species has beautiful, lustrous iridescence with colors that range from light pink to brown and gold to red. Interlocked grain. Stable in use.

American hard maple:  is a cold weather tree that grows across the north-east States of the US and in Canada. It produces an attractive timber with creamy-white sapwood, sometimes with a pink tinge, and light to reddish brown heartwood. Higher grades of the timber are selected for the white colour of the sapwood, and this can limit their availability. While generally straight-grained, American hard maple can have a distinctive curly, fiddleback or birdseye figure. 

Ziricote :  With a density higher than rosewood, Ziricote turns very well. It is able to take a very smooth finish and a high polish. Ziricote is slightly brittle but also known as a good steam bending candidate and is proven to hold nails and screws well. This exotic hardwood is easy to work by hand or machine and is stable in use. Ziricote wood has a medium to fine texture and a straight to slightly interlocking grain. It has a tendency to develop end and surface checks during drying, but is stable afterwards. Quartersawn surfaces will sometimes display ray or flake patterns similar to Hard Maple. The highly figured spider web grain is similar to what can be found in Brazilian Rosewood only more complex. Surface has a natural waxy appearance and takes on a satin finish with simple sanding.

Movinguj (Ajan):  The wood is lemon-yellow to yellow brown. Some logs present a highly figured wood. Possible presence of internal stresses and wind shakes. It has clearly demarcated sapwood. The grain is interlocked and the texture is medium.

The blunting effect is high and peeling and slicing is reported to be good. Some difficulties due to irregular grain. Filling is recommended in order to obtain a better finish. Nailing is good but pre-boring is recommended, especially for large nails (risks of splits).Gluing is correct. It dries normal. It is moderately stable to stable.

Movingui is moderately durable to fungi and is durable to dry wood borers; sapwood demarcated (risk limited to sapwood).


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