# Help with some wood from Belize



## wheltsley (Jun 1, 2022)

Hi all, I recently returned from a vacation to Belize and like any good woodworker of course I made time to buy and bring home some wood. I ended up with a few species I’m not sure about and a few I could use some validation of my attempted ID’s.

1) This one was sold as “Purple Heart” and I heard that used in numerous different contexts in the country. In all cases it looked similar, dark brown/nearly black sometimes with dark purple colors. Even in recently cut portions, it doesn't look like the bright and saturated purple I am used to for Peltoygne. I studied forestry lists and papers pretty extensively and found no mention of any Peltogyne species in Belize. Based on the end grain I think it is actually katalox.







2) This one was sold to me be an Amish sawyer who spoke primarily French, so communication was difficult. He said they called this wood simply Jungle Tree or Jungle Wood best I could tell. I don't have a good guess for this one.







3) From the same sawyer, he called this one Tinta. I believe it to be logwood, Haematoxylum campechianum although I havent found any end grain photos with which to compare. If you soak it in water overnight, it colors the water orange--I still need to do that and then test it as a pH indicator as I understand logwood dye will change color with acid and base. The piece I got from him was quite fluted which matches how logwood grows.







4a) This lumber was from a commercial sawmill and was sold to me as granadillo. In my research I found reference to Platymiscium yucatanum which grows in Belize and to the following other common names--macacauba, orange agate, macawood, and jacaranda do brejo. My view of the end grain looks pretty convincing compared to https://www.wood-database.com/macacauba/ and to the P. yucatanum pics here: http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/granadillo.htm . It does not at all look similar to other "granadillo" I have previously purchased online (4b) which is much denser, finer grained, darker, and smaller pored. I'd appreciate any validation on 4a) and any thoughts on a better species name for 4b).

Left is the Belize granadillo 4a and right is 4b.




4a



4b


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## wheltsley (Jun 1, 2022)

And one more since I ran into the upload limit above:
5) Finally, the same Amish sawyer who sold me 1-3 also sold me a burl he couldn't identify as he had "found on a beach on an island" I think, anyway... This is probably going to be tough to ID but here's a polished slice in case someone has an idea. Interesting white deposits in some of the pores, possibly salt from floating on the ocean?

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Mr. Peet (Jun 1, 2022)

Looks like some fun there. It will be a while before I have time to look over the woods you posted a bit more closely.


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## phinds (Jun 1, 2022)

The strong confluence and pore distribution of the "purpleheart" piece is consistent with some Peltogyne. 

Here's one, for example:




But I agree w/ you that katalox is more likely.

"Granadillo" is so widely used as to be pretty much useless as a designation. From my web site:


> This is another one of those woods where I have considerable confusion, possibly because of similar names, possibly because of a plethora of species. In any event, I will attempt to get more information.
> 
> Uh, well ... OK, I HAVE attempted to get more information and what I have ended up with is a splitting headache. This name seems to be used for just about more unrelated woods than any other name I can find, and that's saying something, given the wild overuse of some common names.
> 
> The number of species using this name runs to the dozens (and from at least 6 or 8 different genera that I'm immediately aware of, and possibly quite a few more) and the number of alternate common names for various woods that use this name runs to at least 200.

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## wheltsley (Jun 2, 2022)

phinds said:


> The strong confluence and pore distribution of the "purpleheart" piece is consistent with some Peltogyne.
> 
> Here's one, for example:
> View attachment 227584
> ...


One thing that gives me a little pause on the katalox vs Peltogyne is that there seems to be the occasional unilateral parenchyma in my piece. See for example the pore near the bottom of the end grain shot. Maybe this is a less common Swartzia species?


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## Mr. Peet (Jun 4, 2022)

This is Logwood, *Haematoxylum campechianum, *as posted on Luna of the Inside Wood web site on the left and your wood on the right. I'd say based on these two pictures, no, your wood does not match. Sand up the face grain and look at a few other dye woods like the _Caesalpinia_ genus but not that genus. Does your wood react to Blacklight? Logwood does.


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## wheltsley (Jun 4, 2022)

Thanks! I'll try to do a better sample of this cross section. For some reason, it did not sand well and seemed to retain scratches from lower grits despite significant sanding time. I'm drying it now to make sure it wasn't a little gummy.

It does seem to be fluorescent on my long wave source, with an orange or red fluorescence over most of the heartwood (though not super bright), with some of the edges more purple/blue.

I also made a tea with the chips steeped in some hot distilled water, and it comes out brownish red. It does seem to also weekly fluoresce red-orange. The dye. The dye is very sensitive to pH, turning yellow immediately with the introduction of vinegar, and purple with baking soda. Initially I tried it with tap water but it must have been basic already as it started purple and did not react further to baking soda. Initial dye is at the top of the photo, acidic to the bottom left and basic to the bottom right. The violet one at the very top is a cold tapwater steep in progress.

This all seems to agree with the statement from the wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haematoxylum_campechianum:
*The extract was once used as a pH indicator. Brownish when neutral, it becomes yellow-reddish under acidic conditions and purple when alkaline.*

Reactions: Like 2 | Informative 1


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