One of the pieces in the recent batch of stuff I bought for David Clark is "Brazil nut wood" (Bertholletia excelsa).
It's really nice and I'm puzzled as to why I haven't run into it before. It's very heavy but there are other heavy woods imported from South American and this is prettier than many of them and the tree gets big so there must be a lot of lumber, thus my puzzlement. I'm wondering if I've just missed it somehow and others are more familiar w/ it.
Here are a few of the 70 common names my database lists:
almendra (venezuela) = almond
almendro (colombia) = almond
brazil nut (brazil)
castanha (brazil)
para-nut (brazil)
tetoka (surinam)
yubia (venezuela)
This piece is a beautiful yellow, really heavy (66lbs/cuft, so just over the point of sinking in water), and slightly grainy but looks like it would take a great polish, particularly with a filler.
Here's are excepts from the vendor's blurb:
It is from the same tree that produces the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa). Trees grow to a height of 160 ft. and diameters of 3-6 ft. These are some of the largest trees in the Amazon, living for 500 to 1,000 years. Brazil Nut wood is extremely dense and can be used for a variety of projects from furniture, boxes, instruments to flooring and more! It is moderately smooth grained and can take a smooth natural polish. Interlocked grain produces ribbon figure on rift and quarter sawn boards.
It's really nice and I'm puzzled as to why I haven't run into it before. It's very heavy but there are other heavy woods imported from South American and this is prettier than many of them and the tree gets big so there must be a lot of lumber, thus my puzzlement. I'm wondering if I've just missed it somehow and others are more familiar w/ it.
Here are a few of the 70 common names my database lists:
almendra (venezuela) = almond
almendro (colombia) = almond
brazil nut (brazil)
castanha (brazil)
para-nut (brazil)
tetoka (surinam)
yubia (venezuela)
This piece is a beautiful yellow, really heavy (66lbs/cuft, so just over the point of sinking in water), and slightly grainy but looks like it would take a great polish, particularly with a filler.
Here's are excepts from the vendor's blurb:
It is from the same tree that produces the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa). Trees grow to a height of 160 ft. and diameters of 3-6 ft. These are some of the largest trees in the Amazon, living for 500 to 1,000 years. Brazil Nut wood is extremely dense and can be used for a variety of projects from furniture, boxes, instruments to flooring and more! It is moderately smooth grained and can take a smooth natural polish. Interlocked grain produces ribbon figure on rift and quarter sawn boards.