Which harwood would you like?
You have a project in mind?This is the Best Hardwoods
What is Ipe Wood?
Ipe , is a beautiful exotic wood from South America. Ipe wood structures are hard, strong, and naturally resistant to rot, abrasion, weather, and insects. It is almost twice as dense as most woods and up to five times harder. It is medium to darker brown in color, like a mahogany, so not only lasts a long time but has the beauty of a fine interior wood. If Ipe lumber is allowed to patina, color can be brought back to its original shade with the use a cleaner and brightener. Ipe wood lumber has become a very popular and inexpensive alternative to teak lumber.
How is it Used?
Ipe Wood Lumber is used for decking and other outdoor applications like furniture, siding, and fencing. Its has a extremely long life in the outdoors. It can last up to 75 years and will last more than 40 years in almost all applications. That is 4-7 times as long as most pressure treated woods. If you want to build something to last for a long time, Ipe is an excellent choice.
Pros & Cons?
Pros:
• Strong
• Hard
• Long lasting
• Smooth
• Ages gracefully
• Naturally fire and rot resistant
• insect resistant
Cons:
• Heavy
• Requires pre-drilling or hidden installation hardware
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Cumaru Hardwood
Color/Appearance: Heartwood tends to be a medium to dark brown, sometimes with a reddish or purplish hue; some pieces may have streaks of yellowish or greenish brown.
Grain/Texture: Grain is interlocked, with a medium texture and a waxy feel.
Rot Resistance: Cumaru has excellent durability and weathering properties. The wood is rated as very durable regarding decay resistance, with good resistance to termites and other dry-wood borers.
Workability: Tends to be difficult to work on account of its density and interlocked grain. If the grain is not too interlocked, Cumaru can be surface-planed to a smooth finish. However, the wood contains silica and will have a moderate blunting effect on tool cutters. Due to its high oil content and density, Cumaru canOdor: Cumaru has a faint, vanilla or cinnamon-like odor when being worked.
Allergies/Toxicity: Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, no further health reactions have been associated with Cumaru. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Pricing/Availability: Should be inexpensive for an import. Cumaru, much like Jatoba, represents a great value for those seeking a low-cost lumber that has excellent strength and hardness properties.
Cumaru lumber is extremely stiff, strong, and hard, lending itself well to a variety of applications. It is sometimes used in place of the much more scarce Lignum Vitae.
The heartwood fluoresces under a blacklight, which can help distinguish it from Ipe present difficulties in gluing, and pre-boring is necessary when screwing or nailing the wood.
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Garapa Hardwood
Color/Appearance: Garapa has a golden to yellowish brown color, which darkens with age. Sapwood is also yellowish in color and not clearly distinct from the heartwood. The wood is fairly chatoyant, and appears to shift from dark to light coloring in different lighting angles.
Grain/Texture: Grain is usually straight, but can also be interlocked. Uniform medium texture with a moderate amount of natural luster.
Rot Resistance: Rated as durable, though vulnerable to termites and other insect attacks.
Workability: Garapa is fairly easy to work, despite its density. Glues and finishes well.
Odor: No characteristic odor.
Allergies/Toxicity: Although severe reactions are quite uncommon, garapa has been reported to cause skin irritation. See the articles Wood Allergies and Toxicity and Wood Dust Safety for more information.
Pricing/Availability: Garapa is not commonly available in lumber form, though it is sometimes used for flooring and decking. The price should be moderate for an imported hardwood.
Sustainability: This wood species is not listed in the CITES Appendices or on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Common Uses: Fencing, decking, dock, and boatbuilding.
Comments: Garapa is one of the few commercial hardwoods available that’s light-colored and also decay-resistant for exterior applications. Nearly all other exterior woods are much darker in color, with the exception of much softer cedar species
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Tigerwood Hardwood
Tiger-wood, also known as South American zebra-wood, is a tropical hardwood tree native primarily to the east coast of Brazil. The unique name “tiger wood” is due to its beautiful contrasting grain pattern and bold stripes, which resemble those of a tiger.
Like most other types of wood, the warm, light color of Tiger wood darkens over time to a beautiful, deep reddish brown. The unique tiger stripes in rich, dark tones completely distinguish this noble wood from others.
Not only is it one of the strongest, most durable, and densest hardwoods, it also has a natural sheen. As a result, the cut of this wood gives it a metallic and oily appearance, which is considered to be one of its most attractive features.
Tiger-wood is often used for interior floors, musical instruments, and fine furniture. Its durability and water-repellent properties also make it perfect for any outdoor use, including the deck boards, blinds, and boats.
In addition, this wood is very dense and heavy and, depending on the growing area, can have a Janka rating (which measures the hardness and durability of the wood) of up to 2,170 LBF.
As a solid hardwood, Tiger-wood is wear resistant mainly due to its air-drying properties. This also helps it resist shrinkage once it has dried properly.
Table of Contents
Indo-Mahogany
Much meranti has been imported into North America as Philippine mahogany plywood. At times, the low density of the species used in such plywood have given this name a low-quality inference. However, lauan varies greatly in quality and appearance, so generalizations are not accurate. The key for purchasing plywood and lumber is to use proper specifications to assure that you will receive the desired quality.
Description: Dark red meranti (DRM) is found in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It is a very popular wood among architects and designers because of its high luster and good machining properties. In Europe, DRM has long been used for the production of sophisticated joinery products, such as doors, window frames, and doors. DRM sports a great mixture of yellow, white, and red tones creating a very warming combination of colors.
Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus Swietenia, indigenous to the Americas[1] and part of the pantropical chinaberry family, Meliaceae. Mahogany is used commercially for a wide variety of goods, due to its coloring and durable nature. It is naturally found within the Americas, but has also been imported to plantations across Asia and Oceania. The mahogany trade may have begun as early as the 16th century and flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries. In certain countries, mahogany is considered an invasive species.
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Jatoba Hardwood
Jatoba is a tropical hardwood that is widely used for the exterior thanks to its durability. Commonly referred to as Brazilian Cherry, due to its similarity in color to domestic cherry, Jatoba is an incredibly strong wood. Aside from exterior.
Brazilian cherry, also known as jatoba, is one of the most popular exotic hardwoods. It's not hard to see why: Brazilian Cherry's stunning reddish-brown heartwood is edged with dark black veining, giving it not only contrast but amazing depth as well. The heartwood will darken over time to a softer reddish brown. Beyond its beauty, Brazilian Cherry is incredibly strong, with a Janka hardness of 2350. Silica is a naturally occurring mineral deposit commonly found in Brazilian Cherry, which can appear as a milky discoloration on the surface of the wood. This natural mineral can be identified by fine white lines in the vein, which run through the entire piece. As the wood darkens from exposure, these affected areas remain lighter and usually appear as spots and streaks.
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