Brazillian Walnut and ???

[John Kendall]

I'm stuck at recognizing the wood to the left in the picture. I'm almost positive that the wood to the right is IPE (Brazilian Walnut), but the other looks like it has a red cast to it and I haven't a clue what it could be. Do you???

[John Kendall]

I bought this wood from a man that told me it was all IPE that he used building decks. If that is a clue to help figuring out what it is.

I do know the IPE was a pain to glue up and the other was much easier.

[Jason Beam]

Looks a little like Jatoba, maybe?

Before I read your post, I instantly thought IPE on the right, too.

[Jason Beam]

Also ... can you give some properties? Does it feel heavy for its size like Ipe would?

[Brian Effinger]

My guess would be jatoba (a.k.a. Brazilian cherry) too. I've got 100 b.f. in my basement that looks an awful lot like that.

[John Kendall]

It is very heavy for it's size. When I sanded the IPE it didn't clog up the sandpaper. The other clogged it up pretty quick.

I'll get a picture of a piece of scrap that it came from and also ad the end grain if that will help.

[John Kendall]

My wife tells me I have some Jatoba stashed away. I'm going to have to do some digging and compare it.
Here are a few pics of the wood it started out from. They were originally to be the deck boards of the deck. The Ipe was originally 4x4 and I resawed them down to 1" and went from there to get the panel I have glued up.



These pictures were taken under florescent lighting. I tried to correct toe color to match the wood, but I'm not sure I did it.

[Jim Tobias]

One more vote for Brazilian Cherry. I have a floor in a room of it and used some of the excess to make trim. It is very hard, dense and heavy.

Jim

[John Kendall]

I was impressed with how well it glued up. What I need to find out is if it will hold up to moisture in a shower area and what I need to use to finish it with.

I am open to any ideas...

[Brian Effinger]

Jatoba end grain does have open pores like you show, but not that dark.

[GERALD HARGROVE]

Big vote for Jatoba. Hard as a rock, and even harder on the tools. It is great for furniture, takes a lot to dent it.

[John Kendall]

I sanded the end with 220 and it shined up really nice.

[Bob Elliott]

One more vote for Jatoba or "Brazillian Cherry". I put a maple floor in my entire house and used a Jatoba feature strip in the entery. Little did I know that it woudl lead to making furniture for the house from these two woods. Jatoba is dense, hard and dulls tools quickly.

[John Kendall]

Would it be wise to install the Ipe and Jatoba in a steam/shower room?

What I have, is a request (from my wife) to install the Jatoba for the seat and the Ipe for the front (verticle) area of a concrete bench, instead of installing tile over the concrete.

I'm very unfamiliar with what will happen with humidity changes on this wood. If used, how it would need to be finished to hold up to the climate changes.

I am considering finishing all sides of the wood with Boni Kemi high traffic finish that I used on the hickory flooring I installed awhile back. It has held up great to all kinds of abuse.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as to what I should or shouldn't do or how to finish the two types of wood.

Thanks!!!

[John Czaplicki]

If it's super heavy I would bet anything that it's massaranduba.

I've never seen it until recently.....hard as rock and heavy as iron. The guy at the lumber mill gave me a sample. It's so hard and heavy I can't imagine it being used for anything besides decking.

http://www.austinwholesaledecking.com/massaranduba/