# Wood from columbia?



## chriskoww (Jun 6, 2011)

At my job, our curtainwall contractor is getting their glass from Columbia. It's all being shipped with this thick red wood that may be worth saving. Each piece is up to 8 feet long, 4-5 inches wide, and 2 inches thick. I will attach the pic now, and a planed down pic when I get home. Should I collect it all? What is it?


----------



## dat (Nov 11, 2010)

chriskoww said:


> Should I collect it all? What is it?
> 
> 
> View attachment 42385


 
what is it? free wood. 
should you collect it? I would say yes,

looks like it could turn out looking nice after sanded, is it a hard wood or soft?


----------



## bob sacamano (Jan 24, 2012)

its hard to see in those pics but maybe mahogany. post a pic after you plane it down


and hell yes you should save it all ! you can build a complete piece with lumber that size


----------



## chriskoww (Jun 6, 2011)

Ok we sanded some pieces down. There goes my cherry prediction.


----------



## Runge (Apr 26, 2011)

Take a look at this website:

http://www.primahardwood.com/products/index.php?d=3

The owner appears to be Harold Hayes. In my brief email exchange with him, he didn't strike me as a very likable guy but the website might be helpful. Incidentally, he totally garbled one of his species. When you see "Caesalpiniaceae Granadillo," realize that he meant Libidibia punctata.

How dense is your Colombian wood?


----------



## Runge (Apr 26, 2011)

http://translate.google.com/transla...caciones-en-orden-alfab%C3%A9tico&Itemid=1924


----------



## Runge (Apr 26, 2011)

It's a HUGE file but it will answer your question, I think.

http://www.sinchi.org.co/images/pdf/dfpublicaciones/Manual_identificacion.pdf


----------



## [email protected] (Jul 14, 2009)

I know the glass comes from South America but, It looks a lot like Sapele from Africa. Here are some pics from e-bay.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=sapele+wood


----------



## qbilder (Dec 19, 2010)

Looks like a type of mahogany called tornillo, common to the south American rain forests. Some of us cue makers use it commonly as lightweight but stiff cores inside the cue to reduce weight while retaining strength. It's an inexpensive wood, perfect for pallets.


----------



## Chaincarver Steve (Jul 30, 2011)

I would definitely save it. Even if you can't use it all, surely you can sell a lot of it. Any time you can score wood like that (and pieces up to 8' long!) I'd snatch it up and thank your lucky stars. That's free money right there. It looks quite nice too.


----------



## aardvark (Sep 29, 2011)

Caution reselling foreign woods from possible rainforests. There are (may be) laws restricting it...ask Fender Guitars.
But I would save it and use it. It has some nice coloring and grain.


----------



## bikeshooter (Nov 5, 2010)

It may be lyptus. As I understand the story, soft woods cannot be used for international shipping because of the increased risk of transporting insects or other critters. So they did a clear cut of some of the rain forest in Brazil and planted lyptus to be used for shipping crates. It's a fast growing, super hardwood that's usable in about 15 years. Reddish heart, whiteish sap and some have medium brown coloring in between the two.

I salvaged quite a bit from a granite importer. Mostly 2" x 3" x 7'. This shows some heart wood sanded to 2000 grit and buffed with white diamond
.http://www.woodworkingtalk.com/members/bikeshooter-16372/albums/tim/11414-direct-my-step-copy/

As a side note, I also found some 2" x 2" silky oak shorts in a shipping crate from India.


----------



## chriskoww (Jun 6, 2011)

First - Thanks to everyone for help on this. To me, it does look a lot like lyptus. I will take a good amount home but won't go too crazy.


----------

