Can you name this wood?

[guillemot]

A friend was helping a client with some renovation which included re-doing a few windows. He noticed that the old frames were some kind of tropical hardwood and has given me some. When you cut it, it's the colour of fresh raw liver! almost purplish. Here's a jpeg. - doesn't do it  justice.

 

This ample is about 20mm wide. It's quite hard but I cut a thin strip on my  trust proxxon and itsq' uite flexible as well. You wouldn't want to do a deck out of it but for decorative stuff... Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Fraser

 

 

 

[Jim Lad]

Fraser,

 

It's hard to tell from a photo, but it's possibly Purpleheart.

 

John

[SailorGreg]

From your description and the photo I would say you have a piece of utile, an African hardwood. It was in fairly common use for furniture, joinery (such as your window frame) and boatbuilding, but is now becoming less common.

 

Greg

[guillemot]

Thanks. I had originally thought Sapele, except the colour was so intense. Purple heart was a thought too, But it's use in window frames... Utile looks too light in the pics I've found on Google...there are so many tropical timbers, and of course Portugal, where I live, has strong ties with Brazil...

[mtaylor]

Fraser,

Does the color go all the way through the wood?  It almost looks like a stain to my eyes.   But then, I need new glasses.

[BareHook]

Color looks like cocobolo but????

[guillemot]

Bear in mind, the photo is rather larger than life, in a small section it's rather less than Mahogony, but garish! Might be good for a case or a base.

Cocobolo has a much wilder grain. I think the answer is to take it up to a neighbouring village, Cancela where there is a hardwood importer...has lovely wood but doesn't sell much to the general public, unless you can buy a few cubic meters!

F

[Foremast]

It sems Padouck (or Paduc, Paduca, Padouk). It's an African wood used for furnitures or high quality wooden details. Time ago I bought a piece of it but it's difficult to use for shipmodellers because of its little holes in the texture.

Cheers

Alex

[guillemot]

That sounds a pretty good likelihood. where the wood was exposed it has gone a greyish brown, guess it takes a while! Just had a look on Google images and yeah, looks like it.

Cheers,

Fraser

[Richard Griffith]

Hi Fraser, as long as this item is not stained, then it appears to be purpleheart.  When newly cut, it is bright purple.  It is hard, dense and heavy, with high crushing, stiffness and bending properties.  Other names include amarante, guarabu morado, nazzaeno pau roxo, saka, tananeo and violetwood.  Spirit finishes tend to remove the purple color; lacquer retains it. 

 

The other suggestions, while good, appear to miss the purple color.  Padauks come from the Andaman Islands, Burma and Africa and have a more red brown color.  When these are freshly cut, they have brighter initial coloring, especially the orange of the African variety.  Cocobolo has more red and a strong figure.  Sapele resembles mahogany and its heartwood is pink when freshly cut, but darkens to a red brown or purple brown on exposure.

 

There may be a better suggestion.               Duffer

[guillemot]

When I've got a few minutes spare, I'll visit the local importer and see what he thinks. I was cutting some on my little proxxon saw and, damn, it cuts cleanly. I had the saw set for 2mm....

[normanh]

Either meranti or sapelle

 

 

Norman

[marius]

Purple heart. The giveaway is that after a year or two it turns brown  When you cut it it turns purple again. I recently made the coamings on my Triton

X-section from this wood. Photos can be deceiving but I put my money on purple heart.

marius

[guillemot]

Thanks for all the responses! With such a range of tropical hardwoods kicking about, it really is difficult. I haven't had a chance to get out to our local hardwood importer to get his opinion yet. It certainly cuts down to 1mm  on my Proxxon and with the smooth blade the cut side is nearly black from the heat of cutting,

F

[guillemot]

Was visiting a friend who does wood turning and had a look at his stock of exotics - purpleheart. He has a couple of rounds of it and it's a ringer. Thanks for all the input everyone.