Thread: Brazilian Wood Sources

Originally Posted by Tony Morton

Hi Runge

Have a look at Gilmer Wood its in the US Has over 150 species from pen blanks to large slabs, often go there for a drool some of the timbers from South America are magnificent.

Cheers Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks. I agree that they have a lot of great stuff. But not much of the dense Brazilian species.

Runge

Hello,

I found this forum when searching for details about lignum vitae.
Is there someone who could say by experience if gaiacum officinale, sanctum, coulteri (which seem to be the main species) have different colors / veins ? according to some studies it can only be determined by cellular microscope research. According to old texts from 18 or 19<SUP>th</SUP> century, there are some differences.<O</O

I have a few 18<SUP>th</SUP> century furnitures (french) made with LV (and this is well documented). Various pieces of LV used show strong differences in color and vein contrast. The well known greenish veins do not appear on some of them, and same pieces have weaker contrast and lighter ‘milk chocolate’ brown color. But it can just be a matter of growth, soil, elevation...
the few people having knowledge about sawing various species and answering to that question tend to say that differences are ‘subtiles’… Most of the pieces I have seen for sale on ebay are also a bit different from mine. Might be due to the fact it is mexican coulteri or sanctum ? (officinale was said to be of better quality in the old times, maybe more often used for carpentry/crafts – unlike sanctum more often used for medicine). as well we should consider that 300 years of oxydation and patina do change the appearance, but it should mainly darken the colors compared to pieces recently cut.<O</O
<O</O
<Oany clue will be welcome !</O
<Othanks
<O</O

I guess attaching these photos will help..

Originally Posted by tipunch

Hello,

I found this forum when searching for details about lignum vitae.
Is there someone who could say by experience if gaiacum officinale, sanctum, coulteri (which seem to be the main species) have different colors / veins ? according to some studies it can only be determined by cellular microscope research. According to old texts from 18 or 19^th century, there are some differences.<o></o>

I have a few 18^th century furnitures (french) made with LV (and this is well documented). Various pieces of LV used show strong differences in color and vein contrast. The well known greenish veins do not appear on some of them, and same pieces have weaker contrast and lighter ‘milk chocolate’ brown color. But it can just be a matter of growth, soil, elevation...
the few people having knowledge about sawing various species and answering to that question tend to say that differences are ‘subtiles’… Most of the pieces I have seen for sale on ebay are also a bit different from mine. Might be due to the fact it is mexican coulteri or sanctum ? (officinale was said to be of better quality in the old times, maybe more often used for carpentry/crafts – unlike sanctum more often used for medicine). as well we should consider that 300 years of oxydation and patina do change the appearance, but it should mainly darken the colors compared to pieces recently cut.<o></o>
<o></o>
<o>any clue will be welcome !</o>
<o>thanks</o>
<o></o>

Hi tipunch,

I can only comment on my limited experience. G. officinale tends to be relatively dark while G. sanctum is often lighter in color. I say that based on seven large boards (150kg) of G. sanctum from two trees. As to G. coulteri, there is extremely little on the market today. The two samples that I purchased are darker like G. officinale but a bit gray. More importantly, there are blonde patches in the heartwood which I have never seen in G. officinale or G. sanctum. I cannot comment on G. angustifolium or G. unijugum because I have never seen them. Ask me about G. angustifolium in November and I may have an answer for you. Today, the vast majority of Guaiacum on the market (except locally) is G. sanctum. The G. officinale that I am aware of comes out of the Dominican Republic after hurricanes. Most G. sanctum is coming out of Campeche, Mexico.

One other remark is that all Guaiacum species that I have measured had densities of approximately 1.24-1.29g/cc. By the way, I thought most Guaiacum that made it to Europe in the distant past was G. officinale. I say that because G. sanctum was called Bastard Lignum Vitae.

Play around with this link; you can download the entire book.

Biodiversity Heritage Library: Lignum-vitae;

By the way, do you know where to find "Bois de Boco" in France (if you are really in France)?

thanks Runge for your answer, that's the best one I ever got... the link is great as well. Regarding Boco wood (bois de bobo or bois boco), that is apparently found in French Guyana and Surinam. The only dealer that is advertising it is "Les fils de J. Georges" in Paris, the best veneer maker in the country (sawn veneer). You could always ask if he can get you some lumbers... but that's not his business.
http://www.george-veneers.com/recup_donnees_bois.php
I found a sawmill in F. Guyana : St Georges Ecobois 10 rue Maurice Sparce zipcode 97313 St Georges / French Guyana they obviously don't have any website, but price would for sure be much cheaper. the boss is "Arnaud Marez" and he seems to have a kind of blog (?) :www.viadeo.com/fr/profile/arnaud.marez
this link did not go through from my place here, I have restrictions at work...

I will be back in France within 2 or 3 weeks and I can call some hardwood dealers for you. Also you could try to look for Surinam dealers...

If you need any more help or translation let me know.

Originally Posted by tipunch

thanks Runge for your answer, that's the best one I ever got... the link is great as well. Regarding Boco wood (bois de bobo or bois boco), that is apparently found in French Guyana and Surinam. The only dealer that is advertising it is "Les fils de J. Georges" in Paris, the best veneer maker in the country (sawn veneer). You could always ask if he can get you some lumbers... but that's not his business.
http://www.george-veneers.com/recup_donnees_bois.php
I found a sawmill in F. Guyana : St Georges Ecobois 10 rue Maurice Sparce zipcode 97313 St Georges / French Guyana they obviously don't have any website, but price would for sure be much cheaper. the boss is "Arnaud Marez" and he seems to have a kind of blog (?) :www.viadeo.com/fr/profile/arnaud.marez
this link did not go through from my place here, I have restrictions at work...

I will be back in France within 2 or 3 weeks and I can call some hardwood dealers for you. Also you could try to look for Surinam dealers...

If you need any more help or translation let me know.

Hi tipunch,

Thanks for the information. I have looked into sources from Suriname but not French Guiana (Guyane). For me, it is simply too risky to purchase directly from these countries. In France, the only vendor that I have been able to find is

Recherche - Vente outillage bois - FTFI

but Gilles has gone silent. If you stumble on any other information, I would enjoy hearing about it. In Guyane, it seems that I could also try Gregory Nicolet or Aline Guth but I know nothing of these people.

You may or may not be interested but, Bulnesia is the sister genus to Guaiacum. Within Bulnesia, Section Gonopterodedron is the closest to Guaiacum. Within this section, there are four species that are very similar to Guaiacum:

B. arborea
B. bonariensis
B. carrapo
B. sarmientoi

The first and last are lighter in color than any Guaiacum that I have ever seen. B. arborea is a nice species.

ok for bulnesia. It took also over from LV for same medicinal purposes.
if one day you can get pictures of samples of officinalis versus sanctum I'm interested as well.
Little story about the table I own, which legs are displayed on the pictures : the two back legs are thicker than the front ones. Geometry and symetry were not as important at this time especially for provincial furnitures, however at this point it is weird. I got the explanation when restoring the table : I could see some bit of the male part ('tenon' in french) stuck inside one mortise with remainings of old dried bone glue. When trying to remove with a thick chiesel it sounded like steel, I thought there was a nail. No nail... and absolutely impossible to carve or chip. that is the of the wood. Probably the carpenter who built this table encountered same problem and left the mortise unfinished, and also was tired of destroying his gouge to get correct diameter of the legs, so he left them thicker than other ones !

FTFI : did you contact them recently ? August is a 'dead month' in France, most businesses are closed for summer vacation. if you tried earlier, maybe no one there speaks english, so I can try if you want.
I have just sent a mail to the forestry administration of Guyane (Office National des Forets) to see if they can recommend anyone there for boco exportation. Will let you know, but seems that email addresses are not getting through. By the way what size and quantity are you looking for ?

I've seen your post about humbertia.... you are probably aware it is a highly endangered specy, seems that it is left mainly in natural reserves ! Then, I travelled Madagascar a few times : beautiful country and people, but life level is often closer to middle age than civilization. It's quite a huge country, very few good roads and industry. so getting something like this, picky and scarce, might be a challenge, even if relying on "old stocks" which will probably be recent poaching. local name is hara hara.

In the event anyone is looking for some Pau Santo (Zollernia paraensis), I believe the first new shipment has arrived in the U.S. since 2006. Hopefully, this post won't be interpreted as a commercial post ...

http://rare-earth-hardwoods.com/slab...nto&photo=2779

Brazilian Woods Database

Sorry, old stuff dug out of a forgotten corner ...