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Help Identifying a tropical wood

Started by SeymourF, March 01, 2017, 12:09:44 PM

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SeymourF

I live in Ecuador (South America) and there's a type of wood here that is often used in funiture. They call it Seike (or Ceique... not sure how it's spelled).

Most pieces are sort of red in color, but I've seen boards that are pink or yellow too. The grain lines are dark.

I'm told it grows in the jungle/rainforest in wet areas. Here's a photo of some pieces I have...
[imgleft]https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/45245/WP_20170301_11_34_17_Pro.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488387621[/imgleft]
[imgleft]https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/45245/WP_20170301_11_33_30_Pro.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1488387628[/imgleft]
I'd like to know what this wood is called in English. I havent been able to find any info on it online. I figured I'd ask the experts... (Note that the wood in the second pic is not actually gray, just bad lighting  ;))

Jeff

Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
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low_48

Looks like it could be spanish cedar. What kind of smell to the raw wood?

DelawhereJoe

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Don P

It does look like one of the luan, shorea, family to me... but that is a whole nuther forest. Luan is Phillipine Mahogany and this is Ecuador, but it is a large family.
This might help;
https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/centers/woodanatomy/techsheets_display.php?geo_category_id=4&genus_commonname_criteria=c&sorting_rule=1a

Don P

Santa Maria? I was in the wood handbook tonite and noticed the entry for Santa Maria mentioned that it looks like shorea. Just another guess. It also mentions that Spanish cedar is one of the few ring porous tropical hardwoods.

Don P

Yup, I'm talking to myself  :D
Try this for the Latin, Cedrelinga cateniformis;
http://plantasextincionzamora.blogspot.com/
Then googling that it came up as Tornillo for the common name, looks the same, diffuse porous with very large pores;
http://www.wood-database.com/tornillo/

Jeff

No yer not!  I'm listening!  :)

   SeymourF  posted his question, and as far as I can see, never came back.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

SeymourF

Quote from: Don P on March 08, 2017, 06:46:18 AM
Yup, I'm talking to myself  :D
Try this for the Latin, Cedrelinga cateniformis;
http://plantasextincionzamora.blogspot.com/
Then googling that it came up as Tornillo for the common name, looks the same, diffuse porous with very large pores;
http://www.wood-database.com/tornillo/

Hey! Sorry I haven't replied. I couldn't figure out how to reply, then i realized I was logged out!!  :D

Anyway, both lauan and tornillo look a lot like it. But there's one more thing about this wood. It has a very distinct odor. It's a sweet, almost cinnamon odor that's irritating to the nostrils. I always sneeze like crazy when working with it.  I checked out the links you guys posted, and the descriptions of both woods say "no characteristic odor".  So I still dont know...

Don P

He's alive!  :D
I remembered a comment about it while searching the other night. Lost that link but here is the same comment on another;
http://timberteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tornillo.pdf
I'm just curious and stabbing around in the dark.

I was wondering where tornillo, "screw" in Spanish, came from. There is a shrub in Tx and Mexico called the tornillo or screwbean because of the pod's twist. Both of these are legumes, do your trees have pea pods?


SeymourF

Quote from: Don P on March 09, 2017, 08:09:04 PM
He's alive!  :D
I remembered a comment about it while searching the other night. Lost that link but here is the same comment on another;
http://timberteam.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Tornillo.pdf
I'm just curious and stabbing around in the dark.

I was wondering where tornillo, "screw" in Spanish, came from. There is a shrub in Tx and Mexico called the tornillo or screwbean because of the pod's twist. Both of these are legumes, do your trees have pea pods?

Hmm... not sure about the pods as I've never seen the tree. I was just looking at another link you posted (the endangered species in Zamora) and it had a description there with the common Ecuadorian name (Seique. Yay, I know how it's spelled now).

The latin name was the same as tornillo, so I think that answers my question! It's Cedrelinga catenaeformis.  8)

Thanks for those links Don. They were most interesting.

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