Exotic Wood bocote

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BOCOTE

Cordia spp.

my samples --- many of the pics here have too much red/orange in the color --- the several batches of small pieces from mixed lots, towards the bottom of the "my samples" section, have very accurate color, as does this slab:

both sides of a small slab with extremely accurate color

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

one side of a plank and a closeup --- this is one of the nicest bocote planks I've ever had, not because of a wild grain, which bocote can have, but because of the heavy ray flakes. More pics directly below.

the other side of the same plank and a closeup

a closeup of a section showing ray flakes

one side of a plank and a closeup. This is the ugliest bocote plank I've every had

plank and end grain --- this piece has been exposed to the air for years, but even so the color has a little too much red in it.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

a stick (also exposed to the air for years)

both sides and end grain of a small plank. Note that one side has been freshly exposed and the other shows the darkening that is typical of bocote that is left exposed for months or years. On the end grain shot, all sides have been freshly sanded.

a dowel I made to create plugs from. This is only rough sanded and very fresh; the yellow would look richer if it had been fine sanded. The color is resonably accurate but as you can see by comparing the two pictures, just a tiny difference in the lighting or the distance of the camera from the piece can make a noticable difference.

the end grain from two pieces done side by side to emphasize that the scale is the same. Note how the growth rings are much closer together on the piece to the right. I don't know if it is significant, but I bought the piece on the right almost 20 years ago but the piece on the left I bought a few months ago.

a 20-year-old bocote turning "stick", with one side untouched and the other side freshly sanded. Each view shows a little of a 2nd side at the top. The colors are quite accurate, especially the aged side. It's the yellow on the bocote that is very hard to get exactly right with my digital camera.

stick showing one side sanded, one side aged

a small section of a new and freshly sanded (120-grit) bocote turning "stick" showing all four sides and both ends. The color is pretty accurate, but as with most of the bocote shots, it isn't perfect.

misc small solid pieces

a couple of thins that show very nicely the very dark color that is sometimes available in bocote when the light-colored sections are very thin.

7 shots from a couple of 2"x2"x24" turning sticks. The sections were chosen to show a broad representation of pattern. These have been exposed to the air for some time and the color will lighten considerably after they are turned. The color here is pretty accurate, with just a shade too much gold in the brown.

these are all from a batch of several dozen 1/16" thick "thins" which were recently resawn. I arbitrarily picked out several pairs that show the variety of grain pattern. I've done some color correction and the colors are accurate. The last pair is the side that was on the outside and thus is not freshly sawn and so shows considerable darkening due to exposure to air and light. I was a little surprized at the red tinge. My previous experience was that the aging turns bocote a darker brown without any red.

more thins

two shots of some small slabs I cut from a large turning stick

small pieces from a mixed lot --- color is very accurate

two good-sized planks --- closeup directly below

closeup of the two pieces directly above

another plank --- this one is quite dark, as bocote sometimes is --- color shown is very accurate

another plank with accurate color

two more planks with accurate color

a pair of planks with very low figure (for bocoto)

another 3 planks

a couple of small planks with age patina

smaller planks cut from those directly above. The upper plank has been surfaced and no longer shows the patina. I had some trouble with the color correction on this pic and there is slightly too much red.

end grain and end grain closeup of the surfaced plank directly above

plank and closeup. This piece still has a patina on the surface.

a couple of sets of sticks cut from the large plank directly above. In each set, I have alternated face grains that have and have not been freshly sanded vs left alone with the patina. The grain for these shows up much better in the enlargements.

plank --- grain shows up better in the enlargements. This piece still has a patina on the surface.

veneer --- note that the color of the veneer is what the lumber will turn to if left exposed for a long time, but what is shown here has too much red/orange and not enough green

quartersawn veneer with ray flakes that really show up well in the enlargement

quartersawn with sapwood

quartersawn

flat cut piece and closeup

web pics. The first one is very typical of the wonderful swirl that is available in bocote, depending on how it is cut. The swirls in the 2nd pic are different than anything I've ever seen and I seem to remember the text with that picture commented on its uniqueness.

planks

plank listed as "fancy", which is just a vendor's way of saying it has a lot of grain character

both sides of a plank and a closeup

thick planks showing end grain

plank and closeup

the 4 pics above seem to me to have too much green in them

the first of the pics directly above, and both of the last three (the horizontal three) were all listed as "birdseye" bocote and while I certainly see some fancy swirls, I do not believe that "birdseye" is a correct description of these. The second and third pics are for HUGE (by bocote standards) boards of 10"x2"x48" and 8"x3"x36"

birdseye figure --- unlike bird's eye figure in most woods, where the figure is the product of a process different from the normal grain, the figure in bocote really just refers to pieces that happen to have a lot of little tight swirls in the normal grain. As nearly as I can determine, there is no special process that produces these and the designation is somewhat arbitrary.

quartersawn veneer

crotch and closeup

bowl blank, small box, and a very handsome professional woodworker's bowl

bowl with grain that is totally believable and color that is just silly

bowls by Bryan Nelson (NelsonWood). Bryan fine-polishes his bowls with 1200 or even higher grit sandpaper while they are spinning at high speed on the lathe and then finishes them there with a friction polish of his own devising, thus achieving a shine and color vibrancy that is beautiful to behold. These are all what Bryan calls "ring bowls" and are just under 5" across.

some bocote sections of a turned bowl. I've done color correction as best I can and it just isn't QUITE right although it's very close. The actual color has a touch less gold in the yellow parts of the bocote. There is no finish on this piece but it was sanded down with 120, then 220, then 320-grit, showing what a nice gloss bocote will take just from sanding.

the same pics, but taken after the bowl received a couple of coats of polyurethane and then sat on a shelf for several years. The aging of both the bocote and the surrounding cocobolo shows both that polyurethane doesn't have a UV blocker and that both woods age with exposure to light (polyurethane of course DOES block air). On these shots, I've put in both levels of enlargement because the poly really brought out the ray flakes in the bocote and but they can be much better seen in the enlargements. The section on the left has no flakes but the other three do.

quartersawn bocote section on a laminated bowl. The pic on the left is fresh off the lathe and the one on the right is after the application of one coat of natural stain.