bocote

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NOTE: there is rarely any "standard" or "typical" look for a wood so take what's in this table with a grain of salt the REST of the pictures on this page will give you a better overall feel for this wood
	bocote / Cordia spp. 5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup. Diffuse porous with with moderate pore size noticeable rays. The growth ring boundaries are much more pronounced in these end grain shots than is normal. The wild swirly grain in the flat cut face is fairly common.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting --- colors will vary under other lighting conditions

many of my bocote pics here have too much red/orange in the color and many are very accurate
I have indicated in all cases where the color is off in the pics. Bocote is sometimes quite
greenish, sometimes more yellow-tan. It darkens with age and I have seen at least one piece
(shown immediately below) turn almost black over time.

The pic on the right is of the bottom of a bobbin holder (thus the dowel pins) that I made for my wife out of a piece of bocote that came from the other end of the plank shown in raw form on the left. The bobbin holder was finished with a coat of tung oil and exposed to oxygen and indirect sunlight for about 6 years. The dark lines stayed pretty much the same but the nice golden color darkened to what in a bright light (such as for this pic) is a chocolate brown and which in natural light looks almost black.

both sides of a plank of Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. For more detail on this plank see the sample directly below

first side and end grain of a sample plank of Mexican bocote / Cordia eleagnoides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This sample is from the plank directly above.

second side of the same sample, before and after I sanded it down to 400 grit. you'll notice that before sanding it had the same reddish patina as the first side but after sanding the patina is replaced by the natural slightly greenish brown dark areas and yellow-tan light areas.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above. No end grain update was done but there are plenty of them for other samples below.

both sides of a sample plank of bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that the first face was sanded to 240 grit and the second face was left with the typical heavy patina that bocote takes on with age.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The first side has been sanded down to 240 grit but the 2nd side still has an age patina albeit one not as deep and red as in the samples above this one, so presumably was milled more recently than those.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of bocote / Cordia spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of bocote / Cordia spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of "bird's eye" bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The "bird's eye" designation is just one of many such bogus designations used by this particular vendor (NOT David, but the guy who sold him the sample) who at the drop of a hat will call something "bird's eye" and other exotic designations that are just wrong for the particular piece of wood. This IS, admittedly, a very nicely figured piece but the swirls have nothing to do with the normal "bird's eye" figure that you find in, for example, hard maple. It would be quite legitimate to call this, for example, "fancy figure" bocote, but not bird's eye. The reddish tint in these pieces is correct --- neither face was sanded.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a small slab with extremely accurate color

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of South American bocote / Cordia spp. (incorrectly stated as "sp.") --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a small plank of bocote / Cordia spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

face grain closeup of the piece directly above showing some nice ray flakes (this piece is almost quartersawn)

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 of bocote / Cordia spp. and a closeup. This is the ugliest bocote plank I've every had. Also, one of the widest.

small piece and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from 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 reasonably 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 noticeable 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 red 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 surprised 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 bocote)

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.

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.

small planks

plank with heavy age patina

planks photographed at a woodworking store

both sides and end grain of some plank pics that were sent to me for a wood ID

fairly freshly-sliced veneer showing the natural greenish tint

veneer pieces that have been in my basement for 7 or more years and which have aged to a red color. HUGE enlargements are present

web pics:

log ends showing clearly the "spiky" and wavy grain lines that can make flat cut pieces have such amazing grain patterns.

planks listed as bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides, all from the same vendor, all with color that richer and considerably more orange than the actual wood will be. HUGE enlargements are present. The vendor mistakenly had the specific epithet as Cordia elaeagnoides, which is missing the "a" after the "l". This is one of those cases where the spelling of a Latin name just seems REALLY weird to a native English speaker and it's certainly easy to understand how a vendor could miss this.

another batch from the same vendor as directly above and subject to the same comments

planks with varying degrees of color accuracy

planks listed as Mexican bocote and showing some of the really wild figure that bocote is famous for

planks listed as Mexican bocote / Cordia eleagnoides [a mis-spelling of the correct specific epithet of elaeagnoides] all from the same vendor

each of the above is a set of planks and a closeup of one section of the same set. These are all from the same vendor and all were listed as Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides. Both levels of enlargement are present for all pics. The color seems a bit too orange to me.

book matched plank pair listed as Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides

planks listed as "figured" Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides --- I consider the "figured" designation to be a vendors pipe-dream. It IS nice looking stuff, with some of it having the kind of swirly grain that you sometimes see in bocote, but I don't think that makes it "figured". Enlargements are present

planks with unlikely bright green/yellow that is likely much more subdued in the actual wood

plank with a color that is just silly

plank listed as "fancy", which is just a vendor's way of saying "it has interesting figure so I'm going to charge extra for it"

both sides of a plank and a closeup

thick planks showing end grain

plank and closeup

planks listed as bocote / Cordia alliodora

turning sticks listed as Mexican bocote

turning stock listed as Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides

slabs

bowl blank (waxed)

pen blanks

turning stock

scales

planks listed as "bird's eye" bocote --- 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

boodmatched veneer listed as bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides --- color seems unlikely (too much of a pale salmon color and not enough green)

crotch and closeup (the color is not the least bit believable)

bottle stoppers

guitar set shown here mainly to show how SERIOUSLY pics are sometimes over-saturated by dishonest (or incredibly careless) vendors in an attempt to make the wood look, to them at least, more attractive. Even with a coat of natural stain, which really brings out the grain and enhances the color, bocote just isn't going to look this rich.

guitar sets listed as Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides

guitar back listed as bocote / Cordia gerascanthus

pepper grinder, duck calls, and razor set

whip handle

bowl blanks

two views of a bowl blank

bowl blanks listed as Mexican bocote / Cordia elaeagnoides

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

platter --- looks to be very recently turned since the wood has the fresh color that is typical of bocote that has not yet taken on age induced darkening.

bowls

bowl with very accurate color

bowl with grain that is totally believable and color that is just moronic, and then my color-corrected version to show what the bowl probably actually looks like

bowl with color that I find unlikely (too orange) although it might be because of the finish used.

two bowls by Steve Earis; the first is 5" across, the second is 5.5" across

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 the polyurethane UV blocker doesn't do much good in the long run 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. NOTE: this is an excellent example of bocote looking almost exactly like louro preto.