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BUBINGA
Guibourtia spp.
A NOTE ON THE TERM "KEVAZINGA" (aka kevazingo): Kevazinga means, literally, "rotary cut bubinga". I have seen several dealers refer to "flat cut kevazinga" which is just a silly contradiction in terms (flat cut rotary cut) and stems from the mistaken belief that "kevazinga" is a generic synonym for ALL bubinga, which it is not. It ONLY refers to the rotary cut veneer, so there is no such thing as a kevazinga plank since you can't rotary cut a plank.
my samples --- colors are accurate throughout
plank, closeup, and end grain
another plank (and closeup), this was cut from the same long plank as the one directly above
quartersawn plank and end grain
another piece from the same plank as above and the same piece mositened with water
end grain closeup of the piece directly above --- sanding scratches are very evident
two pictures showing both sides of a set of small flats, all cut from the same plank. The first two come from an area of near-quartersawn cut and the second two come from an area of flat cut.
two shots showing both sides of a pair of small pieces cut from the same plank (both the same plank as each other and the same plank as the flats directly above). The upper piece is rough sanded on a belt sander with 60 grit and the lower piece is moderately well sanded by an orbital sander with 100 grit. You can see the improvement in color in the lower piece due to the finer sanding.
end grain of the two pieces from directly above. The butt end of the piece on the right has been orbital sanded with 100 grit and it, like the sides, shows color improvement due to the finer sanding. If you look at the enlargement You can still see the coarse sanding marks (on the top surface) which I did not totally remove with the 100-grit sanding
two sections and a closeup of the same 8-foot long plank
both faces of a small section of bubinga that I got in a mixed lot --- this piece is exceptionally dense and hard and is clearly from a crotch area. It is also somewhat darker in color than is normal for bubinga.
end grain pic and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
two pieces of veneer on top and two small thins on the bottom
I've had several pieces of bubinga, from different suppliers, and all of these pieces above seem well representative of everything I've had, although I did have a couple of pieces that had better figure than these, back before I got consistent about saving samples of everything. The first web pic below gives some idea of what I mean.
veneer --- really pretty; color here is accurate --- this piece contains a little more red tinge than is usual.
quartersawn veneer with very accurate color
quartersawn veneer with a mottle figure that is stronger than what shows up in these pics
flat cut veneer
flat cut veneer sheet and closeup
flat cut veneer with a small bubbly figure that doesn't show up well at all in these pics. I don't know whether to call it pomelle, mottle, or what --- it shows up better in the enlargements. The colors of the heartwood are accurate but the sapwood appears slightly richer than in reality.
this piece came in a lot of kevazingo (see below) but has none of the swirl normally associated with rotary cut veneer --- just an oddity, I guess
"waterfall" veneer --- rotary cut veneer with this particular pattern is also know as "Kevazingo", and there are more pictures of it from the web down below. This sample is not as spectacular as Kevazingo sometimes appears, but it is a decent representive piece for the type and the color shown is accurate but will change dramatically with the application of a finishing agent. See the next pic down from here.
This sheet of Kevazingo has been treated with natural (colorless) stain, just to see how it would look. Looks pretty good to me! Color is accurate; the stain brings out the red nicely. This piece started out exactly the same color as the unfinished sample directly above.
kevazingo samples --- colors are accurate:
the following pics are distance shots of some of the same sheets from which the closeups above were taken:
this sheet of bubinga is from a flitch that is harder and stiffer, although not appreciably thicker, than that of most of the samples above, and I note that it seems to be a cross between flat cut and rotary cut.
on the left is a pic from a well-known lumber and veneer dealer (not the BogusColorVendor) who exaggerates the colors in their pictures sometimes and on the right is a shot of the same piece by the buyer. This is a minor exaggeration compared to some of the shots by this vendor, although they do not generally rival the BogusColorVendor in outrageousness.
web pics
flat cut planks
flat cut planks that appear to have been moistened for the pic
identified as a flat cut bubinga plank, this looks to me more like goncalo alves, but that could be just due to the color being incorrect and the grain being significantly different than normal for flat cut bubinga.
quartersawn planks
13-foot-long plank
figured planks and turning sticks
figured slabs
figured scales
figured plank with sapwood and then a closeup of it --- the richness of the color is not believeable
bird's eye plank
turning stock
figured bookmatched pairs
knife handle scales
pomelle figured planks
bee's wing veneer --- the first one was just listed as "figured"
flat cut veneer --- the cathedral grain in the first few pics is somewhat unusual for bubinga because it normally has such an irregular grain pattern as seen in the last few pics.
flat cut veneer sheet w/ both enlargements available
flat cut veneer --- these are the vendor's pics of a lot I bought and from which some of my veneer sample pics for flat cut bubinga veneer are taken
quartersawn veneer
figured quartersawn veneer
quartersawn mottled veneer --- the last pic is of a lot I bought and from which all of my own samples of quartersawn mottled veneer are taken.
quartersawn mottled veneer sheet with a color that is just ridiculous
block mottle veneer --- colors are just silly
veneer
veneer all from the same vendor
veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargements. These are all from the same vendor as the set directly above.
pomelle veneer
mottled veneer
curly
quilted veneer, quartermatched
This rotary cut bubinga veneer with the wild swirls is very distinctive and is specifically referred to as Kevazingo (also commonly spelled kevazinga). It sometimes has additional characteristics such as quilting.
veneer sheet listed as kevazingo, but obviously it is just regular bubinga and I put it here only to illustrate the confusion that some dealers seem to have with this designation.
kevazinga, all from the same dealer
kevazingo veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement. These are all from the same vendor as the set directly above.
quilted kevazingo
quilted veneer
"quilted waterfall" veneer --- appartently both of these terms are used pretty loosely with bubinga, although some of these are CLEARY quilted.
waterfall veneer without the "quilted" designation
listed as waterfall veneer, but I just don't see it.
listed as "quartersawn waterfall" veneer
listed as "waterfall pomelle" veneer
listed as "quilted momelle" veneer by a vendor who usually lables the exact same veneer as just "quilted"
guitar backs of curlyl bubinga which I believe has been moistened for the pics.
mottled plank
both sides and a closeup of a quartersawn plank
these shots are all from the BogusColorVendor, so the actual wood in the last 5 pics in particular is not going to be bright red as is shown here. These are probably excellent pieces of figured bubinga, but the color is undoubtedly brown like the figured planks shown in the other web-pics above; this vendor's misrepresentation is THAT outrageously dishonest.
listed by the BogusColorVendor as a burl, but I don't see what there is about it that makes it a burl. Just more of their dishonest marketing, I guess.
Beautiful coffee table by John Ming of Heirloom Woodworking. It's 48"x30" and I'm not sure if the yellowish tint is from the finishing agent or the camera, but I've never seen bubinga have yellow like this. The finish is blond shellac sealer and then multiple coats of lacquer, and John also gave me pics of some black limba with this finish, and in those shots, the wood appears considerably more yellow than other black limba pics I've seen (and my own samples of the wood), so I'm assuming that most likely the yellow is from the finish, not from the camera.
A coffee table made by Al Kalian, topped with waterfall kevazinga veneer. It's intersting the significant difference in appearance depending on the viewing angle.
closeup of the top --- both leveles of enlargement are available
bowl turned by Al Amstutz
quartersawn bubinga highlight on a turned dried-flower-holder. The opposite side is also bubinga, and the other two sides are padauk. The vertical yellow wood is pau amerello and the very bottom is purpleheart. the center, with the holes for the dried flower stems, is red oak and you can see how it split slightly due to my not putting on a sealant for quite some time after I took this off the lathe. Dumb mistake. I drilled the holes for the flower stems and then blithly ignored the fact that this would allow the oak to just SOAK up moisture from the air and then change shape.
The bubinga seen here changes light reflection significantly depending on the angle, so when you move it in the light, it shimmers and is much prettier than this static picture shows.
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flat cut bubinga section on a laminated bowl. The pic on the left is fresh off the lathe and the one on the right is after a coat of natural stain. The apparent vertical crack across the middle is a dog hair.