Exotic Wood goncalo alves

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GONCALO ALVES

Astronium spp.

NOTE: some of the flooring samples which were here previously turn out to be curupay, not goncalo alves, and have been moved to the curupay page.

my samples:

plank and end grain

two end grain closeups of the piece directly above --- on the right-hand closeup in particular, sanding scratches are VERY evident

small stick and both ends. This piece is is totally devoid of any hint of red, which is interesting when you compare it to the web shot done by the company I bought it from (see below). Prior to sanding, the wood had a slight patina and a definitely oily feel but both disappeared when the wood was sanded.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

this is the web pic on eBay that was posted by the BogusColorVendor. My "small stick" sample above was cut from this plank, so you can see how grossly they have "corrected" the color to make the board look red when in reality it has no red at all. Some of the other shots below are from the same company, but at this point, I'm not totally sure exactly which are and which aren't.

both sides, and a closeup of each, of a good-sized plank. This plank has a distinct oily feel and a reddish patina, both of which disappear when the wood is sanded. See directly below.

here is a section cut from the lower right corner of the picture directly above, and rough-sanded. I didn't even sand enough to fully remove the patina, but you get the idea. A litte more sanding and all trace of red tint will disappear, as in the upper right corner of this piece, where the sanding DID fully remove the patina, leaving a nice salmon color.

OK, now it is a year later and the wood has picked up just a little more reddish patina. That is, here is a piece from the original plank, that started (when I got it) with a patina and the piece shown here is of a section that I did not sand at all but have now sanded fully sanded on one side. If the reddish side were sanded, it would look exactly like the tan, sanded, side does now.

plank (and end grain) sold to me in a wood kit as "muiricatiara" which is a common name for one of the species that make up the generic trade name goncalo alves (see the fact sheet for the huge number of names used with this wood). I DO find it odd that this piece is a totally uniform color, since in my experience that doesn't happen in goncalo alves (although, rather obviously, it DOES happen in this variety). AHA --- Paul van Rijckevorsel has kindly alerted me to the fact that while muiricatiara is indeed a wood that is sold along with other species under the trade name goncalo alves, it is a generally an unfigured wood. Thanks, Paul.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

small plank section --- color is accurate; when I got the piece it had a hard finish or some sort which I sanded off. I regret not having taken a picture while the finish was still on, as it made a nice difference in the attractiveness of the wood.

both ends of a rough-sanded turning stick

both sides of a plank --- this one has a very slight pomelle figure due to strongly interlocked grain; the color in this pic has just a shade too much gold in it --- should be a little more brown

small plank, and its end grain, cut from the larger plank above and sanded down; the very slight patina was removed by the sanding and the color on these pics is quite accurate.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

two planks shot at a lumber yard to show the color variation

misc planks photographed at a lumber yard, showing both a decent color variety and the fact that this wood often does NOT have the dark streaking

web pics:

These show some of the huge variety of grain pattern and color that you find in this wood. I'm not sure all of the colors are accurate, but this wood does have a huge range of both color and grain.

an excellent single-picture shot showing a mixture showing some of the range of color and grain pattern in this wood --- it looks much more interesting in the enlargement. This was provided to me by Brett from Montana, who has given me other nifty pictures and information that I'll get into this section soon. As you can see, the piece in the upper left could be mistaken for a rosewood, the two at the left of the middle bottom look a lot like sweet gum, and the brown one on the far right looks like shedua --- an excellent demonstration of how hard it can be to identify some of these exotic woods.

planks

bookmatched planks with unlikely color

plank listed as "curly" by an overly optimistic vendor --- there IS a light curl, but very light

both sides of a plank and a couple of closeups

planks sold as muiricatiara

pen blanks

bowl blank

pen blanks

both sides of a plank and a closeup, sold as muiricatiara

large planks

fiddleback

veneer specified as "tigerwood" --- the one on the left is most likely ribbon stripe sapele and the one on the right probably IS goncalo alves.

veneer

flooring sold under the alternate common name urundey para and with a botanical designation of Astronium fraxinifolium

thin wood guitar-back blank; I'm not sure about the color but it could be correct. There may have been a finishing agent applied, or the wood may have been moistened for the picture

bowls

9" diameter bowl by Steve Earis (with big enlargements available) and the blank from which it was turned

these are from the BogusColorVendor so the bright colors are highly suspect

both sides of a plank and a closeup

both sides of a plank and closeups from each side

both sides of a plank and two closeups --- the colors on these actually seem likely, unlike the exaggeration that they normally do for their pics

closeup with unlikely gold color --- this is very likely a tan plank just like the one directly above. Ah ... well, now that I have some more experience with this wood, I believe that this is an accurately pictured piece of golcalo alves that has what I now know to be a common surface veneer that is reddish and shiny and builds up over time but sands off to show the wood underneath as being MUCH plainer and with no red, much like the pic directly above this one.

plank