kelobra

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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

kelobra / Enterolobium cyclocarpum
(also commonly known as perota and guanacaste)
5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 1" x 1" end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Diffuse porous with very large, very sparse, randomly distributed pores with fat vasicentric parenchyma. Occasional radial pore multiples, usually 2 or 3 long but sometimes more. Very narrow rays barely visible at 10X, growth ring boundaries generally vague but discernible.

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

both sides of a sample plank of guanacaste / ear pod tree / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- the difference in darkness of the color on the two sides is correctly represented

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- the softness of the sapwood and the slightly greater hardness of the heartwood made this one a bear to sand and it's still not a very good job even after two tries.

both sides of a sample plank of guanacaste / ear pod tree / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- 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 appears to be all sapwood.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- as you can see from the raw end grain pic above, this piece had a VERY rough-cut end and this update did not get all the way to a smooth surface because of that and the softness of the wood. Fine grain details are somewhat visible.

both sides of a sample plank of guanacaste / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- 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 whole sample is sapwood and has a small area of blue stain.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a piece of guanacaste / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- 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 not and this accounts for minor differences in color between the two and the better resolution of the detail characteristics as seen in the first one. This piece pro-rated out to 22 lbs/cubic foot

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

sample plank and end grain ... this was sold to me as perota / Enterolobium cyclocarpum

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above --- I did not do as good a job sanding this as I do on most updates, but the right side of the pic is pretty good

both sides of a sample plank of kelobra (perota) / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- 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 guanacaste / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet 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

parts of a couple of BIG planks shot at a lumber show, listed as guanacaste / Enterolobium cyclocarpum --- the area shown in the first piece is about 3'x4' --- HUGE enlargements are present

veneer --- I have it from one of my correspondents, and from a partial web picture on a marquetry site, that this is kelobra. To me it looks exactly like curly etimoe.

another veneer small piece of veneer from another lot. It was not identified but is clearly the same as my previous sample, so again, I'm calling it kelobra. Unlike the one above, this one does not particularly look like curly etimoe.

web pics:

slabs listed as monkey pod / Enterolobium cyclocarpum

slab listed as kelobra

slabs listed as guanacaste

plank --- this picture as posted on the web is on the left and on the right is my attempt to make it a more likely color and to show the grain.

these kalobra turning blanks were advertised as having some spalting and being not quite dry but none-the-less weighing just under 6 lbs/cuft.

planks listed as guanacaste

plank, listed as guanacaste, and closeup

slabs listed as perota / guanacaste

planks listed as timbo

planks listed as perota

slabs listed as parota --- these are each over 2 feet in width

slabs listed as parota

plank listed as tamboril

bowl blank

parota plank with bark inclusion

a pair of planks and a closeup. Check out the SIZE of this pair of planks --- that's the hand of a standing man half way up the side of one plank.

more planks from the same vendor as the pair directly above. These are also quite large.

table top listed as parota

parota table top

all from the BogusColorVendor, so the colors are utterly ridiculous:

both sides of a plank and a closeup

plank

both sides of a plank and a closeup --- can't tell if this is a different species or if they have hired an honest photographer but in either case, the color on these looks pretty reasonable.