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LATI

Amphimas spp.
Amphimas pterocarpoides and Amphimas ferrugineus of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family

This coarse wood is fairly common in much of African where it has a wide variety of uses. It is also known as "white wenge" because although the color is nothing like wenge (thus the "white") the grain can at times be strikingly similar to wenge.

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

plank and closeup


sanded sample and end grain cut from the piece directly above --- the end grain pic has a shade too much red. After sanding, I found that this wood does not have the coarse grain that is reported for the species, and the vendor from whom I bought it said that his supplier was unreliable and therefore the identification is suspect. This piece is moderately heavy, has a moderately fine texture, and is VERY smooth to the touch, but as you can see in the enlargement it has the somewhat grainy appearance of lati.

LATER: I have checked Inside Wood, and this piece is unquestionably NOT Amphimas spp.
I'll see if I can figure out what it IS and move it.


end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above


flat cut veneer sheet and two closeups of pieces cut from it. I did not know at the time what this was so labled it "unknown veneer 7" thus the "U7" labels


two closeups of the sheet directly above


quartersawn veneer sheet listed as m'futu. This sheet was loaned to me by John Koehn whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


"white wenge" veneer pics provided to me by Danny Tjan, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site

web pics:

planks


plank listed as lati / Amphimas ptercocarpoides


plank listed as lati / Amphimas ferrugineus and with a color that can only be the result of an applied stain


bookmatched planks listed as yaya / white wenge


bookmatched planks (might be veneer?) listed as yaya / white wenge --- the color on these is clearly way oversaturated


turning stock


veneer


pen turned from lati / Amphimas pterocarpoides. Photograph contributed to the site by the pen turner, Bruce Selyem, whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. The pen is finished with shellwax.