narra

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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

narra / Pterocarpus indicus
(syn. Pterocarpus vidalianus)
often called New Guinea rosewood
Pterocarpus indicus is also called red narra, yellow narra, and brown narra depending on the color, which has a huge range from light yellow to golden-brown to reddish-brown to a deep blood red. The characteristics are as described below but are subject to considerable variation, so much so that it took me a while to confirm that all of my samples really ARE the same species. Some of the variation is due to the deeper the red woods denser the wood.

5" x 5" flat cut, 5" x 5" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Semi ring porous starting out with large pores and dwindling down to small pores. Vasicentric parenchyma, winged aliform parenchyma, diffuse-in-aggregates parenchyma, occasional pore multiples 2 or 3 long and generally radial, and some confluence. Rays are very thin, closely spaced, and hard to see even at 10X. Growth ring boundaries are vague.

NOTE: the burl from this wood uses a different name, amboyna, and has its own page on this site under that name.

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 narra / Pterocarpus indicus --- 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 UPDATE of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of narra. HUGE enlargements are present. This little piece was on the mystery wood page for a long time as Mystery wood 174 because I mistakenly though that the bogus "narra" shown at the bottom of this page was what narra really looked like and that this piece shown here was something else. My recent foray into fine sanding end grains, along with having obtained several other sample of narra, showed me clearly that this IS narra and the wood at the bottom of the page is not.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

sample piece and end grain --- colors are a bit too rich in these two pics

end grain closeup of the sample piece directly above.

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of mottled narra / Pterocarpus indicus --- 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 vendor has this as "bee's wing" figure but I think that's overly optimistic; it's really just mottled. ALSO, he has the specific epithet wrong. It should be indicus (as I've spelled it above) not indica as he has it on the label. The labeled side is raw but the 2nd side has been sanded to 240 grit and so shows details better.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of New Guinea padauk / Pterocarpus indicus --- 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 vendor, who is pretty sloppy with names, was the specific epithet wrong. It should be indicus (as I have listed it above), not indica as he has it on the label. The labeled side is raw but the 2nd side has been sanded to 240 grit and so shows details better and is a slightly lighter color.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of narra / Pterocarpus indicus --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was contributed to the site 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

both sides of a sample plank of narra / Pterocarpus indicus --- HUGE enlargements are present. When I bought this piece, it was covered with shellac. A light sanding removed all of the shellac but I too pics both before and after. These are without the shellac

these are with the shellac

end grain with and without shellac

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of narra / Pterocarpus indicus both before and after I sanded off a coat of shellac --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain before and after I sanded off a coat of shellac

HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of narra / Pterocarpus indicus both before and after I sanded off a coat of shellac --- HUGE enlargements are present.

end grain of the piece directly above, both before and after I sanded off a coat of shellac

HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above

a couple of turning sticks of red narra

end grains and an end grain closeup of the pieces directly above. The end grain closeup shows considerable scratch marks from my less-than-fine sanding.

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above. The characteristics of this piece are similar to other narra pieces on this page but seemingly much more condensed. That actually makes some sense since the deeper the red in narra, the higher the density so presumably this was a more slow-growing tree than the others.

turning block. When I got this, the ends were sealed and when I sanded off the sealant, there were no apparent cracks in the end grain. After less than a day later, the obvious cracks had developed, which is a sure sign of poor or incomplete drying.
NOTE: THIS MAY NOT BE NARRA / PTEROCARPUS INDICUS . The end grain characteristics are off. In particular, the pore density is too high. It could be an odd-ball piece or more likely it is a related species.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

NOT a raw wood color
sample plank, with a finishing agent, shot in a woodworking store. HUGE enlargements are present. The color of the wood is what you see in the pic but I have no explanation for WHY it's that color and it seems very unlikely to me that this is the same wood as the rest of what's shown on this page. The people in the wood store have a vague knowledge that woods HAVE "botanical names" but they have no idea what they are.

veneer listed as "Papua New Guinea rosewood" --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sheet was contributed to the site by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

red narra veneer

web pics:

cross section of a log

planks

plank listed as yellow narra / Pterocarpus indicus and another just listed as yellow narra

planks and turning stock, all from the same vendor and all listed as figured red narra / Pterocarpus indicus. I don't see too much "figure" in most of these

figured plank and closeup

a set of planks and some closeups --- note that some areas were moistened to show the grain better

planks from one of those vendors who just can't resist "correcting" the color until it looks nothing like the wood --- these pieces in reality probably look much like my own sample at the top of this page.

planks from the BogusColorVendor so they almost certainly have too much red in the pics

figured planks

curly plank

curly plank listed as "tiger stripe" narra / Pterocarpus indicus

three pieces all listed as bee's wing narra / Pterocarpus indicus. I think the bee's wing designation is a stretch for the first one and more of a stretch for the last one and just silly for the one in the middle.

both sides of a plank --- this wasn't even listed as figured, although it obviously is

both sides of a plank and two closeups --- these weren't even listed as figured, although they obviously are

both sides of a pair of planks --- these weren't even listed as figured, although they obviously are

turning stock

turned sphere

pen blanks

veneer

veneer listed as narra / Pterocarpus indicua

veneer, all from the same vendor. It was not specified as "red" narra, but certainly seems to be that variety.

red narra veneer closeups that all have both levels of enlargement

listed as bee's wing veneer, this is a very light figure and to my mind much too weak to be legitimately called bee's wing

"red narra" turning stock --- I have no idea how correct the red color is as I have only seen red narra in veneer form and it is more red and less orange than these (these are all from the same vendor)