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PERNAMBUCO

Caesalpinia echinata (syn. Guilandina echinata)
according to The Plant List (which this site uses), but NOTE:
the GRIN database says the name is Paubrasilia echinata
and Caesalpinia echinata is a synonym

LATER NOTE: The Plant List has been updated and now agrees that
Paubrasilia echinata is the correct botanical designation
and Caesalpinia echinata and Guilandina echinata are a synonyms
Paubrasilia echinata (syn.s are Caesalpinia echinata and Guilandina echinata) of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family

This Latin American wood (mostly from Brazil) is also called pau Brazil and Brazil Wood (and a LARGE number of other common names). It is from this wood that the country of Brazil got its name. The simplistic version of that story (totally untrue, I've been told) is that Portugese invaders asked a group of natives "what is the name of this country", gesticulating widely with their hands to show they mean a wide area. The natives thought they were asking, "what is the name of the beautiful trees in this forest?"

Humberto Baltazar Morais has pointed out to me that this story is nonsensical since the natives would NOT have called the wood "Brazil" or anything close to that but rather would have called it "ibirapitanga" (meaning "red tree") which was the name of the tree before the Portugese starting calling it brazilwood. The country DID get its modern name from the Portugese name for the tree, but not from the natives. It's the kind of story that SOUNDS true and so becomes widespread and takes on the trappings of truth by the frequent retelling.

The names pernambuco and Brazil wood are widely misapplied to several unrelated woods from Latin America and even from Asia, so you have to be careful what you are getting.

It is hard and heavy and can be somewhat difficult to work, but is stable in service and takes a high polish. The frequent orange color deepens and quickly with exposure and sometimes turns more red. This is clearly shown in the first entry in the web pics down below my own samples.

Pernambuco (Caesalpinia echinata) is closely related to paela (Caesalpinia platyloba and Caesalpinia violacea) and they sometimes look quite similar, even to the extent of it being pretty much impossible to tell then apart by simple visual inspection, although this certainly is not always the case (as you can see from the pics). Even the end grains usually do not have reliably different characteristics.

You will find on the Internet a description of a "shavings test" to distinguish between paela and pernambuco. Correspondent Filip Frydrysiak has informed me that the test is unreliable because it depends on how many shavings you use for each wood, how light/dark the wood is to start with, and how long you soak the shavings.

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 pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata --- 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


both sides of a sample plank of pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


sample plank, and end grain, sold to me as pau Brazil / Guilandina echinata


end grain closeup of the sample plank directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


sample plank and end grain sold to me as granadillo / Caesalpinia echinata


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a very small plank with terrific color. This was given to me as pernambuco with no species designated. This is an excellent example of how pernambuco and paela can look very similar. When I first saw this, I thought it WAS paela but the owner insists it is pernambuco. HUGE enlargements are present.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT PERNAMBUCO, REGARDLESS OF THE OWNER'S INSISTENCE THAT IT IS. Although the color of this piece is exactly like that of some pieces of pernambuco (but also like paela), I have now examined the end grain update (see below) more closely and this sample is EXACTLY like paela and very little like pernambuco. The pores are noticeably smaller and more numerous in this sample than in pernambuco which means it's like paela, not pernambuco. Further, the vasicentric parenchyma is thin like paela whereas in pernambuco it is thicker. Also, in this sample, as in paela, there are very frequent radial groupings of multiple pores, often more than 2 long, but pernambuco has only rarely has pore multiples and they are only two pores long.


end grain of the piece directly above


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


two sides of a piece of turning stock of pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata --- HUGE enlargements are present.


end grain waxed and after the wax was removed and then an end grain closeup. The multitudinous cracks were not there until I sanded it down to about 220 grit. Pieces that are not quite fully seasoned will do this sometimes as a result of the continuous sanding causing enough heat to make some of the residual moisture evaporate quickly and crack the wood right at the surface.


two sides of a bowl blank of pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata --- HUGE enlargements are present. The rich red-orange color is accurately shown. This is some beautiful stuff. The first side has been sanded to about 250 grit with a ROS but the second side only to about 120 grit (and only with a belt sander)


end grain waxed and after the wax was removed and then an end grain closeup. The multitudinous cracks were not there until I sanded it down to about 220 grit). Pieces that are not quite fully seasoned will do this sometimes as a result of the continuous sanding causing enough heat to make some of the residual moisture evaporate quickly and crack the wood right at the surface. This cracking was much worse on the turning stock piece directly above.


both sides of a sample plank of pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata --- HUGE enlargements are present. The first side has a full patina, the second side not so much.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata --- HUGE enlargements are present. The second side is freshly cut and has not yet had time to acquire the patina that is normal for this wood.


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a plank that I bought from the BogusColorVendor. The density is 60.5 lbs/cuft


their on-line image of the wood with massively over-saturated reds and my own image of the wood, just as I got it from them, the way it really looks.

web pics:

two planks (upper and lower). Shown on the left is one side of each plank, freshly cut, and shown on the right is the other side which was left in direct sunlight for a couple of hours, showing the rapid color change that is normal for this wood, although the change to red is not what always happens; sometimes is just gets to be a deeper orange.


log with a small section sliced off. This was listed as pernambuco / Caselpinia echinata


planks, all recently cut and not exposed to direct sunlight


closeups of two of the planks directly above


planks


planks


closeups of the planks directly above


planks


planks, all from the same vendor, listed as pernambuco / Caselpinia echinata --- both levels of enlargement are present.


planks listed as pernambuco / Caselpinia echinata --- both levels of enlargement are present. The neon color on these is a bit over the top.


since the pic on the left is from a vendor whom I know to often have misleading pics, I did a simple "white balance" correction and got the pic on the right. The actual color probably has a fair amount of orange, particularly if the planks are freshly cut, but not as much as they show in this pic.


plank with mostly wet section and some dry area, showing the contrast


cutoffs


turning stock


waxed bowl blanks listed as pernambuco / Caselpinia echinata, all from the same vendor --- both levels of enlargement are present.


pen blanks


pen blanks --- color looks totally different that any other pernambuco pics I've seen, so this may have been misrepresented on the site I stole the pic from.


veneer with believable color


veneer with colors that are highly suspect (much too rich)


guitar sets


pen turned from pernambuco / Caesalpinia echinata. 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. I note that Bruce had the common name as pernambuca but I cannot verify that spelling with any professional source.