Lysiloma latisiliquum (synonyms Lysiloma latisiliqua and Lysiloma bahamensis )
Lysiloma latisiliquum (synonyms Lysiloma latisiliqua and Lysiloma bahamensis) of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family. The name is more correctly, and commonly, spelled with an apostrophe: "t'zalam" but some of my site-maintenance software doesn't like the apostrophe so I leave it out.
Primarily a Mexican wood, this medium density wood is fairly fine-textured with a straight open grain and colors that range from light brown to chocolate, sometimes with streaks of red or brown. It's easy to work and takes a fairly high natural polish.
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 tzalam / Lysiloma latisiliquum --- 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 (the second face still has a very light patina) and the better resolution of the detail characteristics as seen in the first one.
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
both sides of a sample plank of tzalam / Lysiloma latisiliquum --- 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
plank and closeup
small plank (and end grain) cut from the larger plank directly above and sanded for this pic
end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above
NOT a raw wood color flooring sample with a hard shiny finish that deepens and enriches the color. This was listed as "Caribbean walnut" which is just a made-up name in the flooring trade, which also used the made-up names "Mayan" and "Aztec" walnut for tzalam; outside of the flooring industry, none of these names exist.
the same piece as directly above but with the finish sanded off
HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece directly above (don't know why I never did a normal end grain closeup, but I didn't)
Needed another end grain for the anatomy pages so I took this shot of a cutoff from one of the planks shown elsewhere on this page and did the HIGH GRIT END GRAIN CLOSEUP of the piece.
both sides of a plank
closeup of the plank directly above, and an angled shot that shows nicely how open the pores are
plank and closeup
plank and closeup
planks
web pics:
flooring w/ wet and dry sections (or, possibly, with two different finished, one dark and one lighter)
planks, mostly flat cut
sets of planks all from the same vendor and all listed as tzalam / Lysiloma bahamensis. The color is clearly an enhanced orange, not actual wood color.
a set of planks and a closeup from the same vendor as the set above and with the same color mis-resentation. These are also listed as tzalam / Lysiloma bahamensis
a set of planks from the same vendor as the sets directly above and with the same color issue. These were listed as figured tzalam / Lysiloma bahamensis
set of planks all from the same vendor
plank with color that is more green than my experience with this wood
quartersawn plank
plank with mineral stain
scales
listed as a burl
flooring --- none of these are raw wood but the colors on the first two are believable and the 3rd must have some kind of dark stain applied to it or possibly the pic was taken with insufficient lighting.
curly tzalam guitar set
all of the pics from here down are from the BogusColorVendor and I am quite confident that the strong orange color is just their standard dishonesty.
planks
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup
both sides of a plank and a closeup --- this one was listed as "golden" tzalam, but as far as I am aware that's just a marketing term made up by the BogusColorVendor
both sides of a plank and a closeup --- these seem to have been produced by an honest photographer (their regular guy must have been out sick that day)
NOT a raw wood color
