In our previous Exotic Woods article, we covered some common characteristics of exotic wood and a few of their modern uses.
This week, we’re going to focus on the different types of exotic hardwoods and where they’re found.
The term ‘exotic” can be a bit subjective, depending upon what you’ve been exposed to or have grown accustomed to.
For the sake of these articles, however, we’ll use “exotic” to refer to woods that are either rare, not commonly known or abnormally expensive in comparison to other common woods.
The Americas
Exotic doesn’t always mean from a far away land. There are some beautiful exotics right here in this hemisphere. Some of which include bloodwood, greenheart and hububali. Bloodwood is a deep red wood hailed from trees in Central and South America. It is a durable wood, great for cabinet-making and marquetry. Greenheart is a hardy green to yellow-green wood found in Guyana, French Guyana and northern Brazil. While it is not rare in terms of supply, this wood was chosen for its beautiful color. Hububali also hails from South America and is commonly known as marble-wood. It has a soft texture that is easy to work with and finish.
Asia
Asia produces more than its fair share of beautiful, exotic woods. Consider Red Narra, Moon and Dot Ebony woods from Southeast Asia. Red, or bees wing (for the distinctive pattern seen on the curl), narra can change in appearance depending upon the way it is held. Moon ebony is a wonderful turning wood that can vary from green to blue hues. Dalmatian ebony is a vary rare occurrence and are used for fine instruments such as custom pens, etc.
Africa
Some of the exotic woods from Africa are as diverse as the continent itself. Padauk is a hard, resistant wood from Central and West Africa that is sought after for high-end cabinets and flooring. Blackwood is beautiful, yet difficult to harvest because it grows as a small bush more often than in tree form. Unlike ebony wood, blackwood is resistant to saliva and is the choice wood for musical instruments such as clarinets and bagpipes.
So if you’ve been wanting to redesign your home and have a little wiggle room in your budget, consider getting some custom furniture commissioned to be made from exotic woods. What will result will surely be one-of-a-kind.