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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

camphor / Cinnamomum spp. (mostly Cinnamomum camphora)

2" x 2" flat cut, 2" x 2" quartersawn, 3/4" wide end grain, and a 1/4" x 1/4" end grain closeup.

Semi ring porous, sometimes diffuse porous, with medium sized pores surrounded by fat vasicentric parenchyma, marginal parenchyma. Rays are obvious at 10X and growth ring boundaries are clear. Occasional pore multiples, generally radial. What is shown to the left is semi ring porous but there are examples below of diffuse porous.



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


sample plank and end grain sold to me as camphor tree / Cinnamomum camphora


end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above, although I see that I got it upside down


both sides of a sample plank of camphor tree / Cinnamomum camphora --- HUGE enlargements are present


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of camphor tree / Cinnamomum camphora --- 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


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of camphor tree / Cinnamomum camphora --- 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


sample piece and end grain listed as camphor / Cinnamomum camphoratum


end grain closeup of the sample piece directly above --- color is too gray


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of figured camphor / Cinnamomum camphora --- 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


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of figured camphor / Cinnamomum camphora --- 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



NOTE: all of the pieces from here down to the figured sample were contributed by Bob Hunt, whom I thank for the generous donation to the site.


both sides of a small bowl blank


both sides of a sample of camphor / Cinnamomum spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This was made from the bowl blank directly above


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


first face and the end grain of a sample of camphor / Cinnamomum spp. --- This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION C


the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep. Actually, on this one, the first face has the strong patina and the second face is already much lighter so slicing off a bit didn't make much difference


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


several views of an irregular chunk


two small planks


the other sides of the two planks above


end grain of the two planks above


misc pieces


two views of a small cube; there is a hair too much red/orange in the pics


later I sliced this cube into tiny planks and this is the one off of the top, sanded down; these colors are more correct than those of the full cube above


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a small plank


later, I resawed the plank directly above and here are all 4 sides of the 2 resulting planks, sanded down. Note how sanding muted the color slightly; this is because there was a light patina on the unsanded plank that added color.


end grain and end grain closeup of the two planks directly above, with the end grain pieces showning how it was resawn; the end grain closeup pick has a pink tint that shouldn't be there


end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above


two small pieces and end grain of the two

NOTE: based on the fact that this sample is CLEARLY ring porous (see end grain closeup below) where as camphor (Cinnamomum spp.) in general, and all the other samples on this page in particular, are clearly diffuse or semi-diffuse, I no longer believe that this is Cinnamomum spp.


end grain closeups of both of the pieces directly above


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end of the samples contributed by Bob Hunt



both sides of a sample plank of figured camphor / Cinnamomum camphora --- 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


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


both sides of a sample plank of camphor burl / Cinnamomum spp. --- 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


END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above


a crotch slab, a different crotch slab with a plastic guitar form on it and the same slab in closeup. All are moistened for the pics, which were contributed by Funktionhouse, who milled these pieces in Florida and whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.


burl veneer with a lot of sapwood --- it's possible this is redwood (vavona), not camphor


burl veneer and closeup


another veneer piece from the same flitch as the one directly above. All of the closeups below are from the same flitch (most are from this piece)


burl veneer closeups


another burl veneer piece from a different lot --- hm ... this looks more like redwood (vavona) burl than camphor.


bookmatched burl veneeer pairs with very accurate color (see web pic directly below)


the ebay posting pic of the samples directly above --- yeah, I know, they don't even look like the same wood. This vendor's ebay pics always look SO much better than the actual wood, including a shine that is never on the wood itself but always shows up in her pics.

web pics:


slabs --- I'm doubtful about the color on the second one


camphor laurel plank and closeup


camphor laurel plank


planks


plank listed as camphor laurel / Cinnamomum camphora and a closeup


plank listed as camphor laurel / Cinnamomum camphora


plank pic provided by Dave Davenport, whom I thank. Dave had it listed as camphor laurel with the botanical name Cinnamomum camphora)


cutoffs


turning stock


bowl blanks all from the same vendor, probably all from the same log --- both levels of enlargement are present



The pics in this section were contributed by a Florida sawyer who goes by "Funktionhouse", whom I thank.



some freshly sawn slabs and then the same set with even more slabs in front


a slab and closeup


a slab, a bookmatched slab set, and a slab closeup


slab pairs


a couple of log halves


plank and end grain

end of pics by Funktionhouse






slabs


curly slab, moistened for the pic


misc pieces, moistened (with some dry areas showing the contrast)


two sides of a camphor burl


waxed burl plank and closeup


three pairs of camphor burl slabs and a closeup of each pair. Both levels of enlargement are present for all of these.


burls of all shapes, sizes and colors !


burl turning stock listed as camphor / Cinnamumum camphora


listed as camphor burl planks, but these looks awfully boring compared to pretty much every other camphor burl I've seen pictures of


burl turning stock


pen blanks


bookmatched burls


burls listed as camphor / Cinnamomum camphora (actually the vendor had VERY carelessly listed them as Cinnamumum camphor, thereby managing to misspell both the genus AND the specific epithet.). All from the same vendor and all with both levels of enlargment. These pieces have been moistened for the pics.


turning stock, all from the same vendor, all listed as camphor burl / Cinnamomum camphora, and all with both levels of enlargement (some of which are HUGE)


bookmatched burl veneer sheets sold as guitar sets


bookmatched burl planks


burl veneer



burl veneer listed as campor / Cinnamomum camphora --- the first pic is of a bookmatched pair


burl veneer sheets and a closeup


burl veneer all from the same vendor and mostly in bookmatched pairs. This vendor exaggerates the pics of her offerings, and she adds a shine to the images which is never present in the actual wood. See my own samples up above to compare my pics to hers of the same veneer sheets.


quartermatched burl veneer from the same vendor as those directly above


crotch


figured veneer





figured camphor wood and closeup from the BogusColorVendor



products


pepper mill


bowls


two views of a camphor pedestal bowl


four views of a camphor natural edge bowl


camphor laurel vase, turned and carved


platters


the bottom of a camphor wood urn. The top was dyed black, irregularly, and was so ugly that I thought it better to leave it out of the picture.


urn


vases


camphor laurel vase, turned and carved


turned boxs


hollow forms


cheese boards


cutting board


carving in camphor wood


chests (aka trunks)


table


coffee table (solid piece all from one trunk)


camphor (2-piece joined) tabletop dry and moistened and with a closeup when wet