Lophira alata of the family Ochnaceae, also widely known as bongossi and azobe among numerous other common names. A very hard, dense wood from Africa, it is a popular choice for heavy construction and marine work in its native regions.
my samples:
This dowel is just over 1" in diameter and is "mine" only in that correspondant Mike the puzzlemaker sent the pics in to me in the hopes that I could identify it, which I could not. I thought it might be some form of shorea (probably something from the dark red meranti group) but a correspondant named Carlos identified it, correctly I am now confident, as bongossi (which is another common name for this wood).
