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LACEWOOD

Roupala brasiliense

Roupala brasiliense of the family Proteaceae

NOTE: I am NOT sure that all the pics on this page are Roupala brasiliense, AND I am not yet sure but believe that "European lacewood" is another common name for Roupala brasiliense The "lacewood" name is a mess, as I've attempted to document in the following box.
A note on the confusion among the names lacewood, leopardwood, planetree, and sycamore

I am not fully confident that I have totally sorted all of this out properly, so take what I say with a grain of salt and my apologies if I've gotten any of it wrong, although how the hell anyone would ever KNOW if I've gotten any of it wrong is beyond me, since the multitudinous reports are so contradictory that deriving what you see here REALLY made my head hurt.

lacewood: in the USA, this term is generally, and most accurately, used to refer to any of:
  1. Cardwellia sublimia (also reported as sublimis) of the family Proteaceae [the same family as South American lacewood], which also has the common name (Australian) silky oak, which is its common designation in most of the world outside the USA. In the USA it is called lacewood or Australian lacewood
  2. Platanus hybrida of the family Platanaceae, the plane or sycamore family, which also has the common name "European plane" but is NOT the wood that is normally meant by "Europan plane" (more on that below) and is also called European lacewood. This wood does NOT look like sycamore or planetree, but DOES look like both Australian and South American lacewood.
  3. Roupala brasiliense (also reported as Roopola brasillensis) of the family Proteaceae [the same family as Australian silky oak], which is from South America and is properly called South American lacewood or Brazilian lacewood. It is also called leopardwood, but it is NOT the wood that is normally meant by the name "leopardwood" (more on that below)

    As far as I can tell, these three woods are difficult to tell apart with the naked eye, although European lacewood tends to have a finer grain and smaller flakes than the other two. Also I have read that you cannot fully trust any of the designations "South American lacewood", "Australian lacewood", and "European lacewood", as vendors tend to get them confused, with there being a particular tendancy to call everything Australian lacewood whether it is or not.
Grevillea robusta of the family Proteaceae has the common name (Australian) Southern silky oak and "yellow lacewood" and "yellow silky oak" but is also called lacewood in the US, although it is significantly different than the three lacewoods that I have listed above, is not easily confused with them, and to my mind should NOT be called lacewood. There is ENOUGH confusion with the three I've listed.

leopardwood: this is Panopsis rubellens of the family Proteaceae, the same family as both South American lacewood and Australian lacewood, but is easy to distinguish from them with a small amount of experience --- it is darker brown in color and is harder and heavier and with a noticibly finer texture. It is sometimes called lacewood, as the lacewoods are sometimes called leopardwood. Although a small-flake lacewood and a large-flake leopardwood can have larger flakes on the leopardwood than the lacewood, the leopardwood will not produce flakes as large as what can be obtained on lacewood and will generally have smaller flakes and flakes that tend more towards the circular than the oblong that sometimes occurs in lacewood.

sycamore There are two woods that are commonly called sycamore:
  1. Platanus occidentalis of the family Platanaceae, the plane or sycamore family --- although in the same family as South American and Australian lacewood, it would never be confused with them as it is a significantly different color and generally has much smaller rays. It is what we mean in the USA when we say "sycamore"
  2. Acer pseudoplatanus of the family Aceraceae is totally unrelated to any of the other woods discussed here (it's a maple) and is called sycamore or harewood in England and is also called (European) plane or planetree both in England and in the USA. It does NOT have the ray flakes associated with American sycamore or lacewood, and in fact is not readily distinguished from any other curly maple, as you'll see on the hard maple page of this site. The name lacewood seems to be normally limited to the quartersawn cuts of this wood, and I have no idea why it is applied, even there. Note that even the NAME means "false sycamore" and nothing about its appearance suggests lacewood.

    It is unfortunate that these two woods get confused at all with any of the lacewoods, since it is really only the NAMES that get confused --- the woods themselves would never be mistaken for any lacewood or leopardwood.

Lacewood is a somewhat splintery wood, best known for the very highly distinctive, large, ray flakes that occur in quartersawn cuts. As discussed in the box above, there are several species (not all even related, botanically) that are all sold with this common name and that in fact all look very similar to the naked eye. The wood is so readily identifiable that the various species are often not identified (that is, the wood is just sold as "lacewood") but I have included the designations when given.


my samples:


I show these two sides of a plank, from the end grain position, to illustrate how the angle of the cut so strongly dictates the size of the ray flakes. When the cut is almost parallel to the rays, the flakes are large and when the angle of the cut is greater against the rays, the flakes are smaller. As you can see from some of the pics below, the ray flakes can be huge, which is what occurs when the cut is parallel the the ray. When the ray is very straight and the cut is parallel to the rays, the rays can be several inches long. See, for example, the very first web pic below my own samples.


a long plank, two closeups and the end grain --- a lot of the end grain "figure" is saw marks, not something inherent in the wood.


one section, and a closeup, of a long plank


another section, and a closeup, of the same plank as directly above


yet another section, and a closeup, of the same plank as above --- the point of showing all three is to demonstrate how the flake figure can (and almost always does) vary considerably within a single plank.


the first pic shows two small pieces, one side-on and one end-grain. the 2nd pic shows the same end grain shot plus the end grain of the first piece.


end grain closeup of the 2 pieces directly above --- in both cases, the grain is running more or less vertically and the heavy rays that produce the striking ray-flake figure in quartersawn lacewood are running almost horzontally.


a piece cut from the same plank as the samples above, but oiled. No color correction was used, but the color is quite accurate. Although quartersawn, the ray patterns in my own samples are subdued compared to what you sometimes see in lacewood.


two planks and end grain


both end grain closeups for the pieces directl above


side grain and closeup of one of the pieces directly above


planks


rift cut lacewood veneer with almost no ray figure at all


veneer, presumably rift cut since the ray pattern is subdued (although as you can see from my own sample above, quartersawn pieces can have subdued ray patterns). The color is accurate.


another piece of veneer but this time with more ray figure, which shows up slightly better on the enlargement


veneer sheet and closeup


yet another veneer sheet, this time with the cut a perfect quartersaw so that the rays are exaggerated in the radial direction


a bunch of veneer pics from a big lot I got (this is European lacewood).


European lacewood veneer


web pics:

all of the wood of this species that I've seen has been pretty much the tannish brown color of my own veneer samples, with sometimes just a hint of red (as seen in my plank sample), so while I cannot say with authority that the red color in many of the pictures below is false, I find it suspect. The wood DOES turn much redder when finished, as you can see from the oiled sample above and the turning at the bottom of this page.


planks showing quite nicely the wide variation in pattern that is found in this wood. The largest differences in pattern are based on the cut. It is normally quartersawn because that's what shows the rays, but as you can see in some of these pictures, plain-sawn is available and shows tight grain pattern without rays. The huge rays in the first two pictures are a case of the cut being parallel to a long straight ray.


end grain --- you'll find my own sample pics at the top of the page much more informative as to the appearance of lacewood end gr.ain


a plank specifically listed as Australian lacewood


turning stock


knife handles scales and turning stick


pen blanks from beeswing lacewood --- I think the "bee's wing" designation is, in this case at least, just wishful thinking on the part of a seller.


veneer


two sections of the same long sheet of veneer


Three sections of the same long sheet of veneer


Australian lacewood veneer


Australian lacewood veneer, all from the same vendor


Australian lacewood veneer sheet closeups with both levels of enlargement. These are all from the same vendor as those directly above


a first enlargement pic from the same set as above (the next enlargement is available)


South American


Brazilian plank


Brazilian veneer


European veneer with a wide selection showing some of the varieties of size, shape, and direction of the rays. All of these pics are from the same vendor and she manipulates the images to make the wood look more shiny than it really is.


European lacewood veneer from another source --- I doubt the orange color


bleached European lacewood veneer


bleached veneer, no country of origin specified



very nicely done boomerange from a correspondant whose name I have misplaced


platter


guitar-clock with bookmatched lacewood by my friend Jim Glynn



A single turning sample showing various facets of lacewood grain. This was sold to me as Australian lacewood No color correction was used and the color is just slightly more red than the wood. The more yellowish tinge in the last shot, compared to the other two, is accurate --- the color changes noticably as the grain pattern reflects light differently. The polyurethane finish (several coats) really serves to bring out the color and the grain contrast in this very interesting wood. As in many woods with prominent rays, if you give it a high gloss finish then the grain contrast shifts dramatically as you move the wood --- the parts that are light become dark and the parts that are dark become light. The grain pattern viewed in the first shot makes the piece almost look like sheoak