Guilandina echinata (syn Caesalpinia echinata) of the family Leguminosae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae), the legume or pea family
This Latin American wood (mostly from Brazil) is also called pau Brazil and Brazil Wood (and a LARGE number of other common names). It is from this wood that the country of Brazil got its name. The simplistic version of that story (totally untrue, I've been told) is that Portugese invaders asked a group of natives "what is the name of this country", gesticulating widely with their hands to show they mean a wide area. The natives thought they were asking, "what is the name of the beautiful trees in this forest?"
Humberto Baltazar Morais has pointed out to me that this story is nonsensical since the natives would NOT have called the wood "Brazil" or anything close to that but rather would have called it "ibirapitanga" (meaning "red tree") which was the name of the tree before the Portugese starting calling it brazilwood. The country DID get its modern name from the Portugese name for the tree, but not from the natives. It's the kind of story that SOUNDS true and so becomes widespread and takes on the trappings of truth by the frequent retelling.
The names pernambuco and Brazil wood are widely misapplied to several unrelated woods from Latin America and even from Asia, so you have to be careful what you are getting.
It is hard and heavy and can be somewhat difficult to work, but is stable in service and takes a high polish. The frequent orange color deepens and turns more red with age.
my samples:
sample plank, and end grain, sold to me as pau Brazil / Guilandina echinata
end grain closeup of the sample plank directly above
sample plank and end grain sold to me as Granadillo / Caesalpinia enchinata
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
web pics
planks
plank with mostly wet section and some dry area, showing the contrast
turning stock
pen blanks --- color looks totally different that any other pernambuco pics I've seen, so this may have been misrepresented on the site I stole the pic from.
veneer with believable color
veneer with colors that are highly suspect (much too rich)
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