Genus: Khaya

Principal lumber species: K. Ivorensis & K. Anthotheca

East African Mahogany has moderate density and hardness. It polishes to a high luster and has an even texture. The wood's color is a medium reddish brown and darkens considerably with age.

African and American mahoganies are very closely related botanically and are similar in physical structure and appearance, however African mahogany tends to be more prominently ribbon-figured. African mahogany is a fine decorative wood.

Genus: Pericopsis

Principal lumber species: elata

Afrormosia, a West African wood, is hard, heavy and strong. It is similar to teak in most technical properties, including texture and graining, but is not difficult to work and can be successfully glued employing ordinary techniques.

Afrormosia is a first-class cabinet and furniture wood. It is not very well-known in the U.S. but is admired by all who know it. Some of the "teak" furniture imported from Scandinavian countries is actually Afrormosia.

Genus: Alnus

Principal lumber species: rubra

Other Common Names: Red Alder, Western Alder

Alder is one of the most common Pacific Coast commerical timbers. It is the only broadleaf tree with cones and grows in the moist conditions at lower elevations throughout its range. The greatest volume of Alder trees occurs around Washington's Puget Sound and in Northwest Oregon, where many trees may reach heights of 120' and diameters of 36".

Alder's hardness and density is comparable to Appalachian soft maple with a fine-grain similar to cherry, birch and maple. Alder is a good utility furniture wood used to make cabinets, fine furniture, furniture frames, pallets, plywood, veneer, specialty items, and paper products. It is also considered a good turnery wood.

Genus: Turraeanthus

Next to Satinwood, Avodire is credited as being the most beautiful of all blonde woods, with even the less decorative boards offering the attractive graining typical of fine tropical woods. Avodire sands, glues and finishes easily.

This extraordinarily beautiful blonde furniture wood is found in limited quantities in the Ivory Coast area of West Africa. It's color is very pale, varying from off-white to a creamy golden shade. It is often highly mottle figured. Most Avodire is used for veneers.

Genus: guibourtia

Principal lumber species: tessmannii

Bubinga is a hard and heavy wood with some characterisics of rosewood, which is said to be distantly related.

Bubinga is a fine cabinet wood closely related to benge (G. arnoldiana, a rare and beautiful wood), Shedua or Amazakoue (G. Ehie) from Africa's Ivory Coast.

Bubinga's overall color, after some exposure, is a deep, opulent-looking red, sometimes displaying fine, evenly spaced lines of a darker hue.

Genus: Acacia

Principal lumber species: Hawaiian Koa

Koa is the largest and second most common tree native to the Hawaiian Islands, and prized for its historic and cultural significance. The tree can reach 100 feet in height and a trunk diameter of 5', but that size is extremely rare these days.

The heartwood is golden reddish to dark brown with streaks of darker tones of brown and black.

The grain is interlocked, sometimes wavy and curly, producing fiddle back figure. The polished surface is lustrous, almost as a "hologram", especially in incandescent lighting.

The wood is durable and stable, resistant to insect and fungal attack.

The world-famous Hawaiian ukuleles are made of koa. It is also used for high-end cabinets and fine furniture, musical instruments, gunstocks, interior joinery, shop and bank interiors and highly decorative veneers.

This is a rare tropical hardwood, mainly growing on the upper slopes of the islands of Hawaii (Big Island) and Maui, but it may be seen on all the major Hawaiian island.

Genus: Machaerium

Species: acutifolium

Other Common Names: Bolivian Rosewood, Santos Rosewood, Morado

Moradillo has a fine to course texture with a straight to irregular grain. The heartwood is brown to a dark violet-brown, and is often streaked.

This beautiful rosewood look-alike is found throughout tropical America, but is abundant in Bolivia. Moradillo is used for veneers, fine furniture and turnery. It has the scent and working properties of walnut, yet is much denser and takes a high polish.

Genus: Juglans

Principal lumber species: nigra

North American Walnut is moderately dense, hard and very strong in comparison to its weight. It has excellent machining properties; the texture is fine and even; and it polishes to a high luster. The heartwood is variegated dark, chocolate brown, sometimes with a purplish cast. The sapwood is nearly white.

Walnut is the most valuable furniture and cabinet timber of the U.S. It is located in small groves and scattered over the entire U.S., with the highest quality growing in the northern Midwest, the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, Tennessee and the lower Appalachian mountains.

Walnut is widely admired and there are few American homes that do not possess at least one article made of it. It is easy to carve and responds well to both hand and machine tools. It is durable, with a very high degree of dimensional stablity.

Walnut is principally used in very fine furniture, fixtures and cabinetry, gun stocks, interior trim, entertainment cabinets, musical instrument cases and the like. Larger walnut trees are made into veneers for walnut faced plywood.

Genus: Pterocarpus

Principal lumber species: soyauxii (African)

Padauk (pronounced "Pa-duke") has a generally coarse texture with an interlocking grain and ranges from a rosy to crimson red color with contrasting streaks. The African variety is almost entirely red.

Padauk is commonly called vermillion and is found in central and tropical West Africa. It is one of the truly beautiful woods in the world. In Africa it is called "The Wood of Kings."

Genus: Guibourtia

Principal lumber species: ehie

Other Common Woods: Amazakoue, Mozambique, Ovangkol

Shedua has a yellow-brown to dark brown heartwood with dark gray to black stripes, and has an attractive walnut-like figure and straight grain.

From the Ivory Coast, this member of the Bubinga family is a beautiful cabinet wood. It is dense and polishes well.