I am a sucker for exotic hardwoods. I know that might make me a bit strange, but I think it makes a lot of sense considering we live in a world dominated by particle board, plastic and cardboard. I don't know about you, but I've had quite enough of these subpar materials. I would much rather live a life surrounded by beautiful, natural and durable materials.
And few things rank higher on my list of luxury materials than exotic hardwoods.
So I couldn't help but write a post about my latest acquisition, a tropical hardwood box I recently purchased on Etsy. As the hero photo at the top of this article shows, the top and bottom of this box are made from thick slabs of Yellowheart while the sides are finely dovetailed Wenge. All of the woods used are solid, with no veneers present. In addition, the craftsman who created this piece didn't use any stains or dyes to artificially impart color. Eschewing dyes is a common practice when working with high-quality exotic hardwoods, which allows the beauty of the natural wood to shine through in the finished product.
The box isn't too large, measuring about 9 inches long by 5 inches wide by 3 inches deep. But in spite of its modest size, this work of art weighs in at a robust 1.42 kilos - over 3.1 pounds. It feels incredibly substantial in your hands due to the extremely high density of the woods used in its construction. I'll take more about this physical quirk later on in the article.
Exotic hardwood is a catch-all term for timber species harvested from tropical, savannah or desert regions located near the equator. Exotic hardwoods are a distinct category from the temperate hardwoods (also called domestic hardwoods) we tend to be more familiar with in the U.S. - species like White Oak, Sugar Maple and Black Cherry. In contrast, some of the more well known exotic hardwoods include Honduran Mahogany, Gaboon Ebony and Teak.
So what exactly is so special about exotic hardwoods?
Well, they have a lot going for them. On the whole, exotic hardwoods tend to be both harder and denser than temperate hardwoods. Even infamously tough domestic hardwoods like White Oak (with a density of 0.75 g/cm3 and a Janka hardness of 1350 lbf) pale in comparison to many commercially available exotic hardwoods, which can attain densities of 0.8 to 1.2 g/cm3 and hardnesses of 1,800 to 3,000 lbf (or more)!
Because of these exceptional physical properties, naturally lustrous exotic hardwoods usually take a remarkably high polish, sometimes approaching a mirror-like sheen. They are also frequently rot and insect resistant due to their high oil content. These attributes mean that items fashioned from exotic hardwoods have been known to survive for many hundreds of years with little to no damage. One example of this is African Blackwood furniture that was found intact with the burial goods of the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun - furniture that had been entombed over 3,000 years ago!
Exotic hardwoods are also celebrated for their amazing grain patterns, color palettes and contrasting textures. Skilled woodworkers love to use these desirable visual features to their artistic advantage when working with exotic cabinetwoods. Domestic hardwoods, while still very beautiful in their own right, can have trouble providing the same visual interest. Please note that I fully believe a few select temperate hardwoods, like Black Walnut and Redwood burl, can be exceptionally attractive in their own right and are capable of rivaling even the best exotic hardwoods.
Because the box I purchased is made from Wenge and Yellowheart, I wanted to talk a little bit more about these two specific woods.
Wenge (scientific name: Millettia laurentii) is a dense (0.87 g/cm3), hard (1,930 lbf) wood that originates from tropical West Africa. Its coarse grain sports a luscious chocolate-brown hue alternating with almost pure black lines. This gives Wenge a unique, highly desirable visual contrast that has been exploited by luxury woodworkers to great effect for over 100 years. Due to its very dark color, it has sometimes even been used as a substitute for Ebony.
Wenge Grain (Photo Credit: The Wood Database)
Wenge first rose to international fame during the 1920s when it was extensively employed by French Art Deco designers such as Eugène Printz and Pierre Chareau. The wood then had a renaissance among interior decorators in the late 1990s when blond woods fell out of favor.
At that time (circa 1998), it was still possible to purchase Wenge for $7 to $8 per board foot. But due to steadily increasing demand and dwindling supply (a recurring theme in the world of exotic hardwoods), Wenge now costs around $20 a board foot (in 2020). This translates into an annualized price trend of 4.6% over the last 22 years for Wenge versus just 2.1% for general U.S. CPI inflation over the same period.
Although Wenge timber still has good availability in the international marketplace at the present time, the species is in the early stages of commercial endangerment due to aggressive over-harvesting.
Yellowheart (scientific name: Euxylophora paraensis) is a similarly dense (0.83 g/cm3) and hard (1,790 lbf) wood found in Brazilian lowland rainforests near the mouth of the Amazon River. This fine grained tropical hardwood exhibits a lustrous, vibrant yellow tone that gives it a tremendous visual punch. In fact, Yellowheart is commonly known by its Portuguese name, Pau Amarello, which literally translates into English as "yellow wood".
Yellowheart Grain (Photo Credit: The Wood Database)
Another popular trade name for Yellowheart is Brazilian Satinwood. However, this is a technical misnomer. Although Yellowheart belongs to the same family (Rutaceae) as the true satinwoods, only West Indian Satinwood (Zanthoxylum flavum) and East Indian Satinwood (Chloroxylon swietenia) are commercially accepted as genuine satinwood species. Regardless, Yellowheart shares many of the same desirable characteristics as the true satinwoods - a yellow or golden hue, fine grain texture, high density and excellent luster. The only area where Yellowheart falls a bit short is its figure, which tends to be fairly straight versus the wavy, interlocking grain commonly found in the true satinwoods.
Yellowheart is moderately priced within the universe of exotic hardwoods - a surprising development considering how eye-catching it is. As you might have already guessed, tropical hardwoods are almost always more expensive than their temperate counterparts due to their greater rarity, difficulty in logging and distance from end-markets.
Even though its natural distribution is limited to eastern Brazil, Yellowheart lumber still has fair availability in the U.S. While not currently endangered, that designation could change if Yellowheart becomes more popular for high-end flooring or furniture-making.
Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of both Wenge and Yellowheart is the fact that they are relatively color-fast compared to many other exotic hardwoods. One of the dirty little secrets of the exotic wood trade is that the colors of some of the world's most beautiful tropical hardwoods fade over time with prolonged exposure to sunlight and air.
For instance, freshly-cut Purpleheart - a favorite of exotic woodworkers - starts off a muted violet-gray color that quickly deepens into a vibrant purple tone after a few weeks. However, after 5 to 10 years that wonderful purple hue will age into a dull, nondescript brown color. Many other tropical hardwoods, such as Bois de Rose and Pink Ivory, also trend towards undesirable shades of brown or black over time.
But Wenge and Yellowheart are exceptions to this unfortunate tendency. Wenge starts off a very rich dark brown/black and actually lightens a little bit with time. But its trademark contrast and chocolate brown color remain largely intact. Yellowheart deepens slightly from its initial canary yellow tone to more of a golden-yellow with age, which hardly seems like a con at all. For those who are interested, you can read more about color-change in exotic hardwoods in this great article on the topic.
Rarity is the last subject I'd like to touch on in regard to exotic hardwoods.
Items made from tropical hardwoods are predictably rare in American (and other developed country) households. When we do run into items crafted from Rosewood, Mahogany, Kingwood or Teak they are almost always antique or vintage pieces made back when these woods were more widely accessible. Much of the time these vintage pieces were veneered to reduce costs - solid pieces are rarer still.
I am of the opinion that no more than 1 in 25 U.S. households own a piece of furniture or decorative item made from exotic hardwoods.
This means that most people have never seen a piece of solid Honduran Mahogany (or any other tropical hardwood) in their lives, much less know what one looks like. I find it to be a sad commentary on the state of the world when the average person has never experienced the pure joy of admiring a solid slab of gorgeously-figured Hawaiian Koa or Bolivian Cocobolo.
Instead, most people sleep-walk through their lives with cheap furniture made from MDF, plywood or particleboard. IKEA self-assembled furniture is the epitome of this trend. And while flat-pack furniture might look good when you first get it home, it degenerates over a matter of months until it finally becomes a utilitarian lump in your house that you stack other banal household items on top of.
I believe we should strive for more.
Exotic hardwood furniture has one big negative; it will certainly cost more than whatever particleboard junk you can pick up at your local big-box store. However, I firmly believe that it is an investment well worth the price. A fine Mahogany table or Teak campaign chest will last longer than you or I will and will look great doing it. As an added bonus, fine antique furniture has the possibility to appreciate in value in the future - an outcome you couldn't even dream of for self-assembled flat-pack furniture.
And for those willing to take the time to look, bargains can still be found in the world of exotic hardwoods!
For instance, the Wenge and Yellowheart box (made from reclaimed wood) that I found on Etsy only cost me $60, plus shipping and sales tax. This is a remarkably low price for an heirloom quality exotic hardwood box. In fact, $60 probably isn't too far off the cost of the raw lumber used in the construction of the box! This means I may have only paid $15 or $20 for the considerable workmanship put into its creation.
Antique stores and thrift shops are a great place to start looking for fine hardwood furniture. However, keep in mind that most of what you find there will be made from domestic hardwoods. Online shopping venues like eBay and Etsy undoubtedly also have treasures to be unearthed, although you will most likely be limited in the size of what you can buy due to shipping costs.
In any case, life is too short to stay surrounded by plastic and plywood. Exotic hardwoods are an aesthetically pleasing solution to this lifestyle dilemma that also allow you to reconnect to nature in your daily (indoor) life.
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