Geographic Distribution:
The wood commonly known as Jicarillo is subject to controversy in terms of its scientific naming convention. The scientific name commonly reported by retailers, Brosimum guianensis, is completely unsubstantiated from any credible scientific sources. Anatomically, the wood bears a strong resemblance to Eschweilera sp., and Eschweilera mexicana in particular is also known by the common name jicarillo.
Eschweilera sp. is harvested in Honduras.
For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to Jicarillo from here forward.
General Characteristics:
The heartwood of Jicarillo tends to be a light to medium reddish brown with darker black streaks mixed throughout. The sharply demarcated sapwood of Jicarillo is a grayish white.
Jicarillo presents with an uniform medium to fine texture with good natural luster.
Jicarillo is reported to have good rot resistance. This report must be based on heartwood as in my experience the sapwood will rot and spalt easily.
Working Characteristics:
My regular sources are silent on the working characteristics of Jicarillo.
Pricing and Availability:
Jicarillo is generally only available as smaller turning blanks or craft blanks. Prices for Jicarillo are in the mid to upper range for an imported hardwood.
In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods, Bell Forest Products, NC Wood, WoodTurningz, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods, Griffin Exotic Wood, Exotic Woods USA, Got Wood?, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U.
Of my favored wood vendors only Exotic Woods USA is currently offering Jicarillo in sizes ranging from knife handle blanks to 6″ x6″ x 2″ turning blanks retailing for $17.30 each.
Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Jicarillo this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.
A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!
Common Uses:
Jicarillo is commonly used in furniture, knife scales, turned objects, and other small specialty wood items.
Sustainability:
Jicarillo is not listed in the CITES Appendices, but many Eschweilera species are on the IUCN Red List, including Eschweilera mexicana. It is listed as vulnerable due to a population reduction of over 20% in the past three generations, caused by a decline in its natural range.
To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any restrictions on Jicarillo.
I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.