C. dodecandra<\/em> is native to southern Mexico and Central America. Some readers may note that Cordia<\/em> is the same genus as Bocote<\/a>, a closely related wood that I greatly enjoy working with.<\/p>\n For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to C. dodecandra<\/em> as Ziricote from here forward.<\/p>\n The heartwood of Ziricote rangers in color from a medium to a dark brown, sometimes with either a green or purple hue, with darker bands of black growth rings intermixed.<\/p>\n The pale yellowish sapwood is sometimes incorporated into designs for aesthetic effect, or to cut down on wastage.<\/p>\n Ziricote has a very unique appearance which is sometimes referred to as “spider-webbing” or “landscape” grain figure. Quartersawn Ziricote surfaces can also have ray flakes similar in appearance to those found on quartersawn Hard Maple.<\/p>\n The grain of Ziricote is straight to slightly interlocked.<\/p>\n Ziricote features a medium to fine texture with good natural luster.<\/p>\n Ziricote is reported to be naturally resistant to decay.<\/p>\n Ziricote is fairly easy to work with considering its high density.<\/p>\n The wood tends to develop end and surface checks during drying, which can be problematic though the wood is stable once dry.<\/p>\n Pieces of Ziricote are usually available in narrow boards or turning squares, with sapwood being very common.<\/p>\n Ziricote turns and finishes well, and in most instances, it can also be glued with no problems, although, on rare occasions, the wood’s natural oils can interfere with the gluing process.<\/p>\n Ziricote has a mild, characteristic scent while being worked, somewhat similar to the smell of Pau Ferro<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ziricote is likely to be quite expensive, exceeding the price of some rosewoods, and approaching the cost of some types of ebony. Also, planks of Ziricote commonly have varying amounts of pale sapwood included, which can contribute to high wastage if not incorporated into a project.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of my favored vendors, West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a> and Exotic Woods USA are all offering Ziricote but only in varying spindle sizes. Prices range from $1.82 for a pen blank up to $59.95 for a 3″ x 3″ x 12″ peppermill blank.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Ziricote 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.<\/p>\n 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!<\/p>\n Ziricote is commonly used to make furniture, veneer, cabinetry, gunstocks, musical instruments (acoustic and electric guitars), turned objects, and other small specialty wood items.<\/p>\n Ziricote is not listed in the CITES Appendices nor is it on the IUCN Red List.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any additional restrictions on Ziricote.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, Ziricote has been shown to cause cross reactions once an allergic sensitivity to certain woods has been developed. Woods that can cause initial sensitivity include: Pau Ferro, Macassar Ebony, Cocobolo, and most rosewoods. .<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.<\/a><\/p>\n Fortunately, I did not experience any adverse effects while working with Ziricote.<\/p>\n I only had two small pieces of Ziricote (thus far, who can guess what else is buried in my wood stocks) to work with so I don’t have an exhaustive level of experience, but I found Ziricote to be reasonable to work with.<\/p>\n Ziricote<\/p><\/div>\n These pieces measure 4″ x 2″ and 4.5″ x 2″.<\/p>\n Ziricote cut cleanly and required only minimal clean up sanding, which was a good thing since the high oil content causes traditional sandpaper to quickly load and become useless. Situations like this are where Abranet is very helpful.<\/p>\n Once cut and sanded, Ziricote had a very nice natural luster, although not as much so as you would find with Cocobolo or closely related Bocote.<\/p>\n Ziricote took the Shellawax finish very nicely and the finished pieces retain a very nice high sheen.<\/p>\n I will be happy if I find more Ziricote waiting for me as I continue to clear out my wood stocks but I don’t think I will be in the market soon for this high priced and hard to find wood.<\/p>\n All major cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe, although I do use Robert Sorby bowl gouges<\/a> for light final passes before sanding. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck<\/a>, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks<\/a> as well as Abranet sanding screens from Craft Supplies USA<\/a>. Final finish is Shellawax.<\/a><\/p>\n As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ziricote cut cleanly and required only minimal clean up sanding, which was a good thing since the high oil content causes traditional sandpaper to quickly load and become useless.\u00a0 Situations like this are where Abranet is very helpful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,161,168,171,181,188,200,210,230,239,240,241],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
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Health Hazards:<\/h2>\n
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