Afzelia Xylay and Amboyna Burl

[gerryr]

I just got some Afzelia Zylay and was amazed that it smells just like Amboyna Burl when you work it. Awesome stuff, I love the smell.

Anyone know if the two are related?

 

[alamocdc]

Gerry, they are both members of the family Leguminosae (that means they are legumes), but they are from separate genus (one step higher than species... species being the lowest level not counting sub-species). My Botany professor would be so proud of me. [] Anyway, they could easily smell similar.

 

[JimGo]

Hmmm...this gives me an idea...a bean stalk pen!

 

[Rudy Vey]

I have done my number of Amboyna and Afzelia pens, but never observed that they smell alike. Praduak or Pradoo, similar to Padauk, smells more like Amboyna, but they are very close related anyways (Pterocarpus indicus for Amboyna and Ptereocarpus macrocarpus).
Sometimes a Afzelia Burl looks like Amboyna, and I have once bought Afzelia Burl that was Amboyna.

 

[Ligget]

I love the smell of Amboyna, however, I have not used Afzelia yet to confirm same![][8D]

 

[mick]

When I Googled Amboyna I was surprised. Several of the sites I was pointed to explained that Amboyna isn't a "type " of wood but the burl of the Narra tree and one site claimed the the Narra and Paduak trees are the same. Not all sites agreed totally with this but hey we can toss this around for a page or 10 .....lol

 

[alamocdc]

Now that's interesting, Mick. I knew that Amboyna was the burl of Narra, but have never seen the Narra = Padauk thing. I have some of both and cannot see the resemblence.

 

[mick]

Originally posted by alamocdc
<br />Now that's interesting, Mick. I knew that Amboyna was the burl of Narra, but have never seen the Narra = Padauk thing. I have some of both and cannot see the resemblence.

Me either, Like you I've got some of each and don't see the similarities!
I should have been more clear. The more I think of it, I think one site stated that Amboyna is the burl of Narra and "another" site said that it was the burl of Paduak.( I think it was me that grouped to two together)Yet another site says there is some arguement about the term Amboyna referring to veneer made of either trees. The biggest thing we need to remember is that PEOPLE put all these things on the internet and those same people are subject to error as we all are. I do like researching the woods I turn so I can at least tell my customers something about the pen they are buying!

 

[ograywolf]

Just to add to the confusion...Amboyna is actually called Amboyna Burr...not Amboyna Burl. The commercial names for it are Philippine or Solomons Padauk and Papua New Guinea Rosewood. The wood we are the most familiar with (very red and heavy) comes from Cagayan.

re: page 29, World Woods in Color, by William A Lincoln.

Dave

 

[Borg_B_Borg]

Burr is synonymous with burl. Burr is more common among the British, whereas burl is more common among North Americans.

Steve

Originally posted by ograywolf
<br />Just to add to the confusion...Amboyna is actually called Amboyna Burr...not Amboyna Burl.
Dave