Unknown Caribbean Tree -- Good or Bad wood?

Bahamian Burl

Hey everyone,

So I'm trying to get into making natural timber furniture and different little things out of burls, slabs, and tree logs. And I was on the look out for fallen trees after todays storm, and I saw this tree down on my way home from work.

Anyways, most of the wood was rotten in the middle, even on some of the smaller branches, but I did find what looks to be a pretty nice burl.

The only problem is, I can't figure out what kind of tree it is. I'm relatively new at this kind of wood work, but even its not the greatest wood, I'll probably try make something out of it.

Anyways, the leaves are kind of waxy, but not necessarily glossy. Also, each leaf has a split in it, and when the leaves rest, they usually close up along that split. The bark is pretty rough and hard, and relatively thick and mostly black, but it seemed like the newer wood had a lighter colored bark.

Any help would be greatly appreciated so I could figure out what I'm working with. Also, I've never seen any flowers or fruit on this tree.

Here's the leaf:



Stem:


Mossy Bark:


Old Bark Close Up:

Jeff Darby

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Bahamian Burl

Sorry, my laptop had run out of juice and I couldn't plug it in.

I've used vbulletin forums before and the one I used to frequent allowed me to embed from photo bucket.com using the IMG tags before and after the image. But it wouldn't work, and even after resizing to 640x480.

Anyways, I have attached the picture in this post.

I did some more searching and talked to a few people around here, and they describe it as a "Cork Tree." I found a listing for cork tree on a local zoo's web page but its not the same tree: (3 from bottom of page)

Ardastra gardens, zoo & conservation center | Nassau, Bahamas

This Chinese cork tree has the same bark but not the same leaves:
Chinese Cork Tree - Phellodendron chinense

So I'm thinking its in the family of Malvaceae, but still can't seem to find a good answer to the general wood quality.

I mean all I really have is one burl and a few table legs and tenons worth of timber, but you know, I'm curious.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Bahamian Burl

And in case anyone was curious, this is what the burl looked like. Its got some damage and decay but I was excited to cut or scavenge my first burl.

Cutting through that wood anticipating what nice looking grain or disappointment was under that tree wart was pretty cool.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Bahamian Burl

OK, sorry for the constant replies but someone else identified this tree as Bauhinia variegata.

I read a forum message from somewhere else that said that a guy was having a hard time trying to figure how good the wood is. Someone replied saying that they had turned some nice bowls with it before but I haven't been able to find any pictures. Other sites say its weak and brittle.

Done it

I'm a bit late but he was right, it does have a lot of common names as well.

Actually I have one in the front yard, after summer I have quite a lot. It sprays seeds everywhere on hot days. If you don't pull them out quick they really get a good hold on.

Quite a few around here, I saw the biggest one ever last Friday next door to where I was working. Never seen a burl on one though.

It's pretty soft timber, rots quick. Maybe old ones are harder, I've had a gearbox sitting on a couple of 18" blocks for a couple of years and they still seem solid.

That reminds me, I've gotta clean up around here.

serendipitty

nice to join this site always up to learn interesting things. the leaf shown as caribbean tree is not bauhinia variegata. the leaf is much to veiny and ribbed and is not as distinct a butterfly shape as variegata is. i have cut many of them over the years and have never seen a cancar on any we have many where i live and im yet to see a variegata over 450mm in dia. at the base. the timber when first cut is pinkish and the bark edge will be red and oozing sap. it is very soft and cracks quickly bauhinias tend to hold their seed pods for longer periods or there should have been a build up of discarded pods under the tree. its flowering is generally very showy on exotic bauhinias but much less on our native bauhinias. its not a native bauhinia either leaves much to big hope it helps serendippity