Comments on: Imbuia

By: James Ortiz

James Ortiz — Sun, 06 Oct 2024 00:39:18 +0000

In reply to James Rotschild the III. This hard wood was used to make doors. The frame of the the door is so heavy compared to other popular woods. I had 2 doors sitting in storage for 10 years antoday decided to install as our office main entrance.

By: E. Boniface

E. Boniface — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 09:45:59 +0000

It was imported to South Africa as a replacement for stinkwood when the felling of the South African stinkwood was banned. It smells a hell of a lot better than stinkwood but is not as strong.Stinkwood being remarkable tough.
EB.

By: James Rotschild the III

James Rotschild the III — Sun, 31 Dec 2023 13:57:09 +0000

In reply to margie thompson. As a Brazilian lover of Imbuia wood, I don't recommend any oil based finishes for Imbuia (such as stain for example), unless indoor pieces with contact with food (cheese table for example sealed with tung oil or linseed). I recently finished a round table for our patio and the best finish found after many tries was a clearcoar of polyurethane automotive, catalised product. It did not look plastic, the wood shines through it and can withstand sun and rain.

By: Chris Rowse

Chris Rowse — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 19:19:44 +0000

As others have said, the wood was imported to South Africa from Brasil paricularly in the 1950s fro furniture.

Both my father and grandfather used it to make hi fi cabinets and loudspeaker enclosures where it was favoured for its colour, denisty and even grain.
I still have two planks that were left over from their projects. One is stamped ‘KM Brasil’.

By: Alan Hayden

Alan Hayden — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 23:16:38 +0000

In reply to Juudy Scrimger. Imbuia imported from Brazil was a popular furniture timber in South Africa from the 1950s to 1980s. I have several inherited items as well as a turned bowl and a telephone table I made as school woodwork projects in 1972. Currently making imbuia picture frames from my grandfather’s huge speaker cabinet!

By: Diane Dellar

Diane Dellar — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 03:14:00 +0000

In reply to Juudy Scrimger. Yes It is. My Mom was from Durban, and I have my Moms Imbuia Kist (she will have called it) she must have received in gosh around 1950 . She passed away last year and I'm so sorry I didn't get more details. It left Durban with me 17 years ago and was In New Zealand until 6 months ago where it now safely lives in Brisbane. I was looking for advice on how to restore it and came across this article. Where are you now Juudy

By: Juudy Scrimger

Juudy Scrimger — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:52:34 +0000

I believe imbuia is found in Southern Africa as well… at least, I bought a table in Cape Town ZA about 40 years ago… so gorgeous.

By: Keger Jupti

Keger Jupti — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 19:53:16 +0000

A beautiful example; Peavey Grind 4-string

By: Chai

Chai — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 08:50:31 +0000

I have a guitar made of this wood on the side and back of the guitar (Taylor 414ce Ltd 2007). It is very strong n no problem in SE-Asian climate. A very unique guitar for keep

By: Carl Hoffman

Carl Hoffman — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 23:48:22 +0000

Huge fan of the site and your work! I make furniture and things out of pallets and came across an incredibly heavy, dark 1×4 that a pallet had been repaired with. It is significantly denser than any wood I’ve come across and the oils in it started to turn my brush and finish slightly brown. It is quite figured with a lot of swirls, with colors ranging from a pale olive gray with a hint of yellow to a rich brown chocolate color, hence why I’m on this page. Does anyone have any thoughts?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Sun, 14 Jun 2020 01:48:04 +0000

Being born in Brazil, this is one of the woods I remember hearing a lot about growing up when discussing furniture… Would love to find a something in the USA to work with.

By: mike

mike — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 18:19:09 +0000

I made one piece of furniture from this 30 years ago but didn’t really like the irregularity of the grain. I now have a few offcuts which I just cut from time to time just to smell it! the aroma of this wood is the most beautiful of any I’ve ever worked with.

By: Luis Gustavo Weigert

Luis Gustavo Weigert — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 04:37:00 +0000

In reply to Bill. I've already seen some bird call whistles made of Imbuia wood in Brazil. By the way, luthiers in Brazil used to make flutes with this wood, but now is illegal to cut this wood.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 22 May 2015 03:38:00 +0000

Thinking about making a native American flute with this wood (imbuia) but have concerns
about health issues. Any input ?

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 03:41:36 +0000

Margie,
This is a common misconception among some: that a wood is “thirsty” and somehow needs to be “fed” from time to time.
Wood reaches an equilibrium with the surrounding air in terms of the level of moisture that’s contained in the wood, and it doesn’t subsequently over dry or “dry out” at any point.
If the actual finish on the wood (not the wood itself) is scratched or deteriorated, it might be necessary to reapply or refinish the wood, but that isn’t needed all that often.

By: margie thompson

margie thompson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 16:37:53 +0000

I have many pieces of imbuia furniture in my home. I love this wood and have had it all sanded down to it’s original. I am currently giving it plenty of oil (woodoc) and would like to know if I’m doing the right thing to preserve and feed the pieces as best I can