Down in Paraguay, nothing beats an ox cart for hauling tropical logs to the mill
In 1999 Keith, the owner of Woodworkers Source, went to Paraguay to visit a sustainable yield lumber project. He came back with a container load of unusual woods following shortly after.
When we bring in unusual woods, it’s often with a bit of stand-back-and-wait because even though we’ve seen a sample piece (or maybe not at all), it’s often a surprising what really shows up on the truck. 
Mesquite frame finished and hung
Those who work with mesquite may appear a little nuts to woodworkers who are used to the likes of cherry, walnut, oak, and similar woods.
Mesquite’s beauty comes from a different breed of criteria other than clear wood. Namely the worm holes, splits, checks, knots, and bark inclusions that characterize the tree and her timber. “High quality” has an entirely different definition when it comes to mesquite lumber.
Some years ago, I had a customer lodge a demand for mesquite that was 8″ wide and totally clear – he needed a lot of it too. I had to tell him, not out of opinion but of fact, “If you absolutely need it that wide and that clear without cutting or gluing, you don’t want mesquite.”
Argyle Art Nouveau Chair by Matt Sandoval
Yes, you too might be convinced that the wood called purple heart is dyed to get that vivid color. Or maybe that it’s not a wood at all.
It happens every day in our stores where we invariably get asked, “So, c’mon is that really the natural color?”
Well, it most certainly is.
Mahogany Logs
Any discussion of Mahogany may be complex and confusing because there has been a lot of change in the past few years and the term “mahogany” has been applied to several woods for marketing purposes. There is no botanical connection among these different woods. I will try to keep this short and to the point but there is a lot of information available. Click the heading name for detailed information in the Wood Library.
Today the most widely distributed and used “mahogany” in the marketplace is African mahogany.
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