Madagascar Rosewood can be found in various shades of deep brown to reddish-brown. The veneer has a medium to fine texture and ribbon grain, typical of rosewoods, with pronounced dark red, vertical lines that can be wavy in some logs. Darker streaks are common and can produce a spiderweb-like figure. Flat cut, the log produces a swirly, burl-like heart.
Brown
Named for a city in northern Brazil, sucupira is a South American hardwood with a character similar to rosewood or teak. It has a warm chocolate color with a fine yellow stripe, a lustrous finish, and a lively interlocking grain that is rarely figured. Flat cut veneer produces a beautiful cathedral pattern.
One of the richest, darkest, and most exotically beautiful burls in the world, Roman woodworkers used this precious wood in temples in Biblical times. Today very little thuya is cut for lumber, instead workers dig beneath the ground to harvest the tree’s root burls, which are rotary sliced for veneer. The aromatic wood varies in color from light tan to deep, rich chocolate brown. The eyes of the figure are typically small and thickly scattered, creating a concentrated burl figure highly sought after for marquetry, custom furniture, and high-end architectural use.
This African species is easily recognized by its exotic, tiger-like look—deep reddish-orange with dark stripes that vary from fine lines to heavy, pronounced swatches. Like mahoganies, tigerwood has a lustrous surface, good yields, and is highly adaptable for furniture, cabinetwork, and matched architectural paneling.
American walnut is the quintessential native hardwood and a hallmark of wood quality and tradition—one of the country’s most versatile, varied, and well-loved veneers. It produces a wider variety of figures than any other wood. Quarter cut veneers have a straight, even grain; flat cut produces a beautiful cathedral pattern. Burled walnut is a rare and exceptional offering—rich and dark with a beautiful swirling grain intermingled with clusters of burl. Also available in recon and rough cut.
Known around the world by many names, this wood resembles walnut, but is in fact not related to the walnut family. Its heartwood varies from light pink to brown to gray contrasted by dark irregular stripes when quarter cut. Figured woods are fairly common. This exceptionally large tree produces large leaves of veneer that are well suited for architectural use. Rare and increasingly challenging to acquire, this veneer is a distinctive choice for discerning interiors.
European walnut is among the most popular veneers in the world market. In recent years, severe frost in France damaged a great number of trees, making good European walnut increasingly harder to find and more expensive than its American cousin. A favorite for high quality architectural woodwork, this veneer has a smooth, even texture and thin, dark, grain markings over a light to dark brown background.
Wenge is striking rich, dark, coffee-colored wood with subtly contrasting, nearly black streaks. Straight grained with a course texture and matte finish, wenge produces large leaves well suited for architectural use. This extraordinary wood lends an elegant and exotic appeal to the build environment.
Ziricote is a captivating choice—sometimes referred to as the abstract art of veneer. Designers seek it out for its unrepeatable grain patterns—spider webbing, marbling, cloudbursts, hill and valley patterns, and more. The reddish-brown heartwood is nicely contrasted by creamy sapwood. Quarter cut veneer may produce ray flakes similar to hard maple. Some designers incorporate the pale sapwood into furniture or interior designs for aesthetic effect, or to cut down on waste.