I've seen many references to "ironwood" here and in ABPW (especially by Mac Davis, I believe). A quick search on Google and Wikipedia reveals the name is used for dozens of species.
Any idea as to what species of wood is indigenous to the SW USA, Baja CA, or Hawaii and called "ironwood"?
-Thanks a heap,
-Zz
In the Southwest, your most likely bet is probably "Desert Ironwood", Olneya Tesota.
It's the Olneya tesota in the Southwestern states, dunno on Hawaii. It's beautiful as pistol grips and knife handles. Dense, dark burl.
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In Hawaii, it is Casuarina sp, aka Ausralian pine. I lived there 40 years, have seen 100s-1000s of the tree, never any wood from them, rather doubt it is very dense.
There are a number of spiecies called "Ironwood " in Australia at least
10 I know of in my area. The one I'm familiar with (Erytrophelum chlorostachys )is hard dense dark red coloured timber ,if you want to blunt good chisels and plane quickly blades then this is the timber to work . The saw dust is extremely toxic and can cause headaches and muscle pain , just having it on your skin can also cause headaches .Good dust extraction is paramount to feeling well . Despite the obvious side effects , it's a very nice timber and is very stable has a very dark colour almost black at times. Local natives used the wood for spear and harpoon heads , digging sticks and despite it toxicity also for some medicinal uses.
As the others said, Desert ironwood. Only found in the Sonora dessert area, covering parts of Mexico, California and Arizona..
There are many trees/woods that are hard or heavy and were called "ironwood", but AFAIK the only "trie" ironwood is desert ironwood..
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