The Mayan culture was exceptionally advanced for when it existed from 2000 BC until the Spanish Conquistadors in the 15th century. They had a fully developed alphabet, were outstanding civil engineers and created this whole calendar thing that seems to have some of us concerned about this coming December.

They also were big into art. Artists in the civilization also liked to etch their names into the work they created, helping archaeologists get an idea of who created which works. Of course, in the very warm and wet tropical atmosphere, any wooden works they may have created have long since been lost to the ravages of time.

But, if we could see some of their works, they may have been using today’s spotlighted species. Mayan walnut, a member of the Lysiloma genus, is a spreading tree found in central America and Mexico, about the same range as the Mayan civilization. The tree grows to between 40 and 60 feet in height, with a diameter of two to three feet. The trunks of the trees can be free of branches for up to 25 feet above the ground, making it excellent for cutting into slabs.

When you order Mayan Walnut, you should know that it is often known by other names, including T’zalam (Mexico), Frijolillo, Jigue, Sabicu (Cuba), Tabernau, Tavernon (Haiti), Caribbean walnut or Aztec walnut.

Regardless what you call it, the wood is reminiscent of walnut, a deep, lustrous brown with purple or coppery tones and faint striping. It’s a straight grained wood with a medium texture. It has excellent working properties, making it a good choice for turning, furniture making and other applications. It is just about as hard as hard maple, so if you are familiar with that wood, you should expect similar working properties.

Mayan walnut is a great tonewood, so if your are into building instruments, it’s not a bad choice at all.

This is the kind of wood you’ll want to get your hands on… probably sooner than later. Just in case the Mayans were right about December and all…

So, you are bored. You use the woods you can find at your local hardwood dealer or home center, and your projects do look great. The joinery is tight. The design is pleasing to the eye. The final piece fits the area you intended perfectly.

The only problem is the wood you chose. You have your old reliable standbys, but you want more. The thought of using stain may have crossed your mind, but that’s not for you. You want wood that just looks different.

Fortunately, there are lots of different kinds of woods out there that can be had, and the variety can be rather amazing. My friends over at Bell Forest Products had prepared a bunch of board samples for a client. Once the client decided on which wood, the guys at Bell were stuck with them. So, they packed them up and shipped them to sunny Florida for a little vacation in Uncle Tom’s (and Uncle Iggy’s) shop.  The selection was impressive…

This shot features Bolivian Rosewood, redheart, quartersawn oak and flame birch.

How about this quartet of walnut, leopardwood, canary wood and curly maple?

Some really stunning choices here with East Indian rosewood, zebrawood, Honduran mahogany and birdseye maple.

Here’s a nice mix of purpleheart, bubinga and African mahogany.

A great spread of colors from padauk, santos mahogany and American holly.

And, could you possibly go wrong with jatoba, bloodwood, goncalo alves, quartersawn maple and chechen?

While some of these woods may be a little on the pricey side for an entire project, a splash of padauk, redheart or chechen can make a maple piece really shine, and a walnut piece with some holly or maple accents can really show some pizazz. It’s all in how you use it…

Part of the fun of being a woodworker is that friends like to keep an eye out for things that you might be interested in. I’ve had people find beat up, ugly, rusty hunks of iron that might have been planes and give them to me. I’ve had people hand me half-used cans of dried up paint to use as a finish on an upcoming project. Then there is the wood.

My friend Al from down the street stopped by my shop on a recent sunny Saturday morning.  He was driving his pickup truck and asked me to check out something he had in the bed. I looked in and found some very interesting offcuts.

Yes, these are the tail ends of some glue-lam beams that were being pitched, and he wondered if I might be able to use them. Never one to turn down something unique, I took them.

Al told me they were indeed cutoffs from a project going up near his office. They are the support beams for a common space in an apartment/condo building, providing the inside with a tremendous wide-open span. I’m sure they would probably be clear finished or painted to match the interior decor.

They are massive, made of southern yellow pine. Five inches thick and 13 1/2 inches wide, they are made by gluing up numerous smaller boards.  Obviously, from looking at the grain, there was no effort spent in trying to make them look like one massive board, but hey, that’s cool. I’m sure that they are at least as strong – if not stronger – than a solid SYP beam of a similar size … if you could find one. Gosh – a couple of these things, a stand, a vise and you’d have one heck of a workbench…

Al told me that the beams were pretty darned long, and I wondered just how they connected them. Sure enough, they were using finger joints, and staggering those joints between solid pieces, so, believe me, they seem plenty strong.

They were so impressive, that even Iggy came by to take a look at their – how shall I put it – monolithic type appearance (Has anyone seen Mr. Kubrik’s assistant lately?).  I’m wondering what the old chimp may be up to, but I’m sure he’ll come up with one heck of a project for these big and beefy parts.