This section shows and describes various wood varieties used in the making of puzzles. Limited editions of many Interlocking and Assembly puzzles are made from common and exotic hardwoods, by skilled woodworkers having an interest in puzzles. Wood, and the tools and products used to shape it, join it, and finish it, are readily available and usually not too expensive. A person can learn woodworking skills with a reasonable investment of time and dedication. This is in contrast to other materials and technologies for making intricately-shaped pieces and constructions - such as molding or casting plastic or metal, 3-D printing, or lathe-work. Such alternatives are not as approachable, and usually cost more.

If you are a craftsman starting out making puzzles from wood, or if you are a collector ordering a fine puzzle and specifying your choice(s) of wood(s), you may find this section helpful.

It is difficult to truly capture the qualities of a piece of wood in a photograph, and often the color or the texture don't come across well. I've chosen photos I've found on the web which, to my eyes at least, accurately match the woods in various puzzles I own. No two pieces of wood are exactly alike, and you should expect that any material you receive will differ in some way from what is shown here. And, of course, the wood may look very different depending on the finish employed. French Polish is a particularly nice finish.

The "Secondary Woods" category contains woods that I think don't make vary good puzzles.

For more information on woods, definitely see:

Paul Hinds' "Hobbit House Exotic Wood Site" Wikipedia's list of woods Woodworkers Source Woodfinder - Wood Library International Wood Collectors Society American Woods - Romeyn B. Hough Dendrology at Virginia Tech

Where I have been able to find it, I have given the dry density in kg/m³. Also provided are links to the wood data page at Woodworkers Source, [ws], and the page at Paul Hinds' site, [ph].

Gabon Ebony - Diospyros crassiflora 1030 [ws] [ph]	Ebony (Indian) - Diospyros ebenum	Macassar Ebony - Diospyros celebica, Diospyrus macassar 1090 [ws] [ph]	African Blackwood (Mpingo) - Dalbergia melanoxylon 1250 [ws] [ph]	Wenge - Millettia laurentii 865 [ws] [ph]
Black Limba (Korina) - Terminalia superba White and Black Limba come from the same tree. 545 [ws] [ph]	Tasmanian (aka Australian) Blackwood - Acacia melanoxylon 640 [ws] [ph]	Black Walnut - Jaglans nigra 641 [ws] [ph]	Ziricote - Cordia dodecandra 897 [ws] [ph]	Blue Mahoe - Hibiscus elatus 753 [ws] [ph]

Maple (Eastern Hard, Sugar) - Acer saccharinum, Acer saccharum 705 [ws] [ph]	Bird's Eye Maple [ws] [ph]	Curly Maple [ws] [ph]	Spalted Maple [ws] [ph]	Quilted Maple - Acer macrophyllem 545 [ws] [ph]
Holly - Ilex spp., Ilex opaca [ph]	Light Beech - Fagus sylvatica 689 [ws] [ph]	Baltic Birch Plywood European Silver Birch - Betula pendula 657 [ws] American Birch - Betula alleghaniensis 689 [ws] [ph]	Gum (Sugar, Sweet, or Red) Australia - Liquidambar styraciflua 561 [ws] [ph]	Queensland Silver Ash - Australia American Ash - Fraxinus americana 689 [ws] [ph]
Magnolia (Japanese "Ho" wood) [ph]	Yellowheart (Pau Amarello) - Euxylophora paraensis [ph]	Osage Orange - Maclura pomifera 897 [ws] [ph]

As beautiful as these woods are, and as tempting as it may be to display puzzles made from them, most if not all of them will fade to brown after prolonged exposure to daylight. So if you want the woods to retain their rich colors, you must store puzzles made from these woods away from light! In particular, Redheart (Chakte Kok), Padauk, Canarywood, and Jarrah all lose their red coloring. Bloodwood holds its color the best of the red-colored woods.

Padauk (Amboyna) - Pterocarpus soyauxii, Pterocarpus indicus 737 [ws] [ph]	Bloodwood - Brosimum paraense 641 [ws] [ph]	Jarrah - Eucalyptus marginata, of western Australia. 865 [ws] [ph]	Redheart (Chakte Kok) - Simira (or Sickingia) salvadorensis, Cosmocalyx spectabilis, Simira spp., Erythroxylon spp. PH says Redheart and Chakte Kok are not the same 641 [ws] [ph]	Massaranduba (Brazilian Redwood, Bulletwood, Beefwood) - Manilkara huberi, Manilkara bidentata, Manilkara Elata 1057 [ws] [ph]
Purpleheart (Amaranth) - Peltogyne sp. 833 [ws] [ph]	Kingwood - Dalbergia Cearensis [ws] [ph]

Cocobolo (Palisander) - Dalbergia retusa 1105 [ws] [ph]	Tulipwood (Bois de Rose) - Dalbergia frutenscens, Dalbergia decipularis 961 [ws] [ph]	Canarywood - Centrolobium microchaete 961 [ws] [ph]	Bocote - Cordia elaeagnoides 641 [ws] [ph]	Zebrawood (Zebrano) - Microberlinia brazzavillensis 849 [ws] [ph]
Leopardwood - Panopsis rubellens, Flindersia maculosa 960 [ws] [ph]	Lacewood - Roupala brasiliensis 529 [ws] [ph]	Goncalo Alves (Tigerwood, Brazilian Koa) - Astronium fraxinifolium 993 [ws] [ph]	Pau Ferro - Machaerium scleroxylon Morado [ph], Bolivian Rosewood, Santos Rosewood [ph] 849 [ws]	Granadillo (Mexican Rosewood) - Dalbergia Granadillo, Platymiscium pinnatum, Platymiscium ulei, Coyote - Platymiscium polystachyum 1025 [ws] [ph]
Rosewood ( Bolivian - Machaerium schleroxylon, Brazilian - Dalbergia nigra, Honduran - Dalbergia Stevensonii, Indian, Madagascar - Dalbergia greveana 561 [ws])	Snakewood (Letterwood) - Piratinera guianensis, Marmaroxylon racemosum 1025 [ws] [ph]

689 [ws][ph]

Mahogany (African - Khaya ivorensis, Cuban, Honduran - Swietenia macrophylla)	Bubinga - Guibourtia demeusei, Guibourtia tessmannii 929	Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry, South American Locust) - Hymenaea courbaril 913 [ws] [ph]	Walnut (American)	English Brown Oak - Quercus petraea, Quercus robur
Cherry (Black) - Prunus serotina (Black - Prunus serotina, Red - Prunus pennsylvanica, Wild - Prunus avium) 577 [ws] [ph]	Makore (African Cherry) - Tieghemella spp.	Meranti	Narra - Pterocarpus indicus 641 [ws] [ph]	Ipe - Tabebuia guayacan Ipe is grey to brown in color with almost no grain pattern and is more than twice as strong as oak.

As far as I know, there is no truly green-colored hardwood. However, you can usually find gray-green tinged samples of the woods listed here.

Lignum Vitae (Guaiacum wood) - Guaiacum officinale 1266, 1301 [ws] [ph]	Vera - Bulnesia arborea Same family as Lignum Vitae but diff. genus. Gets more green over time! [ph]	Robinia (Black Locust, False Acacia) - Robinia pseudoacacia (Fabaceae) (See Oskar's 2-piece packing from Puzzlewood.de.)	East Indian Rosewood - Dalbergia Latifolia 849 [ws] [ph]
Avodire, African - Turraenanthus africanus [ph]	Greenheart (Sipiroe, sipiri, bebeeru, bibiru) - Ocotea radiaei, Ocotea Rodial, Chlorocardium rodiei Dense, indigenous to Guyana and Venezuela. Heartwood dark black to olive green. Extremely durable, used as pilings. 1030 [ph] [more]	Sumac (Staghorn) - Rhus typhina, see also Smoothbark - Rhus glabra [ph] [wiki]

These woods are inferior choices as puzzle materials, for various reasons - either they are unstable, or they have a rough surface texture, or they are difficult to glue. Monkey Pod has to be the worst - there has been a flood of cheap puzzles made from this wood. Unfortunately, while Monkey Pod can be nicely finished, these cheap puzzles are not nicely finished and usually warp, which can be disastrous for a packing, assembly, or interlocking puzzle. Teak is a nice wood for many purposes, but it is difficult to glue and I don't see many fine puzzles made using Teak.

Likewise, the other woods here can be nicely finished, but often they're not - and I don't like getting splinters when I play with a puzzle.

Your experiences may vary, obviously, but you've been warned!

Monkey Pod (Rain Tree)- Samanea saman	Red Oak - Quercus rubra extremely porous 689 [ws] [ph]	White Oak - Quercus alba among least porous 750 [ws] [ph]	Red Palm	Black Palm
Teak - Tectona grandis 641 [ws] [ph]