A few more pictures of the famous Cocobolo Clarinet

Cocobolo Clarinet played by Anothony McGill alongside Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma during President Obama's Inaguration.

More pieces by Warren Aut

Goblets, Bowls and more by Warren Aut. We love seeing Warren's creations every time he emails us some pictures.

These first two are from his Myaproium series that was featured in "More Wood Turning" magazine.

They remind us of small natural edged vessels that other customers have been turning out of Tasmanian Brown Mallee and Jarrah Burl.

These are some nice goblets. Not sure about the woods used but looks like Ebony, Cocobolo and another light colored species. Very nice.

Looks like some Marblewood to us.

Here Warren used an assortment of wood to construct this bowl.

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Cocobolo Clarinet used during Obama's inauguration

photo: guardian.co.uk

Regardless of your political views, this is pretty awesome!

Yesterday during Obama's inauguration, clarinetist Anothony McGill performed alongside Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma.

We thought the clarinet looked awfully familiar and after a few phone calls we were told it was indeed some of our Cocobolo on the clarinet bell and barrel.

Check out Anthony Mcgill Playing a similar Clarinet below, it may be the same one.

photo: New York Times

Pieces by Rod Sim

Our friend and customer Rod Sim dropped by to pick up some wood for his wood projects. He had a few of his pieces in his truck that he showed us. Really neat pieces.
Pens out of Osage Orange, Zebrawood, Black & White Ebony and Tulipwood with Ebony accents
This is a neat little collapsible basket/serving tray out of Zebrawood. According to Rod the basket is made from one continuous cut on a small bandsaw. Very neat.
*If you have projects like these, email us some pictures of them or bring them by the shop when you drop by. We always like seeing our wood in projects and the creativity and talent of our customers. Its also fun to show them off on this blog as well.


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Parota (Enterolobium cyclocarpum)

Parota is one of the common names for Enterolobium cyclocarpum also known as rain tree kelobra or Guanacaste. I first saw this wood in Mexico in 1968 while hitching a ride to an isolated village called Yelapa aboard a 30 foot dug out canoe with a three cylinder Lister diesel motor hauling sacks of cement. The wood has a Koa look to it but its density is somewhere between redwood and mahogany.

Parota is a relatively fast growing tree for an exotic wood that is plentiful and can get pretty big as you can see by these pictures.
Some of these trees have branches that can reach over 5 feet in diameter, so there is a lot of good solid wood in one tree alone.
Here is a younger tree with a gorgeous crotch section that will yield numerous large slabs in a few years once it is larger.

This wood has been used as a ceiling lid (see above and below), cabinet doors and casing. It glues up easily but sanding is a problem as it is somewhat irritating and makes me sneeze. A mask takes care of the problem.

We will begin bringing down large natural edged Parota slabs in our next shipment due to popular demand. We have carried straight edged slabs in the past, but will now carry quite a bit of it with the natural edge intact.

Sizes will vary but it will all have that beautiful honey brown look to it that has given it the reputation as an inexpensive alternative to Hawaiian Koa

This is one of about three large bookmatched sets that will be coming up. Once laid side by side, your looking at a table that measures roughly 2" inches thick x 14' foot long x 6' foot wide!

Its getting almost impossible to obtain Hawaiian Koa in nearly any dimension. Parota is a good alternative that is widely available-especially in these large dimensions.

Here are a few other examples of finished pieces out of parota

It can be carved relatively easily as can be seen in this front door.

Here is the other side of the door that shows off the natural figure of the slab of Parota

Because it has a great strength to weight ratio, one of our customers made a turn of the century Hawaiian style surfboard out of a solid slab of parota. Once sanded and finished it looked very similar to Hawaiian koa and weighed very little considering it was such a big piece of wood.

At times we receive crotch figured pieces that I think are as nice as any figured walnut I've ever come across

Here are couple small coffee tables using a round slab off of a "small" parota limb

As stated before its a great easy wood to carve as you can see by these two pictures.

You can glue it up using common carpenters glue or any other quality glue since it's a relatively easy wood to work with. It looks great in cabinets, desks, book shelves, entertainment centers or any other type of wood furniture.


Many customers have been happy with the results of using this wood in their homes and tend to come back and use it for other projects once they know what it looks like.

Let us know if Parota interest you and we can try to recommend whether or not it is a good option for your project.

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