Selasa, 25 September 2007

Selasa, 18 September 2007

Ever wonder how we get our Cocobolo?

Selective cutting is designated by forestry officials and woods are removed by permit only

Trees are measured to calculate the highest yield per cut and to not waste these valuable tropical woods
Careful harvesting is practiced to not damage surrounding areas,

local young growth of trees


and to allow successful replanting of seedlings


Choice logs are gathered and prepared to be sent to our sawmill




Wood is again cut carefully to ensure the maximum yield, and quality milling is accomplished through learned skills and old but efficient equipment.


Woods is then selected, and prepared for the trip up to our warehouse in California

Hanging out at the old Shop off State street


Bocote Crotch Coffee table by John Houck



Made out of bocote, anodized aluminum and ebonized acacia

Mitch with James Goodall of Goodall Guitars at NAMM

Mitch is holding a Goodall traditional dreadnought with Cocobolo back and sides

Pieces done by Seaton Wood Design


Hand made Canoes by Susan Spray


Dining room set out of Cocobolo


"Third Best in World" by Keith Mueller


-With padouk and ebony base

Parota slab used in entry way


We have several slabs in stock in various different dimensions. Give us a call to see what we have. This is a great looking wood from Mexico that makes a great, more affordable alternative to Hawaiian Koa.

Jumat, 14 September 2007

Gorgeous piece by Robyn Horn made with our Cocobolo


Some new projects by our good friend Gorst Duplessis







Bow made by one of our customers using tulipwood and snakewood!!!


Gathering wood the old fashion way!!!


The two new employees at Tropical Exotic Hardwoods


Checking out the silent auction at the AAW show in Provo, Utah-1992


Piece by our customer John Fry





John Fry is furniture builder in North Los Angeles. He built this commissioned piece with wood that he purchased from us. It is an Asian Striped Ebony and Wenge "drum" table that was made with all bent lamination construction. He resawed the striped Asian ebony into 1/16" veneers and vac press laminated them on a form. Always great to see our woods once the projects are finished

Mitch Cleaning Up the Shop!!!

Doing the dirty work

Turn of the century Hawaiian style surboard made out of a parota slab

Board is now in Mitch's Dining Room, maybe one day he will let Marty take out in the water...

Selasa, 28 Agustus 2007

Down by the Belize border-1986



Here I am next to a few huge Mahogany logs at a mill in Southern Mexico on the Belize border around 1986. These logs were trucked over from Guatemala through Belize. Not many are left.
They are milled into lumber and put into a drying rack standing up.
This allows the wood to dry naturally and take on a dark color. This method is not usually used today as suppliers want to KD the lumber to get it out faster. I have a pile of Mahogany that was dried like this from the 1950's.

Jumat, 24 Agustus 2007

Check out this board!!!

This Koa piece came to me in a purchase of wood that had been stored in San Diego since 1950. The former owner was a commander in the U.S. Navy and would bring back wood on the ship he was on. I also purchased some old Honduras Mahogany with nice color in the same load. It make you wonder what is still out there to be discovered.

******piece has been sold, sorry********

Tasmanian Blackheart Sassafrass


On one of my trips to Australia I had a chance to select some Blackheart Sassafrass. the stuff has a very spalted like figured. I sold a few slabs to Sam Maloof and he plans to make benches with them for his new muesum.

Give us a call @760-434-3030 if you have any questions/comments


Nice old picture of the old company truck

Here is the younger more slim Mitch of the late 1980's. My 1982 Chevy saw a lot of the back roads of Mexico hunting down wood. We would take it all over the US to trade shows!

Beware of Dog!!!

Katie: You might remember my dog Katie as she was with me for a long time. She passed away August 1999 at 19 years old. She came to work with me every day. Lots of my long time customers remember her.

One of our Bubinga Slabs

This dinning table is made from a solid 8/4 slab of quilted bubinga. The rails are resawn 1/4" ebony. The legs are also bubinga

Gorgeous Table made with Cluster Maple Slabs

Here is a table of booked matched natural edged maple slabs with
English Elm legs made by long time San Diego woodworker Del Cover. The piece is in Del Mar. Del has been a client of ours from the early days of our business.