# What is Iron Wood



## msamara (May 11, 2014)

*WOOD*Types*is divided by*properties*of*WOOD*to two groups (HARDWOOD and*SOFTWOOD). 

Types of*wood*are collecting many*kinds of wood*and everyone have a shape*and color*different than other. All these changes and variations make*Wood usable*in many things in our life from heating*to*craft*Wooden Case for Iphone.*

Hardwood*come from angiosperm trees which usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly*evergreen.

*Softwood*is*coming*from Gymnosperm trees. And the surprise is not all*kind of Hardwood*is hardener than*Softwood. The hardness of*wood*is related to density of tree trunk.

*Ironwood*isn't*kind of wood**yielded from tree but it's a*kind of wood*which have hardness, durability and resist fire , weather and acids. 
In addition*to the mostly*kind of wood*use today Known as*Engineered*WOOD*,composite*WOOD,*man-made WOOD, or*manufactured board.


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## harrysin (Jan 15, 2007)

msamara said:


> *WOOD*Types*is divided by*properties*of*WOOD*to two groups (HARDWOOD and*SOFTWOOD).
> 
> Types of*wood*are collecting many*kinds of wood*and everyone have a shape*and color*different than other. All these changes and variations make*Wood usable*in many things in our life from heating*to*craft*Wooden Case for Iphone.*
> 
> ...


If you are referring to "Iron Bark" which is I think native to Australia it is VERY hard and heavy. I was given the boards shown a few years ago but haven't attempted to make anything with them, yet!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Ironwood is one of the largest and longest-lived Sonoran Desert plants, reaching 45 feet in height and persisting as long as 1,500 years.

It is a single or multi-trunked evergreen tree, and displays lavender to pink flowers in May. By early summer, the pods mature. Each 2-inch pod contains one to four shiny brown seeds that are relished by many Sonoran animals, from small mammals and birds to humans. Its iron-like wood is renowned as one of the world's densest woods.

The shaded sanctuary and richer soils created by ironwoods increase plant diversity and provide benefits to wildlife. Ironwoods are too hard to provide nesting cavities for birds, but the cacti that grow beneath them provide such opportunities. Insects abound within the ironwood complex, attracting birds and reptiles. As with other legumes, the ironwood's leaf litter supplies nitrogen to the soil and its seeds provide a protein-rich resource for doves, quail, coyotes, and many small rodents.

The Ironwood tree is found only in the Sonoran Desert, in the dry locales below 2,500 feet, where freezing temperatures are uncommon. In fact the Ironwood's habitat is almost an exact match of the Sonoran Desert boundry. Ironwoods are most common in dry ephemeral washes. Ironwoods function as oases of fertile and sheltered habitat within a harsh and challenging desert landscape. As a tree becomes established, it tempers the physical environment beneath it, creating a micro-habitat with less direct sunlight, lower surface temperatures, more organic matter, higher water availability, and protection from herbivores. Because of these factors, the Ironwood tree has immense ecological value in the Sonoran Desert.

Ironwood grows taller than most trees in Sonoran desert scrub, so it serves as a great perch and roost for hawks and owls. It's dense canopy is utilized by nearly 150 bird species. Add tall ironwoods to the scrubby vegetation on some desert bajadas, and you're likely to add 63 percent more birds than creosote, cactus and bursage alone could support. The ironwood's canopies are so dense that they reduce the probability of extreme heat exposure in the summer.

Air temperatures may be 15 degrees cooler under ironwoods than in the open desert sun five feet away. Ironwood also shelters frost sensitive young saguaros, organ pipe cactus, night-blooming cereus and many other native plants growing beneath them. More than 230 plant species have been recorded starting their growth within the protective microclimate under ironwood "nurse plants." This also creates an optimum wildflower nursery which is foraged by rabbits, bighorn, and other native species.

In addition to the birds, there are 62 reptiles and amphibians, and 64 mammals that use ironwoods for forage, cover and birthing grounds. At just one site in the Silverbell Mountains, an ironwood-bursage habitat also shelters some 188 kinds of bees, 25 ant colonies, and 25 other types of insects. That adds up to an extraordinary level of biodiversity.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Just to stir the mix a bit. :happy:
Ironwood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Router Forums - View Single Post - Please help me identify the species


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Sorry, Mohamed - living in Egypt, you may be pursuaded to believe this, but here where I live; Ironwood is the common name for a couple of species. I have formal educations in botany, biology, zoology, etc. and one very simple fact remains true WORLDWIDE and in all LIFE SCIENCES. Common names mean very little, but SCIENTIFIC NAMES mean a lot. Another _common name_ for ironwood (in my area) is hornbeam. 

Another example is the term "puff adder" - over in Africa, the "Puff Adder" is a rather large, highly venomous snake - but here in Georgia, USA - "puff adder" is used to describe the hog-nosed snake which is a small, basically harmless species.



> *Ironwood*isn't*kind of wood**yielded from tree but it's a*kind of wood*which have hardness, durability and resist fire , weather and acids.
> In addition*to the mostly*kind of wood*use today Known as*Engineered*WOOD*,composite*WOOD,*man-made WOOD, or*manufactured board.


My next-door neighbor calls me "Tater-head", but that's not my real name. I call him "monkey lips", but that's not his real name, either. I sincerely doubt if his mother calls him "monkey lips", but she may have a more suitable name for him than Brandon.

You may, indeed; have a product available in your area, which is man-made and called "Ironwood", but that doesn't "close the book" on the rest of the world.

Otis Polk Guillebeau III (a.k.a. Tater head) from Auburn, Georgia USA


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## OPG3 (Jan 9, 2011)

Mohamed, further examples of "common names" and how diversely they are applied is already in the responses prior to mine (just above). "Stick" refers to a tree called Ironwood that grows in the Sonoran Desert (Western USA), yet "Joat" refers to an article that points to numerous trees from all over the planet that are locally referred to as Ironwood.

Therefore, you are correct in that any man-made product that may be named Ironwood would not be derived directly from a tree, but there are trees commonly called Ironwood.

Just to clarify,
Otis


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## Haven Lane (May 14, 2014)

Hi. I just joined this forum a few minutes ago, and ironically I now see this discussion Re. "Ironwood". One kind of wood considered to be "ironwood" is also known as Hornbeam. It grows in the northeast US. The bark somewhat resembles a cedar tree in that it is a bit "curly" and is a brown/gray color. My grandfather introduced it to me, as when our "towbar" on the 
old mowing machine broke, he and I went looking for a "hornbeam"tree, cut it down, shaped it with a draw knife, cut it to length, bored holes into it for the attachment to the mower, and bolted it up. (It never broke!!). This wood was used in making "whiffle trees" used with the work horses in Maine, in "twitching" out logs from the woods. )Now that work is done with "skidders". Hornbeam is extremely strong, and yet will flex enough to not break as some "brittle" species will do.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Here's a couple of early references to 'ironwood". In at least one of them it's clearly acknowledged that there are multiple sources of ironwood, Lignum vitae being one of them. It's the one that came to my mind when the topic came up.
Untitled Document
Nicolaes Witsen and Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age - A. J. Hoving, Diederick Wildeman - Google Books


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## twinton (Jul 28, 2014)

Stick
Awesome post thanks for the education. I did not realize it was a cactus. thanks


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

twinton said:


> Stick
> Awesome post thanks for the education. I did not realize it was a cactus. thanks


Might want to read his post again. He did not say it was a cactus.


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

I agree with Otis.

Saying a species of wood is "_Ironwood_" is like saying I'm going to "_Clear Lake_." Whichever locale you are at, probably has something local called this as a name, but it more often lumps woods of a certain density, characteristic and possessing certain qualities into a grouping of woods that are very hard, dense and have good weathering and insect resistance qualities.

Does that make more sense?


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## Hermansclork892 (Aug 9, 2014)

I want to know this.


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## Rogerio (Sep 16, 2014)

Here in Brazil, ironwood was common , namely, Caesalpinia ferrea var. leiostachya (Benth. 1870) .By the way i live nearby a Ironwood Street, lol.


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## Dziadek1 (Dec 7, 2013)

I worked for a timber farmer a while back, he had some firewood laying around I used to cut up. Some time went by and I left some cut figuring he would burn it. Next time I came up it was still there and we talked about it for a time. Slow growing, extremely tight grain and has a good color to it. Some hues of purple and reddish. Burns for a long time. He would later call it Dogwood, or Ironwood.

I wish I had some larger chunks of it for projects. This would be in the Pacific Northwest.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Sounds more like Arbutus _menziesii_, Chris. Makes great firewood.
Arbutus
I'm pretty sure our native dogwood has pure white wood, ie no purple coloration.
I'll no for sure in a couple of weeks...I have to take out a dying one in my front yard.
(_it is very susceptible to dogwood anthracnose, a disease caused by the fungus Discula destructiva.) _
Tree Species Compendium --Western flowering dogwood

Here's some stuff on the other N. American Cornus tree; theyre closely related so one might guess that the woods are very similar(?)...
Dogwood | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods)


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Oops! "...no..." No. make that 'know', it's late and that's my excuse.


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## pgwisn (Oct 31, 2014)

Carpinus caroliniana, American hornbeam is what we call "Ironwood" here on the East Coast. I collected a sample of Arbutus in California in 2012. it turns out it was what the locals called "Strawberry Tree" or Arbutus marina. Tight grain, similar coloring to the common dogwood we have here.


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## Pigpopper (Sep 20, 2009)

From the University of Texas A&M website - Eastern Hop Hornbeam, American Hop Hornbeam, Wooly Hop Hornbeam, Eastern Ironwood, Roughbark Ironwood, Deerwood, Leverwood

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/ostryavirginiana


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## Hootie2 (Feb 17, 2015)

There is also a wood from south America called Ipe Pronounced E-Pay it is very dense and I have worked with it requires carbide Tooling


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