Bocote

Bocote is a tropical hardwood found in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. It has a variety of grain patterns, ranging from straight to wild, as well as curved lines and swirls. The color spectrum includes golden brown, tan, and golden yellow. It's a robust and rigid wood with a medium grain that's hard, weighty, and dense. Some of the most common applications of this wood are making pool cues, cabinets, veneers, furniture, inlays, knife handles, and pens. It takes a moderately high natural gloss and polishes nicely with wax or polyurethane.

The body of the Bocote is yellowish-brown with dark brown to practically black stripes. With time, the color darkens. Also, particularly in flatsawn regions, the grain patterning can be quite remarkable. Many "eyes" and other figures can be found in Bocote; unlike knots, they do not appear to create any specific machining issues. On quartersawn surfaces, the heartwood is a dull golden brown tone with varied irregular marks and a beautiful ray flecked figure. It has a medium-coarse texture and is straight-grained.