Are Iron Knife Wood and Iron Wood the same tree? The answer, of course, is NO!
Many people think that this is two names for the same kind of tree caused by clerical errors, but it is not.
Although the difference between the two trees is only one word, "knife" and "force" are also very similar, and if you are not careful, you will be confused, but "the difference is a millimeter, a thousand miles", there is really no "blood relationship" between the two of them!
▲Iron knife wood
▲Iron wood
The two belong to different families and genera, not even distant relatives.
Iron knife wood belongs to the legume family, cassia genus, is the real mahogany, while ironwood belongs to the Garcinia family, ironwood genus, is a precious hardwood, but does not belong to mahogany.
Iron knife wood
Iron Knife Wood is named for its hard material and unbreakable knife and axe.
Iron knife wood is a tropical tree species, mainly distributed in South Asia and Southeast Asia, there are Mumbai rosewood, Thai mountain lentils alias, in Yunnan, Guangdong and other places in China has also been introduced and cultivated.
There is a clear difference between the iron knife wood sapwood and the core material, the sapwood is yellowish brown, the heartwood is chestnut brown or black brown, and it will slowly turn black after being exposed to the air for a long time, so it is also known as Mumbai ebony and black heart tree.
Iron knife wood core material is solid, corrosion-resistant, moisture-resistant and durable, and is a good material for building support and production tools, furniture and musical instruments.
In the "Mahogany" national standard, iron knife wood belongs to the category of chicken wing wood. There are three species of chicken wing wood, namely African cliff beanwood, white flower cliff beanwood and iron knife wood.
At present, the chicken wing wood in the domestic market is mainly African cliff bean wood and white flower cliff bean wood, that is, African chicken wing wood and Burmese chicken wing wood.
▲ African cliff beanwood
▲White flower cliff beanwood
The iron knife wood is because of its high price, and the second is because the material is difficult to process and not easy to form, so it has not become a commonly used furniture material, but is widely praised because of its charcoal value.
Iron knife wood is flammable and has strong firepower, so it is very suitable for use as fuelwood.
At the same time, iron knife wood grows rapidly, has strong germination, and even has a magical regenerative ability, and minor injuries will speed up its metabolism and accelerate growth.
Therefore, iron knife wood is a good charcoal forest tree species, usually collected once every 3 years, and can be used continuously for decades.
There is an ancient legend about the rapidly restored growth characteristics of iron knife wood in yunnan.
Locals rumor that once upon a time there was a toastmaster who committed many evil deeds in his lifetime, and after his death, in order to repent and atone for his sins, he transformed into an iron knife wood, which could be regenerated after cutting, so that the villagers could cut it day after day, year after year, to burn the fire.
Therefore, iron knife wood is also called "decapitation wood".
The beautiful Xishuangbanna is famous for its pristine rainforest inside and outside, and has been known as the "Plant Kingdom", "Animal Kingdom", "Animal Gene Bank", "Forest Ecology Museum" and "The Emerald in the Crown of the Animal and Plant Kingdom"
Other areas of the same latitude on earth are deserts or gobi, so why is Xishuangbanna lush and full of green trees?
The reason why the tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna can be well preserved and protected from the scourge of indiscriminate logging is inseparable from the credit of iron knife wood.
The local Dai people in Yunnan have widely planted iron knife wood, and their ancestors have followed the fine custom of planting trees and protecting trees for generations, and they must plant iron knife wood next to the village every time they are born, full moon, and marriage.
According to calculations, as long as a family plants 20 or 30 iron knife trees, it is enough for a lifetime of daily firewood, and there is no need to cut down the primary forest as firewood, thus protecting the integrity and richness of the ecological ecology of the Xishuangbanna tropical rainforest.
As a kind of chicken wing wood, the beautiful pattern of iron knife wood is needless to say.
Natural textures, special aromas, and strong materials should be high-end furniture materials.
However, because its hardness is too high, it is difficult to process and form, and the price is high after making furniture, so it is not widely used in the furniture industry.
▲Iron knife wooden guzheng
Good wood is never buried, and iron knife wood has a unique place in the market for gadgets, crafts, and ornaments.
Its simple and natural, generous and elegant temperament is highly respected by literati and inkers.
Ironwood
Ironwood is not among the 29 species of mahogany in 5 genera, 8 categories, but its specific weight and hardness are high, and it is a precious hardwood material.
Ironwood is mainly distributed in tropical Asian regions, such as India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Indochina Peninsula, China's Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and other places are also cultivated, by the Dai people as a "sacred tree", is one of the "five trees" that must be planted in the Dai Burmese temple.
Iron wood is hard and heavy, heartwood is bright red to purple, anti-corrosion and wear-resistant, not easy to deform, insects and ants do not eat, so it is also commonly known as "ironwood".
The name of tieli wood in various places is not uniform, Guangxi is called Gemu, Guangdong is called Tokyo wood, and it is called stone salt wood, iron chestnut wood and so on.
Ironwood sometimes has a pattern, resembling chicken wing wood and thicker, and was once widely used as a stand-in for chicken wing wood.
Ironwood can be subdivided into two categories: coarse wire iron wood and fine wire iron wood.
▲Coarse wire iron wood
▲Filament iron wood
Coarse wire iron wood is the main material used in furniture, the material color is black brown, the texture is thick and long, the brown eye length is different, the distribution is uniform, and some are twisted.
The filament iron wood is reddish brown in color, the texture is natural and beautiful, a bit close to chicken wing wood, and the feel is smooth.
The pulp-packed iron wood furniture is similar to mahogany furniture, but careful identification can also find the difference between it and chicken wing wood, iron wood grain is thicker, the texture is straight.
According to the Qiongzhou Chronicle, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were a large number of iron-powered wood produced in the current Guangxi region.
Locals sell it as fuel wood to merchants at low prices, and some merchants transport it to jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and other middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and then sell it as furniture at a high price.
This record shows that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, ironwood has been widely recognized and applied as a high-quality hardwood, especially in its place of origin in Guangxi, where a large number of ironwood furniture remains, and most of them are large pieces of furniture.
Iron wood furniture generally has the following 3 characteristics:
Loose materials
Because the price of ironwood is relatively low, and it belongs to large tree species, large materials are easy to obtain, so when making ironwood furniture, craftsmen do not hesitate to material, and often see ironwood single-board cases.
General hardwood furniture, must calculate the cost of materials, and iron wood furniture seems to never consider these, the panel side is generally wide, the legs can dig the defects will never paste, the table case common single core board, never will be on the material.
Rarely engraved
Iron wood fiber is thick and long and not easy to cut, the lateral knife is very easy to stubble, and the fiber jumps out of the wood, commonly known as burrs, in this case even polishing is very difficult.
The rough woodiness makes the craftsman prohibitive of iron wood carving, but can not make all the iron wood furniture plain, in the must be the yang line or less carving, the craftsman must leave the decoration thick, this kind of thick yang line has never been seen in other hardwood furniture.
The workmanship is clumsy
Ironwood furniture has a long history, and many of the techniques in its workmanship are very old at first glance.
The change of ironwood furniture seems to be slower than other furniture, and the geographical narrowness is the main reason, and the unique style is probably another reason.
Iron knife wood and iron wood, because of the similar name and bonding, although the two are not related from the perspective of biological tree species, but both tree species are hard texture tree species, there are similar grain, iron knife wood is more precious, and iron wood is more widely used in the furniture industry.