By Phoenix Delray

Hard woods such as cherry, zebrawood, and black ironwood are known to make some of the finest furniture in the world. Many of these and other exotic hardwoods come from Brazil and Argentina in South America, and although some of them take close to 100 years to mature and be harvested, they are being replaces responsibly and therefore are not considered to be endangered woods. Some of the most sought after wood is the black ironwood furniture, in addition to the green ironwood as well.

Black ironwood furniture begins as trees on plantations and is very popular for cabinetry. The uniformity of its color and the depth of the grain make it one of the favorites for luxury furniture makers to work with. What is interesting about this type of wood is that it can take 20 years only to be ready to harvest or it can be left alone for 75 years to fully mature. Each tree can reach a height of 40 feet, and these big beauties are often found in Argentina, along with many other woods.

Zebrawood, although extremely sturdy and dense, is a relatively rare wood for furniture use. This kind of wood is not easy to work with because it requires special tools for the work, and because of the characteristics of the wood it is extremely hard to kiln dry it. The Zebrawood can be found in Argentina, and the trees can be anywhere from 45 65 feet tall. The wood has beautiful natural reddish brown tones with black stripes ingrained in it as well. Zebrawood takes anywhere from 35 to 85 years to mature to be harvested, and because of the difficulty that furniture makers have with it, the price for Zebrawood is often immense.

Another popular wood for living room furniture sets is Patagonian Cherry. This wood can be harvested from the South of Argentina, and it has a beautiful chestnut color with yellow, pink, and green lines that run through it. The Cherry wood is resistant to humidity, which makes for extremely durable living room furniture that won t bend or warp. These trees can reach a whopping 90 feet in height, and the wood from them creates beautiful, weather resistant furniture that lasts for generations. This is a light wood that is fairly easy to work with, so along with Black Ironwood is a favorite of furniture makers.

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To learn more about black ironwood furniture, please visit http://www.nativa-online.com/docs/woods.htm.