Mexican Parota wood Wanted

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Dale Parrott

Dale Parrott

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2012
Messages
292
Location
Goshen, Indiana
I would like to get some Mexican Parota wood to turn. Mostly looking for some 3" x 3" x 12" but would be open to other sizes as well.
I spent some time in Mexico last winter and saw a lot of huge live edge tables made from Parota. If you happen to have some or know where to get some in the States please let me know.
thanks
Dale
 
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Dale, I have no source in the States, but I used to live in Central America and had a guy I could buy enormous slabs of parota from. He made giant tables and other furniture out of them. 3-4 inch thick slabs and big blocks. He made me a bench made from solid parota (guanacaste) that I could disassemble. I think I paid about $100 for it in 2009. Unfortunately, "air dried" lumber in Central America never really gets dry, and when you take it back to the U.S. it warps terribly, especially thick slabs like that. Parota is beautiful wood. I miss that guy. He sold me four planks, probably 2.5 inches thick, 8 inches wide, 6 feet long of solid cocobolo. Charged me $15 for each one (and he had more than four but I felt like $60 was a lot to spend on wood - can you imagine?!). Looking back, I was young and didn't know better. Nowadays I'd probably ask a few more questions about his sources and harvesting techniques. I'm a bit more attuned to some of the legal and sustainability issues around lumber. I'm guessing my man with the roadside barn was not so picky about where he got his wood from.
 
egnald said:
Woodcraft used to sell it, but it appears to have been discontinued.
BellForest appears to have the size you are looking for though. Link: Parota / Guanacaste 3" x 3" x 12"
I saw one on eBay too, but it was only 6" inches long.
Dave
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Thank you Dave, I'll keep checking back there. I did have one opportunity to bring a slab home from Mazatlán, MX but the thought of getting in trouble from customs kept me on the straight and narrow.
Dale
 
jeporter02 said:
Dale, I have no source in the States, but I used to live in Central America and had a guy I could buy enormous slabs of parota from. He made giant tables and other furniture out of them. 3-4 inch thick slabs and big blocks. He made me a bench made from solid parota (guanacaste) that I could disassemble. I think I paid about $100 for it in 2009. Unfortunately, "air dried" lumber in Central America never really gets dry, and when you take it back to the U.S. it warps terribly, especially thick slabs like that.I Parota is beautiful wood. I miss that guy. He sold me four planks, probably 2.5 inches thick, 8 inches wide, 6 feet long of solid cocobolo. Charged me $15 for each one (and he had more than four but I felt like $60 was a lot to spend on wood - can you imagine?!). Looking back, I was young and didn't know better. Nowadays I'd probably ask a few more questions about his sources and harvesting techniques. I'm a bit more attuned to some of the legal and sustainability issues around lumber. I'm guessing my man with the roadside barn was not so picky about where he got his wood from.
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing. I found one smaller slab but between customs and trying to get it home on 3 different airplanes. Well, you can imagine. I'm attaching 2 photos of tables made from the Parota. We saw a lot of these tables at many different restaurants. I even saw one curved staircase that was very impressive.
Dale
 

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Dale Parrott said:
Thank you Dave, I'll keep checking back there. I did have one opportunity to bring a slab home from Mazatlán, MX but the thought of getting in trouble from customs kept me on the straight and narrow.
Dale
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I hear you. I always wanted to bring olive wood back from Israel when I was there, but instead just bought it and had it shipped so that someone more knowledgeable about customs could take care of it. But I retired in January 2020, so no more company paid trips to the Holy Land. I can't tell you how many times I've driven past Jerusalem between Tel Aviv and Beer Sheva but I never did take a couple of personal days to go into the city as a tourist. I even have a personal invitation from the curator of the Yad Vashem holocaust museum because I donated some WWII photos that my dad took when his unit was involved in liberating one of the concentration camps. It always seems like there will be a next time until there just isn't. - Dave
 
Dale Parrott said:
Thank you for sharing. I found one smaller slab but between customs and trying to get it home on 3 different airplanes. Well, you can imagine. I'm attaching 2 photos of tables made from the Parota. We saw a lot of these tables at many different restaurants. I even saw one curved staircase that was very impressive.
Dale
Click to expand...
Beautiful piece of wood!
 
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