I've worked with a bunch of rough-cut jatoba. It certainly is a hard wood, but it's not impossible to work with. Whenever I run it through a planer, I take very small passes at a time. Because of that I tend to use other wood, but sometimes jatoba's the right fit.

 

If you have or have access to a drum sander I would use that after you get it dimentioned to within a 1/6". When you plane it hone your blades to get a nice sharp edge. If your careful you can use your 6" belt sander on one side then plane it. "BEWARE OF THE DUST"

 

I cut some on a planer, I made small passes too. I also used a hand planer, a spoke shaver and a rasp on the wood too. it has a tendency to turn a lighter shade when you cut it but it ages nicely after it sits. I used Jatoba on my Bench, check it out: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/67281 I hand carved the legs with a spoke shaver and cut the leg mortises with a drill and a jigsaw and filed the rest and used a chisel on the beams for the mortices there. I don't think you would have any problems with the jointer or the planer, just make small passes. good luck!

 

I've used it for a lot of my guitars. With straight blade planers, true that you have to take small passes, but it finishes extremely smooth and is pretty hard. My spiral cut planer has no problem with it at all. Not chippy in my experience. Joints with the best of them. It does start out darker then lighter when cut. Addition of Minwax Natural stain brings back the darker reddish color in a hurry. Seems like it would make great, durable drawer fronts.

 

I made a complete pub table and chair set from Jatobal (you can see in my projects). Cut very well on my spiral head jointer and planer. Cut very well on the table saw as well. Drum sands well to. I don't think you will have any issues.

 

Jatoba is heavy, it is hard to work, and it is rough on machinery, unless you have industrial machinery, well, you may go through some planer blades.

There are other "red" woods jatoba is often used in place of such as cherry, mahogany and spanish cedar, that might work easier for your project.

 

I have cut, planed, jointed a lot of Jatoba and have not found it to be hard on my tools. Light passes on the planer will prevent most chip out but I use the drum sander for final thicknessing. BLO really brings out the dark red color and Tongue Oil Finish also works nicely on Jatoba. Keep us posted.

 

One thing to comsider; Jatoba is known as "Brazillian Cherry". When finished, it looks very much like cherry. It burns like cherry, is a bit harder and heavier and more expensive than cherry. Would cherry be a more reasonable choice? It is easier to work, readily available and relatively inexpensive if bought rough. Just thinking.

 

I don't know fussy, Cherry's natrual finish is brownish. it darkens with age. The jatob I've got is reddish almost orange (see picture at top of this page). I know it's called brazillian Cherry. I wonder if it's called that because of brazillian rosewood?

 

Thanks everyone. My planer has been through thousands of board feet of oak, maple, and walnut. A few 2 ft. pieces of jatoba shouldn't kill it. I'm not planning on using it on a regular basis.

Good info. I'll be careful. Many thanks for your insight.

 

Jatoba is not a fruit bearing tree but has cool flowers. I think the Brazilian cherry moniker is a marketing thing. The wood floor industry calls Ipe Brazilian Walnut. Use the Jatoba on this project and you're liable to use it a lot more. If you want a "piano" finish, you will have to fill the grain (Timber Mate has Brazilian cherry grain filler that is really easy). In my opinion it planes as well or better than hard maple with power tools.

 

Jatoba is awesome. I use it al the time and find it no more obnoxious than hard maple.. only more open grained like walnut… if anything I'd say it works a lot like Hickory wood. I love to carve it.

Here is a summery of my research:

Jatoba (Hymenaea courbaril) also called Copal and Brazilian Cherry… is actually in the same family as Black Locust found here in the USA, a tropical tree of the pea family (Fabaceae, a Leguminose family which fixes Nitrogen in the soil.) Jatoba is an interesting tree… it is a competitive and pioneering tree surviving along high river banks in nutrient lacking soils. Tall (90-150ft) and strong, containing over 20 active medicinal chemicals which have been used by indigenous people for centuries. Like Black Locust, its roots are shallow and wide spreading, over lapping other species, but unlike Black locust which poisons all around it.. Jatoba shares nitrogen and sugars to neighboring species, which in turn hold the Jatoba's roots down so it can grow taller than the surrounding canopy. It also has a single tool providing for two defenses. It secretes a resin like sap, which after a million years becomes Amber. Amber from South and Central America have been found to hold a wealth of dinosaur and other extinct life forms, insects and plants. The sap is anti-inflamatory, anti-bioltic, and anti-fungal… but it is mostly since the tree grows so tall… uses the sap to reflect the suns energy and express heat so it can regulate it's own internal temperature similar much in the way we sweat.

I know, not much info on the work ability, but it gives you an idea of why it dulls blades and chips.. full of chemicals and sap to dull your blades and have gum build up to burn your wood.. and meaning layers of large open cells and alternating grain to chip along. I used only regular titebond with fine results.

 

Let me comment on Jatoba from another perspective. Like several other colorful exotic woods, Jatoba will fade with the passage of time and become a dull brown. A good finish and keeping it out of the sun can slow the process but nothing, that I know of, will stop the process.

I only know of one reddish wood that will retain its color for the long term, bloodwood. Some people call it "cardinal wood". It is also very hard. It does not have much grain. It just has a nice color. If you look at my projects you will see that I used bloodwood as an accent on many of my church projects. Most noticeable are the inlaid crosses in the pew ends that I made.

 

True that, Rich.
Here is a board a few months old (on the right) to a untreated 4 year old board (on the left)

 

Rich, Do you see this browning of Jatoba indoors? I have several pieces in my house that have darkened to a deep red but none have turned brown. They are all finished with Tung Oil Finish and aren't in direct sunlight. Eric- Thanks for that interesting info; and that is an amazingly beautiful carving!

 

I see I am a little late on this one but here is my $ .02, anyways. The biggest problem i had with Jatoba was burning on the table saw. Easily fixed with a light pass on the jointer. You didn't mention anything about routing it. I can honestly say that the best results I have ever had with a router is when I routed Jatoba. I was rather surprised all three cases of routing it. Because of how dense it is, I was sure I would have problems. None at all, though. In my projects, you can see a small desk clock I made with the base being Jatoba and a knife stand made completely of Jatoba. It also takes a finish (wipe-on poly in my case) really well.

 

We have tons of brazilian cherry prefinished flooring in my store. The wood starts out very blah colored…light browns and reds. In the first 6 to 8 months most of its darkening will occur and it will end up with the rich red tone, but certainly with pieces that pick up on brown, purple, yellow and orange colors as well. The wood darkens in ambient light but not if something is on top of it. If you have a couch that hangs real low on the floor it won't darken under the couch. If you have a coffee table that sits off the ground it will darken under their, but NOT under the feet. We always recommend our customers move their furniture around in the first year to allow an even darkening.