A coworker asked if I would cut a beam up for him and brought it over yesterday. All he knows is that they were used to bolt transformers to and ship them. He said they could set a transformer in a field on these beams and they wouldn't rot.
What I know. Wood is very hard and my saw spit out red dust when cutting. I planed them down to get a look at the grain and checked my blades afterwards to ensure none were chipped or broke. It sounded like the planer was going to explode when I was running them through. Other than that, they are just really beautiful boards and he has a barn full of these beams.
ETA: He said someone told him the wood was from South America??
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/50877/IMG_4128.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1538393736)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/50877/IMG_4125.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1538393777)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/50877/IMG_4127.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1538393729)
Yes. I believe that it is tropical. Not sure of the species.
Reminds me of cocobolo, but I'm not that familiar with tropical wood. Try that, or investigate the blackwood family, like rosewood.
Cocobolo - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocobolo)
Bullet wood seems to be the consensus here. But after seeing a picture of quartersawn Sapele....could be either but the use for bullet wood makes sense. Whatever it is, I have a lot of it.
Could be ipe color looks similar.
I was thinking the same thing but for id we call all the unknown wood from down south "jungle wood", seems like there are a dozen look alikes for each. Bruce Hoadley's wood ID book does go into some tropical woods.
Ipe will sink if put in water it is so dense. I have built several boat swim platforms from it 25 years ago and they are still in use .
Possibly, Mahogany, it shows up as dunnage/pallets with freight. I think that Mahogany is used as flooring in semi-trailer vans.
Looks like Cumaru (Brazilian Teak). Ipe (Brazilian Walnut) would have a slightly green tint. Both Cumaru and Ipe are dense and water resilient.