River salvaged sinker Genuine Belizean Mahogany (Swietenia Macrophilla)

 The Mahogany Tree (Swietenia Macrophilla) is one of the Belize's magnificent giants of the forest. Rising straight and tall to over a hundred feet from great buttresses at the roots, it emerges above the canopy of the surrounding trees with a crown of large, shining green leaves. In the early months of the year,when the leaves fall and new red-brown growth appears, the tree can be spotted from a great distance.The tree puts out a great flush of small whitish flowers - the blossom for dark fruits, which are pear-shaped capsules about six inches long. When the fruits mature they split into five valves, freeing large winged seeds which are carried away by the wind. They fall on the shaded protection of the forest floor and germinate to begin a new life cycle. The mahogany tree matures in 60 to 80 years. British settlers exploited the forest for mahogany, beginning around the middle of the 17th century. It was originally exported to the United Kingdom in the form of squared logs, but shipments now consist mainly lumber.

    If you like wood with a story, then it doesn't get any better then this material. This is material from the bottom of Belizean rivers. Belize used to be a British colony. The British exported a lot of Mahogany from Belize throughout history and during the 19th century they used the rivers of Belize as there main source of transportation. Occasionally the denser Mahogany logs would sink! These logs for over 100 years had been lost and forgotten, until now!

   All the logs where salvaged using environmentally sound practices using small boats and pulleys to remove these logs off the bottom of the rivers. The logs where cut in Belize using local labor. Hence this is a very eco-friendly product. The material was kiln dried in Belize but has been re-sticked to give the piles air flow to allow them to air dry even more. Due to the age of these logs, all this material would have been old growth timber. The color is excellent and the grain is tight. Some of the material is even figured. Plus the material has a very interesting natural edge. The texture has been sculpted by the river and is very pleasing to the eye.