Looking to put in a Mesquite wood floor. What is the difference twixt southwest U.S. Mesquite and Brazilian Mesquite. I do not want to end up with pieces only two to three feet long. Is this the case with the Brazilian M

TA!
jp

Any Braz. Mesquite I've installed was been riddled with 1'-2' lengths.

The Brazilian mesquite is actually from the mahogany family. I installed the Schon brazilian which turned out pretty nice, same mahogany family. I find theres always more shorts than I like. To get the native American mesquire you should oreder from some ppl in Texas or AZ. They are easy to find on the net. Long lengths are gonna cost you more as the trees are generally not that large. Theres some pics of the Schon on my flickr account.http://www.flickr.com/photos/13772863@N08/

I appreciate the help. It looks to me like the straps will be a help. This is the third floor I've done and something new always comes up.

Texas Mesquite is more stable than most any wood. I think I'd install it in the bottom of a swimming pool and it would not effect it.(joking)

All wood these days seems to be riddled with shorts.

You do have to pay a pretty penny to get all long boards, nowadays.

As Tucson says, Brazillian Mesquite is not Mesquite, nor is Brazillian Cherry, Cherry, etc. When these woods came into the flooring industry a few years back, the importers gave them common names so people could relate them to woods they are more familiar with, in visual appearance only. The structural differences can be immense as well as their stability characteristics.
I am not a fan of these woods, especially here in Toronto. Consider this: the trees evolved (not just grew) in a tropical environment. We then cut them down, dry them out and bring them into a temperate climate with no regard for how they may react during seasonal changes.
I have one of these floors installed in my kitchen as a "test to destruction" for the manufacturer. After only three years it is ready to be replaced due to the in-ordinate amount of split boards, and as a result of this testing (also done in an office at the mill, with the same results) the manufacturer has decided not to proceed with introducing this wood to the market. A shame too, since it is a beautiful looking wood.

We stock S. American Mesquite in our Austin, TX warehouse in widths from 3" up to 8" in thicknesses of 1/2" and 3/4". The lengths are 1' to 7' and have a very good average length that is similar to NOFMA Red Oak.

I can't speak to the woods that some of the others in this thread are referring to but the the Mesquite that we sell IS the same Genus (Prosopis) as "American" Mesquite and not in the Mahogany genus (Swietenia). My experience with with mesquite has been a good one. It is extremely stable and durable flooring option. It looks identical to most of the "american mesquite" but is a little darker red than the Texas "honey mesquite" variety (Prosopis glandulosa). One of the main selling points of the S. American Mesquite is that the trees tend to be a little bigger/taller so we are able to get better widths and lengths than most of the Mesquite produced in the SW USA.

I would be happy to send anyone a sample of our material to compare to what they had.

Genuine "Honduran" Mahogany- Swietenia macrophylla
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Sapindales
Family: Meliaceae
Genus: Swietenia
Species: Swietenia macrophylla

Mesquite- Prosopis Nigra
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Prosopis
Species: Prosopis nigra also Prosopis glandulosa

Is the 1/2" available in engineered ? If so ..Particulars ?

A few years ago there was a vendor at Surfaces selling Mesquite fireplace mantels, they were incredibly beautiful, ( out of Texas ).