Iron Wood

Iron wood is a colloquial term for kinds of wood that exhibit remarkable toughness and durability.

Description:
Iron wood is tough and sturdy as metal, and is just as heavy. It is very fire-resistant and can be further coated with laquer to be almost entirely fireproof.
Iron wood looks like normal wood but can be identifies by its mass and toughness.

Creation:
Iron wood forms only in a few speciffic kinds of tree that without exception take a very long time to grow. Many decades and even centuries are not out of the ordinary. Trees of Iron WOod are so tough that in order to cut them down you need to use Adamantium saws and axes.

Plantations of Iron-wood-trees exist but they produce very little and their produce is very expensive. It is not a business with high profit-margins.
As such a lot of Iron wood is taken out of the heart of ancient forests, much to the irritation of the local forest spirits. A risky endeavour that warrants its steep price.

Use:
Iron wood is used to make furniture or to be used in architecture. It has qualities similar to steel while looking very aestetically pleasing and as such it is favored by nobles and wealthy merchants.
A door made of Iron-wood is just as secure as a steel-reinforced oaken door but looks much better without the ugly metal braces. It is also more expensive, and thus a status symbol for other wealthy individuals.
However the material is very heavy and impractical for most other uses. It is too expensive to use wantonly either.

Appearance:

Iron wood looks like normal, dark wood, comparable to oak.
It is however much heavier and sturdier. It is easily identified by knocking on it, trying to scrape it or trying to move it.
Experts can also identify iron wood at a glance.