Wood ID

[Scott Hackler]

I found this wood in the pen blank drawer and I really need to ID it. I have been making some very delicate pendants with it and it works up like nothing I have ever used for delicate stuff.

It is super heavy and very finely grained. Super dense wood with a redish brown due. The aged side of the board is dark, dark brown. When turning it I have seen slight purplish streaks and some sort of crystals in the fine pits of the grain. The sawdust has a slight redish color and is very spicey smelling. When sanded to 800 and it looks like its been Beal buffed!

Any help would be great, cause I need more of this. Wait till you see the current projects!

This piece is 3/4" wide (for grain size reference).

Thanks in advance

[David E Keller]

Hard to be sure, Scott, but I'd guess it's some kind of rosewood. The weight and working characteristics sound like rosewood. At first glance, I'd guess cocobolo, but there are several rosewood varieties. Maybe somebody else will know.

[William Hutchinson]

That looks like cocobolo, send me some dust samples so I can perform a 'rash' analysis. I'll sprinkle it on my skin to see if I break out.

[John Keeton]

That looks like cocobolo, send me some dust samples so I can perform a 'rash' analysis. I'll sprinkle it on my skin to see if I break out.

William, given your last exposure, my guess is just typing your reply to this thread probably made your hands itch!!!

I don't know much about exotics, but it looks like cocobolo, and sounds like it has the same characteristics.

[Roger Chandler]

Looks a bit like Wenge to me[?]

[Mike Stephens]

Not Wenge. If I had to guess I would also say Cocobolo.

[Ken Glass]

Scott,
It looks like either Cocobolo or Macassar Ebony to me. Both are dense and are similar in color.

[Michael James]

Im going with one of the rosewoods, def not wenge. You might try going to WC or PSI and just look at their exotic pen blanks. Or any other exotic blank dealer you use.

[Mike Spanbauer]

It's cocobolo. I've turned quite a bit of it - Macassar and Coco are the only two with the colorations - but the give away is the spicy smell. Coco smells wonderful - however, be very careful as it's one of the "dangerous" woods in that once you start to have a reaction from it, you'll continue to react increasingly more violently.

It's gorgeous, but please wear a good dust mask when turning it.

It is a member of the rosewood family too (Dalbergia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocobolo)

Love it! But, use caution

Mike

[Jim Roberts Port Orchard WA]

I'm not convinced it's cocobolo yet. When sandinging does it gum up your paper quickly? The cocobolo that I've worked with does. There's just something about it that doesn't say cocobolo. I get most of my woods from a hardwood flooring importer (the crates) and this looks very simular to some of it. This importer imports out of Brazil. Most of the stuff I get from him I haven't a clue as to what the proper name is and I can only ID a very small % of it. I have found that ipe can look very different stick to stick and when sanded to 800 it looks like it was a piece of polished marble. I would guess that it's from South America. BUT, like I have been told many times, "If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck" good chance it's a duck......... Oh yeah, is the dust irritating? Cocobolo can tend to do so on most people.
Enjoy it, sounds like it makes beautiful pens.

[Scott Hackler]

After the suggestions and a little more research I think that it is a variety of Cocobolo. Reason why is the smell of the shavings and the tiny crystalline structures in some of the pits of the grain. This particular sample board is a small different than some of the newer Cocobolo blanks I have bought. For one the newer ones are a little redder than this one and I haven't seen purple streaks before in Cocobolo, but examining the grain and the other things I am inclined to say that it is indeed Cocobolo.

[David Woodruff]

Scott, that is Coco Bolo of the Rosewood family, Genus Dahlbergia. Pretty wood. If you are allergy prone, put on a dust mask. Make something

[Scott Hackler]

Im one of those people who isn't allergic to most things, so this wood doesn't bother me at all. I might not always have my mask on but when sanding, I have a dusk collector hose 2" from the work and the whole room filter going strong......just to be safe anyway!

[Jess Wetherhold]

I've turned hundreds of pieces of cocobolo and EIR and am 90% sure that this is cocobolo.. My other 10% goes to East Indian Rosewood which does look slightly more purple than red. The smell of EIR is slightly less pungent than cocobolo.
Here is a link that I found so you can see the similarities.