Identification of wood please

[mr.alan.]

Apologies if this topic in the in-correct forum -

Can anyone identify this species of timber- I got told it was Rosewood - the thing I have noticed- it has tiny white flecks in it ..

Thanks .

 

[That would work]

I think you were told correctly. Rosewood has quite an oily feel.

 

[Trevanion]

White specks would be silica pockets that are prevalent in rosewoods, no idea what exact rosewood it is though.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Does it smell?

 

[sunnybob]

According to wiki, there are at least 20 types of TRUE rosewood, with many other similar looking stuff being sold as such. So yup, you have rosewood. :roll: :lol:
The silica means its going to dull your cutting edges a lot more than other woods.

 

[nev]

looks like cocobolo to me, but then again I've not encountered rosewood.

 

[sunnybob]

Could be. Cocobolo trade name is mexican rosewood.
Used a lot on pistol grips with very nice figuring. 8)

 

[samhay]

>looks like cocobolo to me...

Which fits, as Cocobolo is 'true' rosewood. For what it's worth, it looks like rosewood to me too.
As others have said, it is usefully pretty oily and has an odour while being worked - they differ a little between the different rosewoods, but think perfume.

p.s. Rosewoods are on the CITES list, which means that if you don't have a proper looking certificate of origin, you are a little limited in terms of what you can do with it commercially. Probably not a problem unless you plan on moving it across a border.

 

[ED65]

Top pic, looks like it could be rosewood but you need to prep end grain much more smoothly for a good ID. Bigger pics or a sharp macro shot would also help.

Second pic, piece on the left sure looks like rosewood and a better type of it too. If when you work it you get a lovely sweet aroma that puts you in mind of roses, then you'll know.

Third pic, those could be lots of things. It could all be rosewood (some of it showing large amounts of sapwood) but impossible to tell from this shot.

 

[mr.alan.]

Hey all- thanks for all the info /input
So to answer some of the questions- yes it does feel a little oil and if does have a nice aromatic smell -

Here are some other pics which may be helpful ( sorry only have iPhone available . )

I want to try and nail it down to what it is - as I am selling most of my timber so want to advertise it as what it is- or at least "thought to be"

.

 

[sunnybob]

I've used Indian Rosewood that looks very much like these pics. darker rather than reddish

 

[ED65]

I want to try and nail it down to what it is - as I am selling most of my timber so want to advertise it as what it is- or at least "thought to be"

Is "rosewood" close enough? Along with the basic colouring and the weight/density the oily/waxy/resinous feel is a good pointer, and a sweet smell is another. Taken all together you're pretty close to a certainty this is a member of the rosewood family. If you want to try to get down to the individual variety though it's going to come down basically to guesswork!

From the samples I've seen I would say that there's a decent chance at least some of what you have there is East Indian rosewood (I presume what Bob is calling Indian above) as where that is not in the region of golden brown and more towards chocolate tones it seems frequently to be a bit duller, just slightly more greyish. By contrast Brazilian for example seems characteristically more saturated.

Amazon rosewood can look very similar to East Indian though, and it's described as having more tan sapwood (less yellow/cream) which seems like it could fit here. And there's also cocobolo and kingwood to consider, to name only two.

See the entries on Wood Database for more, along with even more possibilities. However be aware that within any one type there is apparently huge variation possible! See the Hobbit in the House site, starting here: http://hobbithouseinc.com/personal/wood ... ewoods.htm

 

[mr.alan.]

Thanks ED65 - that website you shared - Hobbit in the House - very informative. I never knew there were so many types and variations!