Thin rosewood?

[sunnybob]

I have had a lot of fun making boxes from beech and padauk, using slats around 6 -7mm thick.
But I have been pressured into making a jewellery box with rosewood and I dont know enough about it. Will it stay as stable as beech in 6mm thicknesses?
Any quirks with this wood?

 

[custard]

Rosewood is much more stable than Beech.

It sometimes picks up silica from the soil (like Teak) which can blunt tools quickly, not often but sometimes. It's naturally oily which can cause problems gluing, best to wipe gluing surfaces with meths or acetone immediately before gluing. It's very expensive, at least genuine Rosewood is, there are some cheaper, substitute timbers but they're not genuine dalbergias. Beech is hard, Rosewood is harder still.

Rosewood is a beautiful timber, enjoy it.

Good luck!

 

[profchris]

Rosewood is commonly used for classical guitar sides and back. The thickness there is around 2mm! But they use vertical grain timber for stability.

If your boxes are small, guitar fretboard blanks (straight, not tapered) might be a good source. These seem cheap, though they're tapered (60mm minimum dimension):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/indian-rosewo ... xy0zhTMV5L

The seller might well be prepared to supply you untapered/larger board if you ask.

 

[sunnybob]

Thats good to know custard, thanks

I can buy quite large planks here, and I now have enough equipment to rip and cut to my specs, but I cant identify the EXACT species, as the language barrier is strong when getting into that kind of area (english latin / greek latin? oh no) I have some and its very rose coloured, almost going to pink, so I think it will look good for my grandaughters trinkets.

 

[custard]

I can buy quite large planks here

That's interesting, I'd appreciate if you could keep us posted on that.

I know a fair bit about the UK timber market, a little about the US, Canadian, and northern European timber markets, but not much beyond that. However, it seems that the southern European countries do march to a different tune. Maybe because traditional darker timbers always remained in fashion there, maybe because Spain seems to have a lock on the supply of many luthier timbers, maybe because of historic trading partnerships (for example much of the illegal exports of Brazilian timbers comes into Europe via Portugal), but for whatever reason it's possible you might have a better choice of Rosewoods there than we do in the UK.

 

[custard]

Bob, one more thought occurs.

I've heard that Olive blight is currently an issue around the Med and consequently a lot of Olive trees are being grubbed up and there's a market glut. We've seen some of these boards coming to UK timber yards and a very lovely wood it is too. But where you live maybe that's a timber to look out for. If I could find a wider selection here in full boules (sawn logs) so I could buy consecutive boards from the same tree for book matching and colour consistency, then it would certainly be on my shopping list. It tends to be only available as fairly small boards, but for boxes and smaller projects it would be ideal.

Maybe that's a way of putting a uniquely local flavour into your work?

 

[AndyT]

I know much less than Custard about the timber trade but I did notice that CITES has just agreed to ban trade in all 300 species of Dalbergia, in an attempt to reduce the scale of illegal rosewood being sold as something similar.

Though I don't expect you were thinking of getting a whole shipping container, Sunnybob!

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... wood-trade

 

[sunnybob]

Custard, you know more about the olive trees than I do, and I live amongst them! I have one in my back yard that was kept when the orchard / grove was grubbed up for building houses. That is still a strong tree about 15 ft tall, and it produced over 30 kgs of olives this year.
Theres a grove behind my back wall of about 30 trees, they also are still strong. next time I see the Cypriot who looks after them I will ask him about the blight.
A live olive tree will sell for considerable money and they are often transplanted, but the trunks are not that wide or straight, and once dead, they are just firewood. There is no "clean air act" here, the vast majority of cypriots in my area still burn wood for heating. A friend who chops firewood brought around an olive trunk cutting. About a foot diameter by 8" deep, but as it dried it split so badly that I had to give it back to him for burning.

I have one large DIY store I visit that has a very large quantity of furniture grade wood, must be hundreds of thousands of pounds worth. Most of it is 3 to 5 metre boards straight from the trunk. They arent keen on me (please sir, can I have an offcut?), but sometimes there are smaller bits I can use.
I am due to go again sometime in the next two weeks, I will try to take some snaps, but they keep that corner very dark, presumably to keep the colour in the wood (or maybe so the rozzers cant see it?)

 

[custard]

Thanks for that link Andy.

Not before time. Things were maybe holding at an equilibrium before, but now a fast growing Chinese middle class, eager to buy the Rosewood furniture they esteem so highly, has tipped the balance. Something has to change if there's to be any left for future generations. Remember Zitan? I haven't seen any for years, pretty much every stick now goes to China.

The CITES regulations generally don't prohibit buying, selling, or ownership of Rosewood, only international trade. I've got quite a lot of Rosewood that I've bought over many years. Brexit will mean CITES rules says it stays in the UK. However, furniture fashions in northern Europe and the US have changed and I've got far more than I'll ever make into furniture and sell, so I've started to off-load some to the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian luthier trade before the Brexit door gets slammed shut. I had a German buyer over a few weeks ago, interestingly his criteria were different than mine. Where as I'd judge quality only by colour and grain, he was very focussed on ring count, how many growth rings per centimetre. Consequently some of his highest offers were for some of my least favourite timbers, so everyone went away happy.

I hope CITES proves effective, I think it will stop some of the biggest abuses, but unfortunately as prices rise so smugglers will find ever more ingenious routes. Apparently there was a thriving trade a few years back in large earthenware vases being shipped from Brazil to Portugal. When they arrived the importers threw the vases away and carefully dismembered the elaborate packing crates and pallets, which were solid Kingwood and Rio Rosewood!

 

[custard]

Custard, you know more about the olive trees than I do

Honestly I don't, but I spend a lot of time in UK timber yards and this is what I hear. I've only ever handled a few Olivewood boards but I've always been hugely impressed. It's an extremely tough timber, with a slightly waxy feel and a lustrous look, it's a lot more like a tropical exotic than a European timber. If I lived in Cyprus that would be a timber I'd be very interested in.

I guess like most timbers the vast majority isn't really furniture grade, but someone must be syphoning off the larger, cleaner boards and it's just a case of tracking down where they end up.