Quick comparison:
Torian has what is likely a "high latitude" cocobolo for his stocks, as can be seen by the highly contrasting orange/black grain lines, often seen in Guatamalan wood. The attached photo of the freshly-rasped grip of my project stock is of this variety (this is Mexican and particularly orange. the cheek/forearm is a wood called Jatoba). While Cocked & Locked has what I have seen from equatorial cocobolo; extremely dark red that is (once oxidized) almost indistinguishable from the black veins. The latter tends to be denser and less prone to splitting/tearing of grain when carving (neither really has this tendency, though). The other attached photo is of a drawing board I made a while back (fyi, use way more ventilation than you think you need when applying lacquer
)
In small doses, like when hand-sanding or rasping, Cocobolo does not bother me, and I actually find the "cinnamon" smell it has rather pleasing. I've always been surprised it isn't marketed as an aromatic wood or oil, since a ton of it could easily be harvested for ladies' candles and whatnot from a single plank
The few times I have used powertools on it, was using a router, and I found it machines almost like plastic; the grain so tight and swirly that there basically
is no grain. The oily stuff also self lubricates cutters pretty well, unless you get them hot enough. However, I had the worst itching and flu symptoms for several days afterward --through skin/eye exposure, since I was wearing a mask!
A few fun facts about this wood to know(since I'm sure more than a few reading this will rush out and get some to play with before its gone):
-Cocobolo, and other
dalbergia genus woods cannot be glued or finished easily. Their oils will keep polyurethane compounds from ever curing. To glue it, something like Gorilla glue (as in the joints of the drawing board) or Titebond III (as in the laminated gun stock) must be used. To finish, lacquer/shellac or other non-curing (evaporating solvent) coatings must be used, since the oils impede urethanes (big bummer for gunstocks that you want to keep totally protected)
-If left unfinished, cocobolo is plenty tough enough to take abuse, and will maintain a burnished shine. However, as it oxidizes, the red hues darken into browns, and the lustrous "tiger eye" effect seen in freshly cut wood hazes over. UV and oxygen are the causes of this; lacquer will stop the latter, but not much can be done to stop UV exposure if the item is to be used outdoors
. The aged color isn't
ugly or anything, it just isn't near as vibrant as what you start with (my gunstock fades to a very dark brown that looks totally different very quickly, so I have to decide to scrape/burnish the thing all at once for lacquer, or let it sit for a few months to get an even patina, or let it go dark by leaving it unfinished)
-Cocobolo is denser than water, so it's that much easier to lose your BBQ guns in a boating accident
-Cocobolo is an excellent tonewood; marimba keys are (were) made from it frequently --even more desirable than rosewood or mahogany. The 4ftx10"x.75" plank the stock was built up from resonated long at a loud 30Hz or so--it was like a dang subwoofer if you smacked it hard, and difficult to hang on to
"I like maple, cherry, myrtle, mahogany, holly, walnut, etc."
Though it's not really what these fancy stocks are meant for, cocobolo is probably better at a beat-down than maple and walnut put together
. I finally got around to carving on walnut a while back, and I must say it is a dream to work with too, and far faster to shape. I wish Holly came from bigger trees, so I could make some "easy" winter camo for my rifles
Anyone in the DFW area been by Wood World or a Rockler to see if they still have any in stock (I'm sure it's already gone
)?
