8/4 Cocobolo Board #41

Description

This 8/4 Cocobolo board is about 1.75″ in thickness, 3″ in width and 36″ in length. They are flat sanded, kiln dried and ready to work. Price is for the board shown in the photo. 

Cocobolo grows on a thin band along the Pacific Coast of Mexico down through Central America. Our stock is selectively cut and logged by hand in Central America, squared by chainsaw, and drug out of the forest by mules. This is a very environmentally low impact procedure. Cocobolo is a true Rosewood, similar in color & tap tone to Brazilian Rosewood and considered to be a good substitute. It is denser than most Rosewoods and oilier. For best results in gluing, epoxy is recommended. Cocobolo has great working properties & turns to a naturally glass-like polish. The colors range from any combination of orange, red, yellow, & black to violet. For this reason, it has also been called rainbow wood. Cocobolo can cause respiratory and/or dermatological sensitization in certain people. As with all exotic hardwoods, please use proper care and safety equipment when working.

Color / Appearance: Cocobolo can be seen in a kaleidoscope of different colors, ranging from yellow, orange, red, and shades of brown with streaks of black or purple. Sapwood is typically a very pale yellow. Colors are lighter when freshly sanded/cut, and darken with age

Grain: Grain is straight to interlocked, with a fine, even texture. Good natural luster.

Workability: Due to the high oil content found in this wood, it can occasionally cause problems with gluing. Also, the wood’s color can bleed into surrounding wood when applying a finish, so care must be taken on the initial seal coats not to smear the wood’s color/oils into surrounding areas. Tearout can occur during planing if interlocked grain is present; the wood also has a moderate blunting effect on cutting edges/tools due to its high density. Cocobolo has excellent turning properties.

Odor: Cocobolo has a distinct spice-like scent when being worked, which some find unpleasant: though it has been used in at least one women’s perfume.

Toxicity: Notoriously allergenic. Reported as a sensitizer; can cause skin, eye, and respiratory irritation, as well as nausea, pink-eye, and asthma-like symptoms.

Availability: Cocobolo is in limited supply, and is also in relatively high demand, (for ornamental purposes), and is likely to be quite expensive. Prices should compare similarly to other rosewoods in the Dalbergia genus.

Common Uses: Fine furniture, musical instruments, turnings, and other small specialty objects.

Comments: One of today’s most prized lumbers for its outstanding color and figure—yet also one of the most infamous for its difficulty in gluing, and its tendency to cause allergic reactions in woodworkers