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Comments:
Dalbergia Retusa. Cocobolo family: Leguminosae.
Other
common names; Granadillo (Mexico, Guatemala),
Funera (El Salvador), Palo negro (Honduras), Nambar (Nicaragua, Costa Rica),
Cocobolo, Cocobolo prieto (Panama). The tree is a small to medium-sized tree 45 to 60 ft high
with trunk diameters of 20 to24 in.; usually of poor form. The average weight is 5.7 lbs. per board foot.
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One
of the true tropical rosewoods, Cocobolo is a very beautiful wood,
ranging from a beautiful rich dark brick red, to reddish or dark
brown, with a figuring of darker irregular traces weaving through
the wood. It is fine textured and oily in look and feel. The wood
has excellent working characteristics and the natural oils give
the wood a natural luster. Cocobolo is highly durable and strong,
but, because of its scarcity and high value, it is used for its
rare beauty rather than its strength or durability. |
| Although these
characteristics has made the 'Cocobolo' one of the most expensive
woods in the world, there have been very few intents to cultivate
it. Generally planters claim that the species grows very slowly
and performs more like a bush than a tree. |
Cocobolo is a very beautiful hard, heavy and oily wood. This species is now in danger of extinction outside of
national parks, reserves and plantations and is very hard to find.
Commonly used in fine guitars, gun grips, knife handles and inlays. It is also quite
dense, and even a large block of the cut wood will produce a clear
musical tone if struck.
It is rare to find a piece of cocobolo this dark so
I kept this box simple without any contrasting wood
or ornamentation in order to just exhibit the quality of this outstanding wood.
Even the structural splines joining the corners are from the same
board. I had a small board of black gaboon ebony and I decided that would be the
only wood that could compliment this box, so I used it to create the
handle. The top panel is solid cocobolo from the same board
as the rest of the box. Due to the natural oils in this wood and
finished it with Danish oil and wax. The inside bottom of this box is lined in high
quality black velvet.
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