Cocobolo

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Chess pieces made of cocobolo

Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood from Central America. Only the heartwood is used: this is typically orange or reddish-brown in color, often with a figuring of darker irregular traces weaving through the wood. By contrast, the sapwood (not often used) is a creamy yellow, with a sharp boundary with the heartwood. The heartwood is known to change color after being cut, lending to its appeal.

Cocobolo is oily in look and feel, and stands up well to repeated handling and exposure to water: a common use is in gun grips and knife handles. It is very hard, fine textured and dense, but is easily machined, although due to the abundance of natural oils, the wood tends to clog abrasives and fine-toothed saw blades, like other very hard, very dense tropical woods. Due to its density and hardness, even a large block of the cut wood will produce a clear musical tone if struck. Cocobolo can be polished to a lustrous, glassy finish. The high natural oil content of the wood makes it difficult to achieve a strong glue joint, and can inhibit the curing process of some varnishes, particularly oil based finishes.

Provenance

Cocobolo is yielded by two to four closely related species of the genus Dalbergia, of which the best known is Dalbergia retusa, a fair-sized tree, reported to reach 20–25 m in height: this is probably the species contributing most of the wood in the trade. Because of the wood's great beauty and high value, the trees yielding this wood have been heavily exploited: they are rare outside of national parks, reserves and plantations. Only relatively small amounts of this prized wood reach the world market and it is expensive.

Uses

Besides its use in gun grips and knife handles, Cocobolo is highly favored for fine inlay work for custom high-end cue sticks, brush backs, musical instruments (especially guitars, drums and basses – Alembic Inc. consider cocobolo to be their house wood, and many famous players such as Stanley Clarke use such basses – though some woodwind instruments, such as clarinets and oboes, have been successfully made using cocobolo instead of the more usual grenadilla (African blackwood), decorative and figured veneers, bowls, jewelry boxes, and other expensive specialty items. It is also used in making luxury pens. Some cocobolo has a specific gravity of over 1.0, and will sink in water.

Working it

Care must be used when cutting Cocobolo, as the wood's oils can induce allergic reactions if inhaled or exposed to unprotected skin and eyes. A dust collection system, coupled with the use of personal protective equipment such as respirators, is highly recommended when machining this wood.