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| Home Painting Skills and Basics Paperhanging Home Decorating Interior Decorating Wood Identification |
RosewoodThe highly decorative rosewoods have long been sought after. They are typically small to medium-sized trees,  found in a variety of forms in many parts of the world. Supplies come mainly from India and Brazil, but also from Madagascar and other Central American countries.Often a wide band of pale sapwood is cut away leaving a core of highly figured heartwood, which is extracted in short lengths. Typically the heartwood is purple-brown, with darker, almost black, markings, and varying in weight from heavy to very heavy. Indian or Bombay rosewood has a purplish tint, but can be very dark. Brazilian or Rio rosewood is brown and often highly figured; kingwood, another Brazilian variety, is finely striped and very heavy. Honduras rosewood is finely figured. Rosewood is not unduly difficult to dry or machine, though very heavy wood demands greater care. The fresh heartwood often has a pleasant rose-like odour when it is machined. Rosewood slices well for veneer. For more than two centuries rosewood has been highly prized for fine cabinetwork, and it retains its popularity in furniture of quality today. It is also used for turned items, for example the handles of cutlery and other stainless steel items. Honduras rosewood is the preferred wood for the keys of xylophones; fine figured wood is used for inlay work. Extract from 'The International book of WOOD' curtesy Michael Beazley Publishers Limited 1979. |
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