Anyone here have any experience with east african rosewood for stock making? It looks to be dense enough but I have never worked with it. Any comments or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

I put a piece on as a forend tip once.....very pretty wood.

Something about it was that the finish I used (tru-oil) almost never dried.....I had a helluva time finishing it....maybe something I did wrong....but after that I never used it again.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
I put a piece on as a forend tip once.....very pretty wood.

Something about it was that the finish I used (tru-oil) almost never dried.....I had a helluva time finishing it....maybe something I did wrong....but after that I never used it again.

Vapo
I seem to remember reading in one of my old gunsmithing books that the author used shellac to as the first coat then sanded and appliey a second and third coat.
Jim

That's a common problem with rosewood and many other exotic woods. They are somewhat oily and impede gluing and finishing. Try soaking the ready to glue and mount block in Acetone for a bit. You'll have much better results. Shellac as a sealer can work too.

many moons ago i made a stock from rosewood. it wasn't half bad to work with and made an attractive piece. for finishing i wiped it down well with MEK and them put on a coat or 2 of clear quick drying lacquer to seal.

If you are speaking of Bubinga, I have 4 stocks being made of it right now. It was used in the past by Weatherby for the 460s.

Anyone here have any experience with east african rosewood for stock making? It looks to be dense enough but I have never worked with it. Any comments or suggestions appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

NO such Animal !. Honduran , Brazilian , Indian Rosewood ; YES . As Idahoelk 101 suggest may be Bubinga wood .

Heart is Pink too Vivid Red turning brown or yellow with exposure with purple streaks for veining becomes less pronounced .
Fairly weighty .065-0.78 air dry density .

Hold out for TigerWood also known as Lova or African Walnut ( Sierra Leone too Gabon )Nice brown color fine texture ribbon figure dark almost black purple . Around 0.45 air density .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

Madagascar isn't normally thought of as being in East Africa, but it isn't far away and sometimes their wood business goes through East Africa. There is a Madagascar Rosewood:

http://www.woodworkerssource.net/Merchant3/merchant.mv?...=Rosewood_Madagascar

Yes people may call woods by what ever name they chose . How ever the genius by which ALL woods are classified tell of their true origin .

It so happens that ( Dabergia baroni,) is actually a sub species of Dalbergia Nigra or Brazilian Rosewood .

Some people call Dalbergia Retusa Rosewood also when in fact , Most of us know it's Not . It's more commonly known as Cocobolo .

Take Teak for an excellent example real Teak is Tectona grandis or Thailand Teak . Although it's native to India Burma Indochina Java and so on .

The most desirable sought after always came form Thailand , because of soil conditions in which it grew , Burma teak was less than a quarter of the price and had to be sold as Burma teak . Not Tectona grandis , Ditto with Indian teak . When tested the Very Best was Thai Teak .


Regardless of what name some one calls a nice looking blank or piece of wood , be safe and try to find out the Latin Name or genius or the very least what family it's from .

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

I have a wooden tie tack that looks like teak but I'm not sure if the tie tack is thai teak aka tectone from thai or not. When I wear it people just say it's tacky.

RIch

DR K hit this one on the head. Upon further questioning I found out the wood quoted was in fact dalbergia latifolia. Indian Rosewood is the correct description. I could not find a listing for East African Rosewood when I first tried to look it up. However, I have no expertise on wood and just figured it was my inexperience and the fact that as stated woods are often called by many different names. That said, the two blanks I looked at appear pretty nice. I guess my question is still the same. How is it for a gunstock? I am still considering purchasing these.

My grip cap & forend is supposly Brazilian Rosewood
https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2711043/m/631107447

quote:

Originally posted by Dr.K:
Yes people may call woods by what ever name they chose . How ever the genius by which ALL woods are classified tell of their true origin.

I think you mean "genus".

Wear a quality Dust mask when working with Rosewood.The dust is Toxic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I have a aircleaner ,plus a dust vac where I am working on plus the mask. :

In 1968 or therabouts, George Herter offered Indian Rosewood stocks. I bought two of them for 98m M's It was very hard and very oily. I never could get any type of regular finish to
dry even after acetone baths. I ended up using hand applied accuraglass and sanding between 3 or 4 coats to a satin finish by rubbing with pumice. Between the hardness of the wood and the Accuraglass, it was a durable but heavy stock. I kept one of them for a number of years and the it held the checkering very well. Wish I still had it.

Just got done refinishing a beautiful walnut stock with a rosewood forend and grip cap. I know it was built in 1960 as the stock maker put his card under the recoil pad.

After that many years I assumed the rosewood had "lost" some of its oiliness and I wouldn't have a problem with the finish drying. I was off course wrong.......

An entire stock made of rosewood??? I don't hate myself that much.

Jim