?Blood Wood?

[John D Watson]

I picked up scaps of this wood from a work sight a couple of years ago and have as of yet been able to figure out what it is. Its not Cocobolow(spelling). Its very hard and brittle, shatters under a router blade if fed too quickly. The sawdust is blood red and grainular. It splinters very easily on the edges. I'm using it for drawer rails in my tool box constuction and would realy like to at least have some guesses to go by. The piece pictured is 3/16X3/8. I can photo a larger piece for better grain structure if required. All guesses will be looked at and appreciated.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Looks like bloodwood (a.k.a. satine) to me. Can't say I've had the same shattering experience you've had on the router, but the rest of your description (and the photo) seem to fit for bloodwood.

- Vaughn

[John Hart]

Yup...been working with bloodwood for the past week or so....Looks just like it to me. I did notice some splintering on the edges and had some trouble drilling due to breakout. I only routed a small profile so I had good luck there. It turned on the lathe beautifully.

[John D Watson]

Thanks guys, with some searching on the site I found this.
I'm very glad to hear it turns well as the plan is to make all my drawer knobs from it. Thanks again.

[Richard Neel]

I just used it for some decorative box inlays and it planed very nicely. I didn't find it very brittle but it is quite hard.

[Steve Wargo]

I turned a mallet out of it a few months ago an dit does turn most excellently. But I'm a little disappointed in it's durability. I think that my beech mallets actually take a beating better, even though the bloodwood one is much denser. But man it does turnnicely.

[Mark Singer]

Bloodwood is one of the few red South American species that hols its red color...it dosen't darken like Purple Heart and paduck

[Robert Mayer]

I was using some small scraps of it awhile back. I was running it on the router table cutting a dado and it "exploded" on the router. I never figured out why it happened. I might have been feeding it too fast with too deep of a cut. Luckily I had a decent size piece of mdf I was feeding it with and didnt have my fingers anywhere near it (or face).

[Dan Mages]

I saw some bloodwood flooring at a local store for $3.50 ish a sqft. I was drooling over it. too bad I do not have a place where I can use it...

Dan