Any one know of a good (as in cheaper) substitute for rosewood?

[nic obie]

I need to make a few totes for my hand planes and would like to find something less pricey but would still match in looks.

Any ideas appreciated.

[Justin Bukoski]

You could use Makore. Wear a respirator though, that stuff makes my lungs burn...

[Jim Becker]

There are many different kinds of rosewoods, Nic...Cocobolo is readily available, for example, in "chunks" since it's a favorite of turners. I think you probably want to stick with species that are hard and finish up smoothly without grain filling. Figured cherry might be nice. Dyed figured maple, too. So many choices... :)

[Jim Nardi]

Both very cheap. Bubinga is nice. The Best Things sells cheap totes in rosewood. Cheaper than you can make them.

[Terry Bigelow]

Cocobolo all the way! I have used it for totes/knobs and chisel/rasp handles. LN offers most if not all of thier planes with the option of cocobolo instead of cherry(I have the #62 and just ordered the #212 with cocobolo handles). It is in the same family as rosewood and looks similar, although I actually like it better. Has a little more of a vibrant color. Also it is MUCH cheaper. I have bought turning blanks (2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 12") for $6.50 and bowl blanks (8"x8"x3") for $12.00.

Quote from Lie-Nielson: "Your new tool has Cocobolo handles. Because of supply and quantity problems with Indonesian Rosewood, we have switched to Cocobolo, a central American Rosewood species, for our optional wood for tool handles and knobs."

Here's a pic of the #62 after I got it:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=60107
By the way, in the first pic on the thread are two rasps with cocobolo handles I turned.

[Zahid Naqvi]

To me Cocobolo looks better than rosewood due to the more pronounced streaks. Me, I am cheap, I use Oak for replacement plane totes and knobs. Doesn't look authentic but still works as well if not better than rosewood.

[James Carmichael]

Another vote for cocobolo. If there's a Woodcraft near you, check out their turning blanks. My local WC used to have frequent closeouts on them. I've got a 2x2x18 chunk of cb I think I paid $5 for. I dunno if that's really cheaper than rosewood, I think the last time I priced it at my hardwood dealer, 4/4 Bolivian was $10.50 pbf, but that was a while back.

I do suggest a respirator when working tropicals, especially rosewood.

[Montgomery Scott]

When you say rosewood I assume you are talking about the original Brazilian rosewood (dalbergia nigra) used. You won't find anything that looks the same as BR but as others have said cocobolo (dalbergia retusa) is similar and so is Amazonian RW (dalbergia spruceana) and both are readily available and relatively affordable unlike BR.

[Nancy Laird]

This site - http://www.cocoboloinc.com/index.htm#home - has cocobolo at great prices. I bought a box of 100 pen blanks for $50 from them, and they are quality--some of my best pens have come from this supply.

Nancy (121 days)

[David DeCristoforo]

FWIW cocobolo is rosewood (Dalbergia Retusa). It is actually one of the few true rosewoods still available that does not come from plantation grown trees. I believe this is the case because cocobolo has never had the demand placed on it that some of the more popular RWs have had simply because it is very difficult to glue, is hell on tooling and has a mind of it's own when it comes to moving, splitting, etc and, therefore, has traditionally been used more for small items like knife handles, pulls, and the like. But, as has been mentioned here several times, it is gorgeous wood if you can work around it's cantankerous nature.

The biggest problem with East Indian and Honduran RW is that most of what is on the market now is plantation grown (as is the limited amount of Brazilian) and the trees are simply not mature enough to yield the color and figure that made these woods desirable.

If you want a fairly inexpensive wood that has a rosewood like appearance, take a look at pau ferro which is often sold as "Bolivian rosewood". I have used this wood in lieu of rosewood many times and the nicest pieces are very close in color and figure to Brazilian, rich red-browns with a lot of black and yellow streaking.

[Montgomery Scott]

FWIW cocobolo is rosewood (Dalbergia Retusa). If you want a fairly inexpensive wood that has a rosewood like appearance, take a look at pau ferro which is often sold as "Bolivian rosewood". I have used this wood in lieu of rosewood many times and the nicest pieces are very close in color and figure to Brazilian, rich red-browns with a lot of black and yellow streaking.

I would disagree strongly with this statement. In no way does Bolivian rosewood look like old growth Brazilian. Bolivian is not even in the dalbergia genus and the coloring is not similar. Bolivian is more brown and tan hues, whereas Brazlilian is typically more of an orange-red with black striping.

http://www.wood-veneers.com/Rosewood_Brazilian_6886-15_JPG.html Brazilian rosewood
http://www.wood-veneers.com/Rosewood_Santos_6945-2_JPG.html Bolivian rosewood

[David DeCristoforo]

I never said it was a dalbergia and I never said it "looks like old growth" Brazilian (I believe the word I used was "resembles"). Read the reply before you start hopping up and down.

[Nancy Laird]

David,

#1 - the word "resembles" is nowhere in your post.

#2 - your knee-jerk reaction is unattractive to me, and it isn't the first time I've seen this type reaction by you.

Maybe you should take a chill pill and drop back five before you start spouting off at the fingers.

Just MHO.

Nancy (121 days)

[David DeCristoforo]

Ok...I did not say "resembles". I said it had a "rosewood like appearance". Either way it's pretty much the same. Sorry if my reply was "not attractive" to you and maybe I should take your advice (could you send me one of those "chill pills" you referred to?). But I just don't like people putting words in my mouth so that they can "strongly disagree" with them.

[Jim W. White]

I've done some small peices as well as some picture frames in Chechen and think it wouold make a great tote. The figure varies quite a bit from peice to peicie but some of it loosely resembles rosewood.

At any rate, it is a very attractive deep burgundy color with heavy streating of both light and dark coloring. It is very toxic, (to me atleast) so be sure to wear a respirator if you try it out. I found out after the fact that one of the "common names" for the specie is "poison wood" :rolleyes:

Jim in Idaho

http://www.woodworkerssource.net/Merchant3/merchant.mv?Store_Code=WS&Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Chechen

[nic obie]

Thanks to everybody for the excellent suggestions. :)

[Jake Darvall]

those plastic handles are cheap. Or just pinch one off another beatup plane. As long as the handle doesn't wiggle about you should be able to get the plane working well in no time.