hi all,
i’m a long time subscriber, somtimes observer online and first time poster.
firstly i don’t do much work with exotics, but I’m working on a large piece of cabinetry for a client who fell in love with a brazilian rosewood veneer. most of the doors/panels will all be veneered but i’m looking for a cheaper hardwood i can use to match/substitute for the hardwood sections of the project (carcass/top). about 10$/bf would keep me under budget
any suggestions?
Replies
This isnt my area but I have an antique wash stand that has rosewood veneered on walnut, the piece is approx 125-135 years old and the veneer is still as very much stuck down!
Doug
thanks doug,
i probably wasn't clear in my original message, i'm seeking a lookalike for rosewood that i don't have to veneer. also something that i won't have problems glueing up panels with.
Sorry clb, I guess I need to read more clearly! :)
Doug
thanks guys!i was looking into sapele as well but had similar concerns. i'm not averse to dyeing/finishing experimentation to get the right look, so hopefully i'll be ok.i'm going to check out the bolivian rosewood (pao ferro) too, i'm not familiar with it.
I have not checked availability of East Indian Rosewood lately, while it is more purple, I think they look good together. Even better is Honduras rosewood, but I am sure it is very expensive. About twenty years ago I came across some Brazillian at a pretty fair price. It was all narrow, and not of a very high quality, but it had lots of black varigation, however I managed to flatten it and spliced and glued down. I think I used Wenge for the solid wood, which was base, crown, and a chair-rail. It worked to bring out the black streaks more, and worked for me.
Woods of the World says that Ogea (Daniella ogea) has been suggested as a substitute in solid sections. I guess that means not as veneer. LOL.
Cadiddlehopper
Check into Pau Ferro/Bolivian Rosewood. I don't know if it is within your $10/ft price range. It has the stripes like Brazilian however you may need to use a dye to make the figure come out more to be as similar to the Brazilian.
J.P.
I'll vote for pau ferro too. I bought some last year, well under $10/ft, and it's beautiful stuff.My goal is for my work to outlast me. Expect my joinery to get simpler as time goes by.
It's too bad they fell in love with Brazilian rosewood because it's still a protected species, as far as I know. They stopped importing it to the US in the late '70s/early '80s because of overcutting and it's illegal to use this kind of wood harvested after June 11. 1992 (at least for guitars).
I was lucky enough to receive a large single plank (just over 2 feet wide) of Brazilian rosewood that was once the bar top in a Kendal pub. It was heading for the bonfire out back, when the place was renovated. More chunks were obtained from a Victorian bank in the same town, in the form of newell posts. (I hate to think what happened to the rest of the rosewood they ripped out). Apparently this wood was favoured by the Victorians for first and second fit stuff in public buildings where the owners were seeking to appeal to "a better class" of customers.
Anyway, I struggled to find another wood to match so that I could make up a couple of decent pieces in this wonderful wood. (One for me and one for the wood-rescuer). After a lot of trial and error, I eventually found some figured sapele that matched.
Most sapele will not match, I hasten to add; but the colour and figure of sapele varies a great deal, so if you dig in the planks down at your timber merchant you may eventually find some with a flame figure and orangey highlights, which will go with (if not exactly match) Brazilan rosewood.
Lataxe
Edited 5/24/2006 4:00 pm ET by Lataxe
What you can use will depend largely on the quality and color of your Braz rosewood veneer. Some Cocobolo will match as well as Pau Ferro. Depends on the amount of solid surface area, a reasonable match can be had by a Master Finisher. I worked on several Antique Grand pianos done in Braz Rosewood where the solid legs were dyed and grained to match the surrounding veneer surface.
Depending on the piece, why not try to talk the client into a Complimentary wood, like Bubinga or darker like Wenge. Tell them you want to showcase the rosewood veneer.
The $10bdft is your biggest hurdle. It would be difficult to get any quality exotic for under that.
i hear you earl. 10$bf is limiting my options severely. i talked again to the client today and i think we'll simplify some of the design to stay under budget and spend a little more on materials.
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