Rosewood, Life cycle analysis

Hello,

Once again I've returned to dissect information and answers for an assessable HSC task. I understand this can be seen as lazy and I would ask those of such disposition to withhold such comments, but it is a free world, so if you so desire go ahead. With that out of the way…

I have been asked to assess the Life Cycle for 2 significant materials for my Major Design Project. One is the timber (rosewood) being used. I was inquiring as to if anyone knew of any informative sites about Rosewoods and the timbers acquisition from raw material right through to its finally usage, hopefully covering all the costs and techniques/machinery used, I would appreciate it greatly.

Thank you for your time.

~The Fool

Fool,
"rosewood" is one of those names that cover a variety of unrelated species from all over the world, so you'll have to be more specific. A good place to start would be the timberyard (or wherever) that you bought it from. What's its botanic name and country of origin and can they give you names of companies logging and milling it. Then you'd probably need to look at some botanical reference books as to its lifecycle. The only rosewood I've ever worked with is New Guinea Rosewood (no idea of its latin name) which obviously comes from just north of here.

Mick

Have a chat to the guys at the Woodage, Mittagong. They bring in timber from certified managed forests in PNG, including NG rosewood, and will probably be able to give you the good oil on the full life cycle. I'm sure you'll find them happy to help.

hi there,

not sure if austrailia has any true rosewoods but we have 'imitation' rosewoods. true rosewoods which grow in south america/ central america include:

kingwood: dalbergia ceareris often regarded as the one of the best woods going around. personally i dont rate it much, wide/ long boards are as rare as hens teeth and if you find someone who stocks it be prepared to pay handsomely for it. heard it turns well. probably best if you use it for inlay/ crossbanding as i know you can pick it up for a reasonable price in veneer form.

cocobolo: dalbergia retusa grows in mexico i think and in parts of the usa. pretty common but prized for high class cabinetmaking (which rosewood isnt?) pretty course grain. never worked it but its extremely hard.

brazilian rosewood: in my opinion the best of the rosewoods. simply stunning. if there is any left in the forests of south america dont count on seeing it any time in your life as brazil has put an embargo on it. little bits and pieces turn up but again very rare. a bit like huon pine here in australia (slow growing tree which was over harvested back when we thought it would last forever).

bubinga (not a true rosewood) guiboutia tessmannii used as an alternative to rosewood. very hard: used for plane, saw, door handles etc.

african blackwood dalbergia melanoxylon interestingly this is the blackest timber on the face of the earth. blacker than sri lankan ebony but not as hard i think. small trunks so used in carving and turning. i have a bit of this timber but to scared to touch it incase i do injustice to it.

in conclusion, this is the best timber species in the world. maybe walnut comes close. looks good quarter sawn but would be outrageous considering the waste of this precious species. brazilian rosewood looks best back sawn anyway. there are many more timbers under the rosewood name but the above are just the ones which are popular in the furniture/ woodworking fraternity. dont quote me on the spelling, i dont claim to be a botanist.

As I understand it the term 'rosewood' refers to any pleasantly fragrant wood, but to be more specific, the species Dalbergia (Dal-berg-E-uh) (genus Fabaceae (Fay-ba-see-e)) and Pterocarpus (tear-o-CAR-pus) (genus leguminosae) are what botanists will tell you are rosewoods. Snapperhead's given you the more common ones:

Dalbergia nigra (Brazilian rosewood) - Listed as CITES Appendix 1 (trade in this wood is prohibited). Very fragrant like lilacs, or in my opinion does remind me of old sweet smelling cardboard/library books!

Dalbergia retusa (Cocobolo rosewood) - "phantom log" Mexico & Nicaragua, pungent smelling & oily. Smells almost like incense or oriental perfumes! I've worked some and comes up beautifully under a scraper and burnishes/buffs to a shiny natural finish.

Dalbergia cearensis (Kingwood) - supposedly reputed to be reserved for the French royal family. Mostly used as veneers on cheaper wood.

Now here's more off the top of my head:

Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood) - THE wood for clarinets, flutes & other musical instruments. (because ebony has a tendency to crack)

Dalbergia frutescens (Tulipwood) - attractive light figure, reminds me of Rimu.

Dalbergia maritima (Madagascar rosewood) - Very dark rich red. Madagascar has now banned logging of this species.

Dalbergia odorifera (Huanghuali) (pronounced wong-fa-lee in Cantonese or huang-hua-lee in Mandarin) the name translates to "yellowed flowering pear wood". Native to China/Hainan island. Chinese prize this wood second to Zitan. Has a shimmering golden/amber to red figure like Cocobolo but finer and less grotesque. Used on the best Ming & Qing dynasty furniture.

Dalbergia latifolia (Indian rosewood) used on all the "rosewood" handled woodworking tools you see nowadays, e.g. Crown, Robert Sorby. Lightly fragrant, leaves your hands nicely scented.

Dalgergia sisoo (also Indian rosewood) not as nicely coloured as D. latifolia. Locals (in India) even use this as firewood as it is very fast growing.

Pterocarpus santalinus (Zitan) (pronounced G-tahn in Cantonese or Zhu-tahn in Mandarin) name translates to "purple sandalwood" & was reserved for the imperial Chinese household on account of purple being an imperial colour (same as the polar star). The most prized cabinet wood in China & Japan (where it is used for koto instrument parts). An item I have made from it smells similar to Cocobolo. Very dark purple/black. Listed as CITES II. Native to India & China.

Pterocarpus indicus (Burmese padauk). Lighter in both weight & colour to P. santalinus & would have been used by Chinese cabinetmakers for their solid rosewood furniture as well.

Pterocarpus soyauxii (Padauk). very common

Pterocarpus dalbergiodes (Andaman Padauk) note the Dalberg in the name. Native to the Andaman Islands. Similar but darker red & heavier than P. soyauxii.

There are dozens of others but they're generally not made into anything of significance.

[QUOTE=zitan]As I understand it the term 'rosewood' refers to any pleasantly fragrant wood, but to be more specific, the species Dalbergia (Dal-berg-E-uh) (genus Fabaceae (Fay-ba-see-e)) and Pterocarpus (tear-o-CAR-pus) (genus leguminosae) are what botanists will tell you are rosewoods.

Very informative but I thought I would correct your botany.
Things are generally named Genus species (Dalbergia nigra) What I mean is Dalbergia is a genus not a species as is Pterocarpus, nigra is the species.
Also Leguminosae is the old name for the pea family now called Fabaceae.
A Family is below Order and above genus, and most genuses have several species.
So it appears rosewoods are in the pea family as are wattles,Blackbean etc.

Hi Glenn

Thanks, yes you're totally correct on both accounts. I should have said "species OF Dalbergia and Pterocarpus". I'm not a botanist. To further your point, when samples of Huanghuali were sent to be identified in the 20s & 30s some botanists/dendrologists thought it was Blackbean (Castanospermum australe). Chinese importing wood from Australia? might not be too far fetched since they imported Pterocarpus wood from Zanzibar (Africa) via Indonesia (Chandana is corrupt name for Zanzibar rosewood).

TheFool: There is a very good book called "Legumes of India", which if you can find it, will tell you everything you need to know about both Dalbergia and Pterocarpus.

Fool, you might want to note in your project that the "Big Scrub" rainforest filled most of the coastal plains from the Illawara to the Tweed. It was a solid ancient rainforest of which there are a few tiny remnants left. It was full of our most valuable cabinet timbers like red cedar, rosewood, blackbean, coachwood, antarctic beech, etc. Most of which was felled and burned to make way for dairy and citrus farms. Tragic really because now that land is often depleted greasy scrub country or marginal dairy farms when the original scrub on todays log prices would have a million dollars worth of standing timber per hectare. Think about it. Then make the link to us clearfelling, burning and poisoning Tasmanian forest full of myrtle, beech, sassafras, huon pine, horizontal scrub, blackwood... Oh you fools, look at what you have done, are doing.
So, how many fools does it take to fill a quorum ? Don't know ? No I don't know either.