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Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood from Central America. Cocobolo is known to change color after being cut, lending to its appeal. The heartwood is typically orange or reddish-brown in color, often with a figuring of darker irregular traces weaving through the wood, while the sapwood is a creamy yellow, contrasting sharply with the heartwood.
Only the heartwood is used: this is oily in look and feel, and stands up well to repeated handling and exposure to water. It is very hard, fine textured and dense and is easily machined, although due to the abundance of natural oils, the wood tends to clog abrasives and fine-toothed saw blades. Like other very hard, very dense tropical woods, Cocobolo can be brittle. A common use is in gun grips and knife handles. Cocobolo is also quite dense, and even a large block of the cut wood will produce a clear musical tone if struck. Due to its density and hardness, Cocobolo can be polished to a lustrous, glassy finish.
Provenance
Cocobolo is yielded by two to four closely related species of the genus Dalbergia, of which the best known is Dalbergia retusa, a fair-sized tree, reported to reach 20-25 m in height. This is probably the species contributing most of the wood in the trade. Because of the wood's great beauty and high value, the trees yielding this wood have been heavily exploited: they are now in danger of extinction outside of national parks, reserves and plantations. Only relatively small amounts of this prized wood reach the world market and it is expensive.
Uses
Cocobolo is highly favored for fine inlay work for custom high-end pool cues, brush backs, knife handles, musical instruments (especially guitars and basses, Alembic Inc consider Cocobolo to be their house wood and many famous players such as Stanley Clarke use such basses; but also some woodwind instruments such as clarinets and oboes have been successfully made using Cocobolo instead of the more usual Grenadilla (African blackwood), pistol grips, decorative and figured veneers, bowls, jewelry boxes, and other expensive specialty items. It is also used in making luxury pens, and has been used as a ballast wood in ships. Some Cocobolo has a specific gravity of over 1.0, and will sink in water.
Working it
Care must be used when cutting Cocobolo, as the wood's oils can induce allergic reactions if inhaled or exposed to unprotected skin and eyes. A dust collection system, coupled with the use of personal protective equipment such as respirators, is highly recommended when machining this wood.