Braz vs Indian Rosewood

ScottR

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How does Indian rosewood compare to Brazilian, as far as cue making? I ran across a piece of Indian that I forgot I had and it is so dark that I thought it was ebony. Thanks.

Scott
 
In my experience I have found that East Indian Rosewood is a bit lighter in weight and not as heavily figured as Brazillian. Today Brazillian is highly sought after and very expensive. I have some small pieces and they resemble cocobolo. The Indian Rosewood I have is older stock and seems to be dryer and more of a brown in color vrs the blacks and oranges and reds of Brazillian. I think both would work for cuemaking but I would lean toward the Indian simply because of the less oily factor and its ability to stay straighter. Hope this helps.

Happiness
Mark
 
It's different. Both are good woods but I can't see much similarity. They cut different, smell different, etc. Braz is chocolate brown up to a dark carmel brown. EI always has a hint of deep purple. I rarely see EI that looks like braz.
 
I have some Braz rosewoods that are so dark, they look like EI rosewoods.
Braz are heavier and denser though.
The ones with the yellow/brown streaks seem harder to me than the real dark ones.

Braz rosewoods are without a doubt the pingiest wood for it's weight than any wood I have come across. Bloodwood and granadillo ping a ton too but they are much heavier .
 
I have some Braz rosewoods that are so dark, they look like EI rosewoods.
Braz are heavier and denser though.
The ones with the yellow/brown streaks seem harder to me than the real dark ones.

Braz rosewoods are without a doubt the pingiest wood for it's weight than any wood I have come across. Bloodwood and granadillo ping a ton too but they are much heavier .

I have some Brazilian that has a yellowish orange streak. It was not visible until the final few passes, unique to say the least. I love how Brazilian plays.
 
I have some Braz rosewoods that are so dark, they look like EI rosewoods.
Braz are heavier and denser though.
The ones with the yellow/brown streaks seem harder to me than the real dark ones.

Braz rosewoods are without a doubt the pingiest wood for it's weight than any wood I have come across. Bloodwood and granadillo ping a ton too but they are much heavier .

Try some palisander, AKA madigascar rosewood. It's looks, smells, cuts & weighs the same as brazilian but gives it the 8 in tone. Been looking for years for some stuff thick enough & charactered enough to use in cues as I only have 2 pieces left. I'll never spend the cash on brazilian so long as palisander is available.

You should also try some chakte kok & chakte viga for incredible tone in a lightweight wood. For heavier wood, nothing beats a really good kam-phi rosewood, though I did recently get some madigascar ebony that is a very close runner up.
 
Try some palisander, AKA madigascar rosewood. It's looks, smells, cuts & weighs the same as brazilian but gives it the 8 in tone. Been looking for years for some stuff thick enough & charactered enough to use in cues as I only have 2 pieces left. I'll never spend the cash on brazilian so long as palisander is available.

You should also try some chakte kok & chakte viga for incredible tone in a lightweight wood. For heavier wood, nothing beats a really good kam-phi rosewood, though I did recently get some madigascar ebony that is a very close runner up.

thnx
I have a lot of madagascar rosewoods. They bleed, twist and turn a lot. Been sitting here for 4 years.
African olivewood hit mighty I think.
 
thnx
I have a lot of madagascar rosewoods. They bleed, twist and turn a lot. Been sitting here for 4 years.
African olivewood hit mighty I think.

Is it palisander you have? There's lots of types of madagascar rosewood. Palisander is nearly identical in every way to brazilian except for tone, which it excels.
 
Is it palisander you have? There's lots of types of madagascar rosewood. Palisander is nearly identical in every way to brazilian except for tone, which it excels.

I believe there are 14 varieties includingthe BDR. That I won't touch.
These ones are the dark ones are reallllly acidic.
 
I'll take it!!!!!!

How does Indian rosewood compare to Brazilian, as far as cue making? I ran across a piece of Indian that I forgot I had and it is so dark that I thought it was ebony. Thanks.

Scott

Scott,
I'll buy it from you...:D
Kenny
 
I believe there are 14 varieties includingthe BDR. That I won't touch.
These ones are the dark ones are reallllly acidic.

Get yourself some palisander if you can. It's nothing i'd call beautiful, just kinda plain but interesting grain structure. The magic is in the tone, rigidity & weight. It's also stable.
 
I have a few madagascar rosewood pieces, and Eric described them accurately as far as what I have. They are straight grained, some dark grain lines, and very pingy. The ring is not as high and tight as some woods I have, but still quite high and long...very pleasing sound. Mine seem stable.

Scott...sorry, you didn't ask about madagascar. The responses already pretty much sum up the differences between the two woods you asked about, so in general I second the thoughts.

Kelly
 
Try some palisander, AKA madigascar rosewood. It's looks, smells, cuts & weighs the same as brazilian but gives it the 8 in tone. Been looking for years for some stuff thick enough & charactered enough to use in cues as I only have 2 pieces left. I'll never spend the cash on brazilian so long as palisander is available.

You should also try some chakte kok & chakte viga for incredible tone in a lightweight wood. For heavier wood, nothing beats a really good kam-phi rosewood, though I did recently get some madigascar ebony that is a very close runner up.

I just googled these two woods (chakte kok & chakte viga)and the viga looks sweet!!!
 
BR is the bomb..........no better cue wood in the world.
IR......I bought a board/log that's been in the states before I was born. It's an OK piece. Most is plantation grown today.
The Palisander I have is all over the board......some pings high..some sounds like turd getting dropped in water.
 
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BR is the bomb..........no better cue wood in the world.
IR......I bought a board/log that's been in the states before I was born. It's an OK piece. Most is plantation grown today.
The Palisander I have is all over the board......some pings high..some sounds like turd getting dropped in water.

I'm totally opposite. The brazilian I have is inconsistent from piece to piece in every aspect of color, grain structure, weight & tone. All of my palisander has always been very consistent in weight & tone, varying only a little bit in color. I actually find it easier to aquire brazilian than palisander, too. Braz is certainly more expensive.

Have you tried any of the SE Asian rosewoods, Dave? There's several types but it's always sold as kam-phi or cochen.
 
Have you tried any of the SE Asian rosewoods, Dave? There's several types but it's always sold as kam-phi or cochen.

Have some other woods from the SE area......haven't tried out the rosewoods yet. With good figured coco getting harder to find I may lean that way.
 
Have some other woods from the SE area......haven't tried out the rosewoods yet. With good figured coco getting harder to find I may lean that way.

I can send you a couple different types if you like to try. It's nothing like cocobolo, more like camatillo rosewood with orange & red colors instead of purples. It often has the feathery grain like rosewoods, something cocobolo never has even though it's a rosewood.
 
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