Rosewood vs cocobolo

[Kim Bye]

And if anybody has seen the film Only Lovers Left Alive, we have the bullet made from Dalbergia Retusa (cocobolo).

That would itch and quite possibly be deadly. Woodworkers back in the day was terrified of getting large splinters from certain woods as they are quite toxic to our body and it could result in sepsis or anaphylactic shock, rosewood and ebony are among the species that can trigger this..
As for the hit Cocobolo is a heavy and dense wood, so it's almost always cored and generally with quite a large core to get the right weight and balance. A 5/8" core won't do and even a 3/4" core can be a little small. Some makers use 25/32" which is getting pretty close to that final .840-.850" joint collar diameter. I'm not saying the wood dosn't have an impact, it surely do, but most of the cues you play with, the wood you see on the outside is quite hollowed out, that goes especially for dense woods like certain rosewoods, certain types of ebony and even woods like katalox, purpleheart, DIW and so on.

 

[Hail Mary Shot]

At the present time, most cue makers core the butts. For better stability and can use different woods and still be able to reach the desired weight. So, by coring a piece of wood like, for example, Brazilian Rosewood, the principal characteristics of that wood is lost. Will no longer have the resonance that is the main characteristic of that wood. Now, it is more for the aesthetic of the wood rather than any other characteristics that a particular wood provided when it was not cored.

I believe that is now the general trend. While aesthetics and cue preservation or durability takes priority now than pure or authentic resonance from a solid full splice wood. Although even there is loss of pure characteristic of wood itself, I believe there is still some level of identity that remains in the hit. Might not be purely the same, but still has some character to a degree.

 

[overlord]

If you don't core ebony forearms the weight tends to be on the high side.

I've got a SW I played with for years with Gabbon forearm and Tulipwood points.

It weighs in at 19.5.

That's light for Ebony............

It's not cored.........

I think they are down to just one country for legal Ebony these days........

 

[jlrowe]

All French to me! The only wood that ever felt different to me was Black Ebony. Macassar I think they called it. Hank Corsair made some coveted black beauties.

Jay, I think all the black beauties that Hank made were phenolic cored with maple. It wasnt linen based phenolic it was a paper based phenolic which gave a unique hit. Always wanted the the black beauty that has the Tad style ringwork in the butt.

 

[july9x]

What's about cocobolo vs ebony vs maple? Which one is the best for a cue?

 

[Hail Mary Shot]

What's about cocobolo vs ebony vs maple? Which one is the best for a cue?

I would say it depends on the criteria of what you mean by best.

 

[jlrowe]

What's about cocobolo vs ebony vs maple? Which one is the best for a cue?

Depends on what type of player you are and what hit you prefer. Maple for the player that likes a subtle feedback on contact. Straight grain maple forearm i really think has the best feedback of the maples for subtle. If you are not a feedback or vibration person and likes more of a solid dense feel when you strike the ball go with Ebony or Cocobolo. Cocobolo you can almost feel the dense oily content when you hit with it. more dead. Good for those that would prefer a carbon fiber shaft. Ebony is ok, but bocote in my opinion has a lot nicer hit, sound and feel than either of the three.

 

[Coos Cues]

Only slightly topic-related...

Isn't cocobolo the one that kicks up some pretty nasty dust? The kind where a respirator is almost a necessity??

The kind where my eyes swell shut and my balls itch? Yes that's it and I have 300 premium squares of it sitting here. Smelled so pretty at first!

 

[Coos Cues]

Depends on what type of player you are and what hit you prefer. Maple for the player that likes a subtle feedback on contact. Straight grain maple forearm i really think has the best feedback of the maples for subtle. If you are not a feedback or vibration person and likes more of a solid dense feel when you strike the ball go with Ebony or Cocobolo. Cocobolo you can almost feel the dense oily content when you hit with it. more dead. Good for those that would prefer a carbon fiber shaft. Ebony is ok, but bocote in my opinion has a lot nicer hit, sound and feel than either of the three.

The problem with maple is unless you core it or match it with some really dense wood it's just too light for a cue. So you end up putting steel into the build somewhere to compensate and the steel (or brass) then dictates the hit as well as the balance.

 

[Coos Cues]

That would itch and quite possibly be deadly. Woodworkers back in the day was terrified of getting large splinters from certain woods as they are quite toxic to our body and it could result in sepsis or anaphylactic shock, rosewood and ebony are among the species that can trigger this..
As for the hit Cocobolo is a heavy and dense wood, so it's almost always cored and generally with quite a large core to get the right weight and balance. A 5/8" core won't do and even a 3/4" core can be a little small. Some makers use 25/32" which is getting pretty close to that final .840-.850" joint collar diameter. I'm not saying the wood dosn't have an impact, it surely do, but most of the cues you play with, the wood you see on the outside is quite hollowed out, that goes especially for dense woods like certain rosewoods, certain types of ebony and even woods like katalox, purpleheart, DIW and so on.

Purple heart is for the most part almost the perfect density for a 18-19 ounce cue without extra weight. It's also so stable I would say it's one of the few woods I would run solid without coring if I had a nice piece of it.

 

[Hail Mary Shot]

Depends on what type of player you are and what hit you prefer. Maple for the player that likes a subtle feedback on contact. Straight grain maple forearm i really think has the best feedback of the maples for subtle. If you are not a feedback or vibration person and likes more of a solid dense feel when you strike the ball go with Ebony or Cocobolo. Cocobolo you can almost feel the dense oily content when you hit with it. more dead. Good for those that would prefer a carbon fiber shaft. Ebony is ok, but bocote in my opinion has a lot nicer hit, sound and feel than either of the three.

My recent cue is a combo of bocote forearm and cocobolo handle/butt. I love the hit very much. The upcoming one is cored Bem forearm + ebony handle and bem buttsleeve.