African blk wood & coco burl points
- Thread starter leon sly
- Start date
HOT OF THE MILL.
MITERED BOXES WITH COCO BURL.
As always Leon, superb.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but in my experience of over 30 years of collecting and using exotic hardwoods I have seen spectacular Cocobolo Burl, and found it to be exceedingly rare - almost to the point of being Unicorn-like.
Now, I readily admit that I bought large quantities of exotic wood in the 90's, and have a supply that will almost certainly outlast my lifetime - so I don't get out to wood dealers much these days. That said, my question is, is the wood in these points what we are referring to now as Cocobolo "Burl"?
TW
Now, I readily admit that I bought large quantities of exotic wood in the 90's, and have a supply that will almost certainly outlast my lifetime - so I don't get out to wood dealers much these days. That said, my question is, is the wood in these points what we are referring to now as Cocobolo "Burl"?
TW
Right. That's what I assumed you meant. But my question is, is what I'm seeing in the points of these cues passing for "Cocobolo Burl" these days? The reason I ask is because in my wood collection I HAVE some Cocobolo Burl that dates back to the late 80's. Even back then it was exceedingly rare and very expensive. It looks like this:
I also have a large amount of "figured" Cocobolo, which looks like this:
While the normal figured Cocobolo is very pretty, it's not what I would ever have thought to refer to as "burl", since I am familiar with actual Cocobolo Burl. To my eye - and it may just be your photos (or my monitor) - the wood in those points looks far more like "figured" Cocobolo than "burl".
So my question remains - is what I'm seeing legitimately reasonable to call "Cocobolo Burl in the industry these days? I'm sincerely curious, because I may want to change how I describe my regular old figured Cocobolo cues.
TW
Nm.........
ok let me clear this up...the first picture at the top of my thread...the forearm on the left is regular coco....the middle forearm & the one on the right is coco burl...i bought the wood from a source in Guatemala, Thomas if you like we can Skype him together and ask him if i bought 3 sticks of rare coco burl from him...and yes he told me even in Guatemala it's very rare.
if you want to hear from the horse's mouth call me then we can Skype him.
Leon Sly
410-827-4966
at your convenience
if you want to hear from the horse's mouth call me then we can Skype him.
Leon Sly
410-827-4966
at your convenience
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I think the issue is that for the longest time wood vendors only sold wood that had eyes as "burl." The burls without eyes were not harvested. As demand grew, those once-ignored burls were harvested and sold. Some vendors now advertise "swirled burl" vs. "eye burl," but most just sell "burl."
Another trend I have seen in this area is the sapwood being sold as part of the burl. The sapwood used to be culled.
So, as often happens when demand grows and supplies shrink, definitions evolve.
Another trend I have seen in this area is the sapwood being sold as part of the burl. The sapwood used to be culled.
So, as often happens when demand grows and supplies shrink, definitions evolve.
That is some beautiful coco burl Thomas Wayne.
Mr. Wayne,
Thank you for posting the pic of Coco Burl.
In all of the claims made here on AZ, that is the first example of what I would agree to be true Coco Burl.
I've saved the pic for future reference. A truly fine example. To say 'Rare' would be an understatement.
Hondo-Rose Burl seems to be in vogue these days and I have a limited supply but nothing compared to your Coco.
That piece should probably be in a museum somewhere titled "The Holy Grail". Lol. Thanx again.
KJ
Thank you for posting the pic of Coco Burl.
In all of the claims made here on AZ, that is the first example of what I would agree to be true Coco Burl.
I've saved the pic for future reference. A truly fine example. To say 'Rare' would be an understatement.
Hondo-Rose Burl seems to be in vogue these days and I have a limited supply but nothing compared to your Coco.
That piece should probably be in a museum somewhere titled "The Holy Grail". Lol. Thanx again.
KJ
you are right TW
Right. That's what I assumed you meant. But my question is, is what I'm seeing in the points of these cues passing for "Cocobolo Burl" these days? The reason I ask is because in my wood collection I HAVE some Cocobolo Burl that dates back to the late 80's. Even back then it was exceedingly rare and very expensive. It looks like this:
I also have a large amount of "figured" Cocobolo, which looks like this:
While the normal figured Cocobolo is very pretty, it's not what I would ever have thought to refer to as "burl", since I am familiar with actual Cocobolo Burl. To my eye - and it may just be your photos (or my monitor) - the wood in those points looks far more like "figured" Cocobolo than "burl".
So my question remains - is what I'm seeing legitimately reasonable to call "Cocobolo Burl in the industry these days? I'm sincerely curious, because I may want to change how I describe my regular old figured Cocobolo cues.
TW
most here on the Board (not mean LS) don't know what is BURL:grin:
Bingo, basically "eye burl" in any significant intensity beyond maple burl is pretty rare
I have bought knife scales and smaller blocks similar to what Thomas showed for what some would consider stupid money. I guess the same could be said about TW 30 years ago, but I'm guessing he feels like he hit a home run with that investment.
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I'm pretty sure the particular piece that Thomas posted is not his. Just an example of what he has in his collection....figure wise.....ive seen a few Honduran rosewood burl cues with eye figure but I can't say that I've ever seen a cocobolo burl cue with eye figure like this piece showed. The forearms that Leon posted are beautiful no less
Leon - I have no doubt a wood dealer told you some wood he was selling was/is the rarest of all rare woods. Several have told me the same thing over the years.
As a point of order, I wasn't doubting your word, I was ASKING a question about what is considered Cocobolo "Burl" these days. For example, I know that the supply of Honduran Rosewood Burl is extremely limited these days, and consequently the definition of "killer" Honduran Rosewood Burl has morphed greatly - and not in a good way.
The other point I made was that the quality of your photos may be limiting my ability to appreciate what you've actually got there. Being a big fan of rare figured wood I always like to see what other have done with it. When you get the cues finished I'd love to take a closer look, if you find the time to take some detailed photos.
TW
Thank you. I was just going post that, but you beat me to it. That image came to us compliments of Google; I'd like to claim that I wanted to show what the "world outside" considers Cocobolo Burl, but the truth is I was a little too lazy to go dig into my own supply for a photo shoot.
TW
I'm sure you could redefine the definition of wood porn if you ever decided to "show" your wood. LOL :wink:
Easy on the "wood" jokes..haha :smile: