Cocuswood

[Jeff]

I saw this wood on a wood site and it was the only one I had never seen as being used in cue making. Do some use it and I'm just not paying attention?

It looks like a beautiful wood and the description makes it sound like it would make an excellent choice for use in a cue.

"This extremely rare species is found in Cuba, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Also called Green, Brown, or West Indian Ebony. The heartwood is brownish-yellow to dark brown often with a greenish tinge. It is usually beautifully veined with darker streaks. The wood is hard and heavy weighing 68 to 80 lbs/cubic foot. This high density contributes to its wonderful acoustic properties-it fairly rings when struck. It is well known for its use in woodwinds such as flutes, piccolos, and bagpipes because of its fine and uniform grain, its beautiful coloring and its resonance."

 

[MVPCues]

I have considered buying some of that wood from that source a time or two based on the description, but I have never heard of it used in a cue. It does some to be rare commercially.

Kelly

 

[metal5d]

I have some coasters and boxes I got in Jamaica made out of that wood. I was thinking of getting a cue made out of it. The wood is very heavy and oily. Any cuemakers have any experience with it?

 

[Jeff]

Here's another image of that wood. And here is the link to the site. The Cocuswood is under the Musical Instrument Wood link.

http://www.gilmerwood.com/index.html

 

[DaveK]

Is this wood known by any other names ? My favorite wood site does not mention "Cocuswood", and they are usually pretty reliable.

http://www.windsorplywood.com/tropical_woodspage.html

Dave

 

[Jeff]

Is this wood known by any other names ? My favorite wood site does not mention "Cocuswood", and they are usually pretty reliable.

http://www.windsorplywood.com/tropical_woodspage.html

Dave

It comes from the granadilla tree

Wikipedia:

"Cocuswood (Brya ebenus) is a very dense tropical hardwood tree. It comes from the West Indies and is sometimes called Jamaican ebony.

Cocuswood has excellent tone quality and is used for reeded wooden musical instruments such as bagpipes, clarinets and oboes. It was used a lot for making flutes in England and France during the 19th century and a modern cocuswood flute can be heard in a new Avie recording of Bach's flute sonatas."

 

[metal5d]

The wood definitely has a good ring to it. The coasters I have sound like a coin if you let them spin on the table. I can see why the wood would be so good in musical instruments. (Hee hee I said "wood would")........