Quina wood for cues?

[Chris Abaya Cues]

Has anyone used this wood for cues before? I found a couple of turning stock at woodcraft and they were fairly heavy and straight grained. They were cheap too at $6.99 a piece for 1.5 x 24 inch stock so I bought 2. From my google searches, I've read that this is a very dense and stable wood and is mostly used as hardwood flooring. It has a janka rating of 2200 compared to Morado's 1980. It is also known as Santos Mahogany or Myroxylon poruiferum. I could not find anything about its tonal qualities or any comparison against other hardwoods.

 

[qbilder]

Welcome to the board, Chris!!!!

Sorry, can't help you with your question. I have not used the wood.

 

[Chris Abaya Cues]

Thanks Eric. I can see that noone else has used this wood before. I guess I can tell you how it plays in a few years when I can turn one into a cue

I did further research this morning and I found more interesting information about this wood.

Santos Mahogany

* Other Names: Myroxylon balsamum, Cabreuva, Balsamito, Cabore, Caboriba, Bosnian Pine, Incensio, Quina, Tache
* Description: Santos Mahogany is one of the most coveted exotic hardwoods in the world. Its beautiful reddish brown to deep red color remains constant over time, and its tight grain serves as an exquisite accompaniment to the rich colors with its fine, distinctive strokes. Like many Brazilian exotics, Santos Mahogany offers not only a beautiful visual appearance but astounding durability as well. With a Janka rating of 2,200, Santos Mahogany is 18% harder than Hickory, the hardest of North American hardwoods. For longevity and amazing looks, Santos Mahogany is tough to beat.
* Janka Hardness: 2,200 pounds
* Strength (MOR): 25,400 psi
* Stiffness (MOE): 2,060 1000 psi
* Density (KG/m3): 900
* Tangential Shrinkage: 6.5 %
* Radial Shrinkage: 4.2 %

Source: http://www.novausawood.com/woodTypes.aspx

Apparently, it is an oily wood too and there can be difficulty gluing it. http://www.woodweb.com/cgi-bin/forums/adhesives.pl?read=494830

As far as tone, I quote "Tonally these sets have glassy tap tone that should make for a guitar with great projection." - from http://www.tonewood-supplies.co.uk/Back-and-sides.aspx

 

[qbilder]

I have one small block, but have never tried cutting it. I honestly never liked the way it looks. The figured piece the guy in the bottom link has is very nice, but usually the wood is stringy & cheap looking.

 

[desi2960]

brunswick conversion

I bought a one piece brunswick cue for a conversion from a brunswick dealer and was told that the wood was santos mahogany. Knowing nothing about the wood i did some searches and found was that santos mahogany is not from the true mahogany family. It is a different spieces of wood. The site stated there were a lot of different hardwoods sold as mahogany. Mahogany was very popular early in the century, so any wood that looked close was sold as so. just what i found on the web. chuck starkey