Rosewood

Also called: brazilian rosewood, indian rosewood, dalbergia

Rosewood is not one timber but a name given to several dense, dark hardwoods from different parts of the tropical world, valued in the workshop for a fine, often figured grain and a colour running from tan to a deep violet-brown or purple.

Which wood is which

The name covers several distinct woods that share little beyond a family resemblance in colour and weight. Rio, or Brazilian, rosewood and Indian rosewood are the two most often met in old cabinet work. Joyce (1987) described Indian rosewood as rather harder than Rio rosewood, straight grained and without the wild colour fluctuations that mark Rio's finish, while he found Rio rosewood hard but fairly easy to work, its colour running from tan to violet-brown or purple. Honduras rosewood is a separate timber again, cut thin as a decorative face veneer. Cocobolo, sometimes called Nicaraguan rosewood, resembles Rio rosewood but carries a pronounced reddish tinge and a coarser, more visible grain. Even the old Chinese term now usually rendered tzu-t'an sits uneasily under the same umbrella: Ecke (1962) noted that whether wood so named through the centuries belongs to the botanical genus Pterocarpus or to Dalbergia, the genus most rosewoods belong to, remains disputed among specialists.

Strength and durability

The USDA (2021) found rosewood generally strong. Brazilian rosewood's strength properties are described as high, more than adequate for the purposes it is put to, and the timber has an excellent reputation for durability against fungal decay and insect attack, including termites, even though it is not usually chosen for work where that durability is actually needed. The USDA also rated Indian rosewood as heavier again, with high strength properties, and noted that it becomes particularly hard for its weight once dried.

In the workshop

Rosewood was more often cut thin for veneer and let into other timbers as decoration than used solid for furniture carcasses. Jones (1920) described the practice for inlaying a rosewood border: the veneer is cut first to the exact size and shape of the space it will fill, the outline scribed onto the ground timber, usually mahogany, with the point of a knife, and the mahogany veneer lifted so the rosewood can be let into the recess and butted up all round. Hasluck (1897) described finishing such work by smoothing every edge with an iron plane once the border was fitted. Because its colour is so recognisable, Jones (1920) also noted that rosewood was one of the reference colours joiners matched against when dyeing a cheaper timber to imitate it.