The Many Faces of "Rosewood"

[weatherby]

Fine looking Stocks Daniel

I've only been at this for a short time..Had some great help from folks here.
One in particular who I bug often.

Some of my rosewood and one Goncalo because it was angry it didn't get to go shooting with me today

 

[Walter Rego]

Here are a few. The upper left are a very dark rosewood for sure. The lower right I used to think were walnut until I saw Mr. Cross' 1974 set in his first post. Now I'm not sure.

 

[mikepriwer]

Smooth GA Magnas

This gun shipped Dec 1956, serial number K280XXX. Its a special-order nickel
3" barrel, with polished front sights ( whatever that means ). It has smooth Goncalo
Alvez ( I assume ) rosewood stocks.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[bgrafsr]

We had our entire home floored in goncalo alves

We call it tigerwood, rosewood was a different wood to select. Rosewood had less striping.

Goncalo Alves is VERY light sensitive. Our floors darkened tremendously after 6 months.

Can I make grips out of 3/4" thick wood? I got a big pile left!!

It's no wonder S&W can't make Goncalo Alves grips any more.

 

[SweetMK]

It's no wonder S&W can't make Goncalo Alves grips any more.

I love to vacuum the house!!

As I do, all I can think is "Ah, S&W Heaven!!".

The kitchen.

Do you think my wife selected this floor over other woods to get me to clean the house as much as I clean the guns!!

I gotta have a talk with her!!

 

[410bore]

 

[civil1977]

civil1977...You have a nice pair of rosewood stocks.

Bill

Thanks for the confirmation, Bill!

 

[J-FRAME]

Darker rosewood has always been my favorite grip material other than very black and solid ebony(.i.e. no streaks etc) A very good post keep those nice pictures coming.Its like looking at candy in a candy store.

 

[NFrameFred]

The darkest pair I have . . . just right on stainless . . .

 

[410bore]

Yeah 410 bore I know you can do better

I'm not sure if these are Rosewood or not but they sure look like it....

N Frame

 

[SweetMK]

Looking at the S&W Store really complicates figuring out what wood is what.

They list these grips (they call them grips) as rosewood;

They list these as cocobolo

Ruger said these grips were cocobolo when these anniversary special guns were sold;

I kind of think the Rugers are rosewood.

This makes ordering grips kind of tricky, I would hate to select a nice "color" and end up with "muddy" looking grips.

 

[mike from st pete]

Darker rosewood has always been my favorite grip material other than very black and solid ebony(.i.e. no streaks etc) A very good post keep those nice pictures coming.Its like looking at candy in a candy store.

I fully concur especially on a Stainless Steel revolver.

 

[NFrameFred]

Ruger said these grips were cocobolo when these anniversary special guns were sold;I kind of think the Rugers are rosewood.

Cocobolo is rosewood. Not synonymous - a type of . . .

 

[mikepriwer]

Those S&W grips are laminates, probably made out of the wood as described.

Mike Priwer

 

[BearBio]

This shows the problem of using common names.

 

[glowe]

Cocobolo is rosewood. Not synonymous - a type of . . .

Without getting into the family, genus, and species discussion, below are photos (with years made when known) of stocks sold by S&W as rosewood.

That is like saying that Red Pine (Pinus Resinosa) is White Pine (Pinus Strobus) or Red Oak is White Oak. There are 2 different trees, one is Cocobola (Dalbergia retusa) and Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra)

Bill - Great photos. Glad you added the statement about not getting into a species discussion.

 

[NFrameFred]

That is like saying that Red Pine (Pinus Resinosa) is White Pine (Pinus Strobus) or Red Oak is White Oak. There are 2 different trees, one is Cocobola (Dalbergia retusa) and Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra)

Bill - Great photos. Glad you added the statement about not getting into a species discussion.

No, that's like saying Red pine and White pine are types of pine - I knew what I said when I wrote it - I said it was not synonymous with "rosewood", that it was a type. Bob Taylor writes extensively on all types of wood and it has been enlightening to see what has to be done to get a lot of these woods from the forest to the pistol grip or guitar back.

 

[dacoontz]

I'm not sure if these are Rosewood or not but they sure look like it....

N Frame

I don't believe these are Rosewood despite being very nice looking. I say no because the pores are too tight together. Rosewood has larger spaces between pores like some demonstrated on pics above. But of course, I am not the expert and could be wrong.

 

[mikepriwer]

Two more pairs smooth K-frame magna rosewood stocks

Here are two more pair of very nice smooth magna rosewood stocks. The dark pair has
shades of brown in it, so I think its a very dark rosewood. The lighter pair is similar to
the ones on the nickel 38, but these have more grain figuring.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[dlbx2]

Here's mine.
DLB