Cocobolo

R

Rob!

Joined
Feb 9, 2000
Messages
1,865
I know most of you guys have been doing this so long that the handles on your knives were just pollen grains when you started. I'm still experiencing the wonder of knifemaking. (Hey - maybe someone should write a book about that)

But, I digress. Yesteray I spent $9 Canadian on what appeared to be a nicely figured block of Cocobolo. It is 2x2x8 and was rough sawn so it was tough to tell about the grain. I brought it home and put on a 24 grit belt that isn't good for anything else and ground out the saw lines. It is nicely figured with some swirls and color variation. I'll post a scan of it here in a few minutes.

What really got my attention was looking at it this morning. This stuff self finishes. Beautiful! And the finish is free just like Tom's monkey. Wow!



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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
 
coco.jpg


Remember, this is a 24 grit grind with no finish at all. Now all I have to do is decide what to do with it. I think I'll use the center section with the big swirl and cut off the ends for spacers on another knife. Now do I use the block for a hidden tang, or get a couple sets of really nice full tang scales?

If only all my decisions were this much fun.



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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
 
Hi, Rob. That is a nice piece of Cocobolo. You said you paid $9 for it? I'm new to woodworking and would like to try to put a new handle on my Cold Steel Vietnam Tomahawk. I've heard Cocobolo is as strong as they get, but I was also interested in something w/ a nice grain structure. What would you suggest? Now that I've seen your non-finished piece, I was wondering if Cocobolo would turn out nicely after all. I've looked at Amboina and, albeit being expensive, find the grain to be nice. Also, I think a curly maple would be nice, too. But I'm also worried about impact strength b/c, after all, I'm still going to use the thing when I go camping. Finally, I don't have any shop tools that would turn a chunk of wood and was wondering if lumberyards would be willing to do that for me. If not, who would? Thanks for any help.
 
Yes, I paid $9 Canadian for it (about $6US). There were maybe 30 pieces of it ranging from 8" to almost 2 feet. MOst of it was 2x2 but I think I recall a couple pieces of 2x4 as well. Of all that, I only found 3 or 4 pieces that appeared to have an interesting grain. Remember that they were rough sawn so this was largely guesswork. I haven't worked with this stuff before, but even with the 24 grit belt, it grinds like stainless steel and to heft it, it feels more like a block of brass. It sure is dense. As for getting someone to turn it, why not pick up a rasp and hand fit and shape it? Start by fitting the head and then do the rest of the shaping and finishing while sitting around the campfire. It will mean a lot more when it's done.

Curly maple or curly koa would look nice. The maple at least would probably have to be stabilized. Ironwood is strong and the right piece would look great, but the stuff costs like lobster! I would caution you that burls and such often have fault lines in them. This is normally not a serious problem for knife use, especially with the scales epoxyed to a full tang - but for a hatchet (oops - tomahawk) there are extra stresses to be considered. I'll likely be back in Calgary in a week or so. If you like, I'll look for an interesting piece.



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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
 
Rob,

Make sure you wear long sleeves, rubber gloves and a use a quality respirator when sanding Cocobolo. The dust is nasty stuff. It has been known to cause severe allergic reactions. Use the grinder (with ventilation system) to get the piece as close as possible to the way you want it before hand finishing.It is a beautiful wood, but it is very unhealthy to breathe.

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C.O.'s-"It takes balls to work behind the walls "
 
Thanks - I've read about it being nasty to some people. My 'ventilation system' is a shop vac hooked up to the grinder port. I do use a good dual filter dust mask. As it happens, I was wearing long sleeves but didn't even think of gloves. I'm not too worried about a skin rash, but I sure don't want to breath this stuff.

Caution Noted.



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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
 
yeap...cocobolo is my personal favorite for ease of finish and more important STABILITY!! the stuff just wont crack (well maybe)....some of it is so gorgeous its hard to believe...but dont be breathin it...when stan fujisaka first started out i gave him a piece and a few days later is saw him and he was red and swollen all over...he cant even go near it....that and desert ironwood are my two favorites...but that ironwood sure likes to CRACK!!!!!!!!!!! look around for some brazilian rosewood.....close cousin to cocobolo...you can find it if you look...martin guitars has a few tons of the stuff....i was in the local woodcrafters last week and they had some cocobolo beams.. no kidding....18" wide x 12" thick x 10 ft long....has since been cut into small boards, but they had about 20 of these things, i couldnt believe it. another wood that is not seen a lot and is very very nice is brazilian kingwood....used for instrument making mostly...very stable very pretty very dense, not to be confused with mexican kingwood which likes to crack whenever you look at it...one advantage to making furniture before i started making knives, read a lot about wood and saw a lot of exotics whenever i went down to get some stuff for a new project.

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
Hey Rob, I would like that very much if you could look for an interesting piece of cocobolo for me. I never thought of hand finishing it, but you're right, that would mean a lot more to me. I'm only looking for a piece that would eventually make an 18" 2" or so diameter handle, and now that everyone's mentioned it, I think I'll stay away from burls--I didn't know about the faults they had. Tom, brazilian kingwood, eh? Know where I can see a pic? Kinda interested. I'm actually thinking of getting another tomahawk and doing another handle if I do okay w/ this project.
 
you can probably find some from gilmers in oregon.....it looks a lot like very evenly striped cocobolo except instead of orange and yellow and black its mostly purple and black stripes...very nice wood...very nice.

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http://www.mayoknives.com


 
tom, i've used all the types of wood you've mentioned, and i agree they're very fancy. i've got a 4ft. board of brazilian kingwood, a 6ft. board of the rosewood, and a 4"x6"x 24" block of iron wood, plenty of cocobolo too. i get them for excelent prices at the local wood cutters. i bought the iron wood block for $50, some people pay that for 2 sets of scales!
 
Thrawn, are you looking for something even grained and colorful, or something with an interesting grain pattern? Also, you mentioned something with a 2" diameter. Most of the stuff on that shelf was nominally 2x2 but was actually 1 5/8 to 1 7/8 square. I'll need to know your minimum dimensions. I know length is at least 18 inches. Will the handle be straight or have the more modern "S" bend curve to it? It would have to be wider for that and there were some "2x4" pieces there too.

I'll be in there sometime this week so get me details as soon as you can.



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Rob Ridley
Ranger Original Handcrafted Knives
 
Hey Rob. I was thinking of doing the Finnish influenced "S" curve, but when I though about it, my CS Vietnam 'hawk would like kinda funny w/ that shape of handle. Therefore, I'm thinking of just going w/ the basic straight handle w/ a butt swell to prevent slipping. B/c of that, I'll probably need a 2x2, but if you can score a 2x4 as well in the same 18" to 20" range, I'd take that as well, seeing as how I'm thining of getting another CS 'hawk, this time the Norse one, and doing an S handle on that. As far as patterns are concerned, I'm looking for something that'll handle the impact associated w/ axe/hatchet/tomahawk handles but also has a nice pattern to it (I'm partial to patterns that emulate the curly maple or curly ash or amboina look), but, alas, my primary concern will still be impact resistance and durability, I'd just like it to be pretty. Hence, Cocobolo sounds good, especially after seeing what you've done w/ it so far. Let me know if we should go over this on e-mail for more details.
 
How bout Bocote? it is definetly one of my favorites, i just purchased a awesome piece that has all kinds of burls and swirls and stuff like that. as far as interesting woods go, zebra wood is very cool.

Aaron G.
 
Hers how some cocobolo with knots looks as a handle.Don't ask me how to finish it . I haven't found a good way yet.
View

Take Care
TJ Smith
 
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