Mystery wood I bought today, any ideas on what I've got?

[GrizzlyBear]

So I went to the annual French & Indian War reenactment/encampment at Fort Massac in IL today. As I was perusing all the vendors and tents, there was one man who had quite a few handle slabs and scale pairs. I looked through his assortment and purchased a few that really stood out to me. The owner had to run off to do one of the battles, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him about what wood these pieces are from.

Here is what I have:

This slab is a beautiful deep reddish brown, the sanding dust is dark reddish orange. Feels fairly hard/dense.

The pictures of this slab kind of change the colors a bit...it's actually more creamy browns than yellow. Also feels fairly hard and dense.

These scales are closer in color to the pic that shows them with a more red tone. They make me think they're Kingwood maybe or another rosewood.

And the final small set of scales, I know what it is...some really pretty Cocobolo! These are smaller and thinner than the others, but will be PERFECT for a project I'm about to start.

Wish this picture didn't wash out the orange, these scales are awesome.

 

[Burl Source]

Top piece looks like end grain Bubinga.

 

[GrizzlyBear]

Thanks Mark, it's really pretty stuff...can't wait to use it!

 

[C L Wilkins]

2nd picture looks like olivewood.

Craig

 

[A C Richards]

Bottom ones look like cocobolo

 

[OTK]

Watch the endgrain pieces. The ones I've used have moved a lot.

 

[The_cutting_edge]

some realy nice wood there. question regarding the top 2 pieces. The both look (to me any way) like they are end grain pieces. if they are not stabilized would they not be kinda weak for knife handles?

 

[Britt_Askew]

I agree with Mark about the Bubinga, the next few to me look like they could be Locust?

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Bubinga
Rosewood family - Kingwood is a good guess
Cocobola - The orange may well sand away and the scales will be yellowish when you work them. The color will return with some aging.

As pointed out, end grain may look neat, but in knife scale thickness it can move a lot and splits easily.

 

[P. McKinley]

On the first block, Bubinga probably, Bloodwood possibly, but you said "the sanding dust is dark reddish orange"........Padouk??

 

[GrizzlyBear]

Thanks for all the responses! Guess I may send these off to be stabilized since they are end grain pieces.

 

[unky_gumbi]

I am not going against what anyone has said here, but that top piece looks a lot like the pieces of Bloodwood I got. Is it possible that Bubinga and Bloodwood are the same thing, or just very similar in appearance?

 

[Mike Davis]

Second one looks like Locust to me.

 

[grizzled gizzard]

On the first picture, I'm almost certain it's Bloodwood. You would be better off getting a small piece from Woodcraft so you don't have to try stabilizing end grain, and trying to use 50 cents worth of the wrong material. I don't think it would be very attractive either.