Talk to me about Cocobolo

OhioApexing

OhioApexing

Sharpener
Joined
Apr 17, 2018
Messages
235
I’m considering picking up a Colobolo 21. I’m not absolutely crazy about the few units still available in the shops, so I might turn to the secondary market.

How durable is it? Is it something that needs to be carried in the sleeve?

Give me your general thoughts!
 
Cocobolo is a type of Rosewood, so stabilized it should be just below Ebony as far as hardness and durability.You should be able to just put it in your pocket, and not have to baby it.
 
Cocobolo has been used for knife scales for well over 100 years. It is very durable, very hard, and It has a lot of natural oil so it stands up to moisture better than some.

I know some say it is stabilized (even CRK now) but when I asked them several years ago they said it was not stabilized. I believe that is possible. Its natural oil content makes it difficult to stain, so it might also make it difficult to stabilize with resin. Its natural properties make it unnecessary to stabilize.
 
I have a cocobolo mnandi. It’s held up very nicely.

I have a lot of other cocobolo knife handles, guitar bodies, etc. They are all unstabilized, because cocobolo is famous for being very stable all on its own, not reacting much to large changes in humidity. I can’t say for sure, but the mnandi feels like the other unstabilized cocobolo I have.
 
I had a cocobolo mnandi and wish I hadn’t sold it. No problems with it. I prefer it to bog oak and tamboti. But I wouldn’t buy it again unless the grain was something special.
 
Last edited:
loon#r said:
I had a cocobolo mnandi and wish I hadn’t sold it. No problems with it. I prefer it to bog oak and tamboti. But I wouldn’t buy it again unless the grain was something special.
Click to expand...

Why wouldn’t you purchase it again?
 
The grain would have to be particularly appealing to me to buy one again.

But disregard that comment. That’s less a matter of the wood itself and more about my criteria for purchasing again. Cocobolo is a very good inlay .
 
It is pretty hard wood. I have pistol grips made of cocobolo on a gun I wore every day for a couple years, and they have no dings, and the edges are still perfect.
 
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