Bloodwood – Revisted

Bloodwood should be readily and widely available in both lumber formats as well as turning blanks of a wide range of sizes.  However, while Bloodwood is technically available from many vendors, the color is often only of a dull reddish tone whereas deeply blood red pieces are what we all strive to find.  So, if you at all have the ability to shop for Bloodwood in person to ensure that you receive the most vividly red pieces you can find, then by all means do so.  Some exotic wood dealers will take color requests with on-line orders, but most will not, which means that you will get what they decide to send you, which sadly may not be the best stock they have available because that may be reserved to appeal to those customers who come in person.  A few vendors offer specifically numbered blanks that you choose on-line so you have a better idea of what you will receive as opposed to the widespread use of stock photos taken of a piece of wood long ago sold and shipped.  Perhaps your best plan if you can’t choose your Bloodwood pieces personally is to be well aware of what your wood vendor’s return policy is in the event you are not bowled over by the redness of the Bloodwood pieces you receive.  Perhaps that is a wise policy when dealing with any vendor regardless of species.

In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence.  These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods, Bell Forest Products, NC Wood, Got Wood?, and WoodTurningz.

Of these fine vendors, all of them but Got Wood?, which specializes in domestic hardwoods, offer Bloodwood in various sizes and for varying prices.  In general, pen blanks range from $0.95 to $1.40 each while the largest bowl blank offered by any vendor is a relatively small 6”x6”x3” which sells for between $17 and $20.  As to which vendor would be best I can’t say, but I would suggest that an interested buyer look at all the options, consider shipping distances and prices, as well as other items that might be of interest for purchase from any one seller before selecting a vendor.  I’ve had excellent experiences will all of these vendors and would feel confident purchasing Bloodwood from any of them.

Woodfinder is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers.  In your search for Bloodwood, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings.  I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.

A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer.  I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand.  It happens to me all the time!

Uses

Perhaps because of its intense red color, Bloodwood is usually used in small pieces as an accent material, especially for extremely high end jewelry boxes as well as for billiard cue butts.  Bloodwood also finds favor for musical applications including drum sticks, xylophone keys, guitar panels, and organ pipes.  More generalized uses of Bloodwood include, but certainly are not limited to: carvings, trim, inlays, furniture accents, knife handles, and turned objects such as pens, vases, and bowls.

Sustainability

Bloodwood is not listed as being in any way threatened or endangered by the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices nor does it appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.  However, due to the ongoing popularity of Bloodwood, I would keep a close eye on its conservation status in the future.