Complete information about health hazards associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.
Fortunately, I did not experience any adverse effects while working with Nicaragua Rosewood.
My Personal Experiences:
Although this is one blog post, this is really the story of two woods, one sold to me labelled as Nicaragua Rosewood and one sold to me labelled as Yucatan Rosewood. I have treated them under one blog post because my sources led me to believe that these were synonyms for the same wood. My actual experience tells me a different story with an uncertain outcome.
Both blanks were of moderate density and both cut extremely cleanly along the grain but the cross grain areas had a fairly significant amount of fiber lift, which didn’t surprise me as I had noted that the wood was a bit splintery when I cut the divots for mounting on the Nova Chuck. At this point, the two woods diverge rather significantly.
The wood labelled Nicaragua Rosewood matched the characteristics listed above in that the color was a chocolate brown with some darker streaks. The wood demonstrated a decent natural luster but clearly benefited from a coat of finish to enrich the color and shine. This wood was only mildly oily as noted above for Nicaragua Rosewood. And, perhaps most tellingly, it had no scent when cut or sanded.
Nicaragua Rosewood
The wood labelled “Yucatan Rosewood” didn’t match any of the characteristics listed for Nicaragua Rosewood despite being labelled with a known synonym for Nicaragua Rosewood.
This so called “Yucatan Rosewood” has a distinctly purple to pink cast to the heartwood. The wood was EXTREMELY oily such that regular sandpaper was useless and I had to resort to Abranet screens, which I thankfully had on hand. And this wood was VERY fragrant, smelling distinctly floral when cut. The oil content meant that, when finely polished down to 800 grit, the natural luster was superb. While I did apply a final finish, the wood would have been lovely had it remained unfinished but polished.
If you have read the above characteristics of a true D. tucarensis you will surely note that this second bowl simply doesn’t match at all. Based on the labelling, the oil content, the color, and the scent, I don’t doubt that this is a true Dalbergia species of some sort but it isn’t D. tucarensis. I have no idea what Rosewood it might actually be, although I would end toward it being Honduran Rosewood (D. stevensonii) since that wood is of a similar hardness and density, as well as having the correct scent and coloration, and it is native to a similar range in Central America that could lead one to call it Yucatan Rosewood. This is, of course, a rank guess at best with the truth being I have zero idea of the correct identification of this material, which is unfortunate since I mostly enjoyed working with it.
Yucatan Rosewood
In the end, I had a positive experience in working with both pieces and I would be happy to work with either or both woods again if the opportunity presented itself, which seems increasingly unlikely since all true Dalbergia, which I believe these both to be, are heavily restricted by CITES at this time. Given that, I feel lucky to have the stocks of Dalbergia spp that I have on hand. If you have the chance to legally obtain some Dalbergia I would highly recommend working with it.