For the sake of simplicity and common understanding, I will refer to D. tucurensis<\/em> as Nicaragua Rosewood from here forward.<\/p>\n Please note that Nicaragua Rosewood is also commonly called Yucatan Rosewood or Panama Rosewood. Also note that as a member of the Dalbergia<\/em> genus, Nicaragua Rosewood is a TRUE rosewood.<\/p>\n Also, some vendors refer to Nicaragua Rosewood, and its synonyms, as D. yucatanensis<\/em>. There is zero scientific literature to support the existence of this species and woods sold as such are usually D. tucarensis<\/em>. Note that I said usually….<\/p>\n While typically a cinnamon brown, heartwood color of Nicaragua Rosewood can be highly variable, ranging from a light brown to a deep russet brown.<\/p>\n The grain of Nicaragua Rosewood tends to be somewhat bland, but darker streaks or swirled grain is occasionally present.<\/p>\n The sharply demarcated sapwood of Nicaragua Rosewood is pale yellow.<\/p>\n The overall appearance of Nicaragua Rosewood is very similar to Honduran Rosewood (Dalbergia stevensonii)<\/i>.<\/p>\n The grain of Nicaragua Rosewood is straight to interlocked. Nicaragua Rosewood features a medium to fine texture with large open pores, giving it a somewhat uneven feel.<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood features a moderate natural luster.<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood is durable against rot and features moderate resistance to insects and borers.<\/p>\n Overall, Nicaragua Rosewood is easier to work than other rosewoods. This is most likely on account of its lower density.<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood also seems to have a lower oil content than other oily Dalbergia<\/em> rosewoods, so gluing and finishing properties are somewhat better.<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood turns well and takes a nice polish.<\/p>\n Unlike other rosewoods, Nicaragua Rosewood has little to no scent while being worked.<\/p>\n Prices for Nicaragua Rosewood are in the low to mid range for an imported tropical species. Nicaragua Rosewood is certainly much cheaper than most other Dalbergia<\/em> species such as Cocobolo or Kingwood. Nicaragua Rosewood is fairly new to the mainstream wood market, so it’s hard to tell if prices will remain stable, or increase due to over-harvesting—as is the unfortunate case with so many species within the genus.<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood is usually sold in the form of turning wood or in thin or small stock sizes.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NC Wood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>.<\/p>\n Of my favored vendors, West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, and Exotic Woods USA<\/a> are currently offering Nicaragua Rosewood at this time, although Bell Forest Products only has one small spindle size available. Small bowls blanks remain available from the other two vendors with the largest being a 6″ x 6″ x 2″ for $19.50 from Exotic Woods USA. With the recent CITES listing of all Dalbergia<\/em> species, stocks are limited to what is on hand and are highly unlikely to be replenished. If you want to work with a Dalbergia<\/em> species, including Nicaragua Rosewood, NOW is the time to obtain it.<\/p>\n Note that vendors offer Nicaragua Rosewood as Panama and Yucatan Rosewood as well as Nicaragua Rosewood. Be certain to search for all three names.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Nicaragua Rosewood 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.<\/p>\n 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!<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood is commonly used to make turned objects, musical instruments, furniture, and small specialty wood objects.<\/p>\n Although Nicaragua Rosewood is not evaluated on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, it is listed on CITES appendix II under the genus-wide restriction on all Dalbergia<\/em> species.<\/a> The CITES restriction also applies to finished products made of this wood. If you make something with Nicaragua Rosewood, or any Dalbergia<\/em> species, do NOT attempt to export it outside of your home country.<\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, the United States government does not place any additional restrictions on Nicaragua Rosewood aside from CITES compliance.<\/p>\n I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n Besides the standard health risks associated with any type of wood dust, Nicaragua Rosewood is claimed to have a decreased occurrence of adverse health effects and allergic reactions. Its lack of odor would suggest the wood to be of a different chemistry than other Dalbergia<\/em> species.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. 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.<\/a><\/p>\n Fortunately, I did not experience any adverse effects while working with Nicaragua Rosewood.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Nicaragua Rosewood<\/p><\/div>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n If you have read the above characteristics of a true D. tucarensis<\/em> 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<\/em> species of some sort but it isn’t D. tucarensis<\/em>. I have no idea what Rosewood it might actually be, although I would end toward it being Honduran Rosewood (D. stevensonii) <\/i>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.<\/p>\n Yucatan Rosewood<\/p><\/div>\n 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<\/em>, 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<\/em> that I have on hand. If you have the chance to legally obtain some Dalbergia<\/em> I would highly recommend working with it.<\/p>\n Both pieces measure 7.5″ x 3″.<\/p>\n All major cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe, although I do use Robert Sorby bowl gouges<\/a> for light final passes before sanding. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck<\/a>, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs as well as Abranet screens<\/a> from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is Shellawax.<\/a><\/p>\n As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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.\u00a0 Given that, I feel lucky to have the stocks of Dalbergia spp that I have on hand.\u00a0 If you have the chance to legally obtain some Dalbergia I would highly recommend working with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,161,168,171,181,188,200,210,217,230,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Working Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
Pricing and Availability:<\/h2>\n
Common Uses:<\/h2>\n
Sustainability:<\/h2>\n
Health Hazards:<\/h2>\n
My Personal Experiences:<\/h2>\n