Cocobolo table

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shagnasty

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Mar 25, 2009
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Just wanted to share a pic of the table top for my cocobolo end table. This is before any sanding and prior to glue up of the 3 main boards. Right now it is 18" x 22" but finished it will measure 21" x 25". Other materials will include red oak, leather dye, and india ink. This will match the larger coffee table I did last year. Thanks for checking it out. :D -Larry
cocoendtable001x.jpg

Heres the Coffee table pic, and you can see how the cocobolo brightens up after its sanded and finished.
coffeetbl.jpg
 
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Thanks Steve,

On a side note....Cocobolo is very oily, so what I do is right before glue up I wipe my edges with acetone to clean off the surface. I used a biscuit joiner when I did these 3 boards and so basically that means there is small grooves put in each board's edge where a small biscuit (small football shaped piece) is placed and then the boards are epoxied and clamped together. The biscuit "supposedly" swells inside the groove when exposed to the glue, making for a tighter fit.
 
Awesome, that is going to be one very nice table. You do realize how many pens are hidden in that table top just waiting to escape!!! :)
 
Top down to 150

Thanks Capt....

I brought the top down to 150 grit this afternoon after rounding the edge. Wiped it off with a rag and snapped a pic. Lot more to do, but its starting to shape up.
L
cocotbl005x.jpg
 
Good Shellacking

This is after a nice coat of cut shellac. Of course the ink and leather dye went on first.................2thumbs. The top will go to 600 then final old school rock hard table top varnish. Hope you guys like the the cocobolo "socks" I had to slip in there toward the bottom on the legs. I figured they might go well with the top.
Thanks for checking it out....Larry

cocoshellac.jpg
 
I saw this post a whil back when you only had the top That is a very nice table and whoever gets it will be very pleased
 
Is the Ink and leather dye a trade secret ?? Care to elaborate on how or where you used it ??

Cocobolo is rare here, now. It was all cut and nothing is ever planted back. We put in 1000 trees, including Cocobolo on our 4 acres. Interestingly, Cocobolo is not a "Tree", per se, it is more like a giant bush, and good long boards are very rare, unless intensive training and pruning is done, hence the high $$$ prices.
 
Harold in CR said:
Is the Ink and leather dye a trade secret ?? Care to elaborate on how or where you used it ??

Cocobolo is rare here, now. It was all cut and nothing is ever planted back. We put in 1000 trees, including Cocobolo on our 4 acres. Interestingly, Cocobolo is not a "Tree", per se, it is more like a giant bush, and good long boards are very rare, unless intensive training and pruning is done, hence the high $$$ prices.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the comments...I hope my wife is happy with it. The ink and leather dye came about because I was working on the coffee table that matches this end table. The problem I had was that the center of the coffee table was red oak and the skirting around that was cocobolo. I wanted to get the grain to turn black on the red oak, so it would match the streaks in the cocobolo. I tried a ton of stains etc, and nothing seemed to work for me. I saw an article on the net about india ink, and using it for woodworking (ebonizing). So I covered the red oak in india ink then sanded off the majority of it, leaving behind the grain which had absorbed it, thus turning it black. The next problem was getting a color that was really dark dark brown and almost black to finish the other parts of the table. Being that the leather dye
(fiebings) is alcohol based I thought it might mix well with the ink and give me a real dark brownish black. Thats what I did and after mxing and testing I got the color I wanted which is really dark and has a little reddish brown from the dye that comes thru. So when it came time to do the end table I had the top all in cocobolo, so no ink / dye needed there, but the frame of the table was mostly red oak and so I went back to the ink / dye to match up the colors to the original coffee table. For some reason when the sun hits that ink / dye combo you can see the deep reddish color (like a cherry coke color), otherwise it looks pretty much black. Heres some other "work in progress" pics from when I was putting it together.

Its too bad about the cocobolo not being replanted. Its a great wood with fabulous coloring. Can tickle your sinuses a little tho ....:biggrin: Sounds like your doing what you can to help replenish it though.


Side view of Coffee table, so you can see the framing.
cococoffee.jpg



Pics of the frame......cut out of red oak to mimic the pattern on the coffee table
cocoendtbl001.jpg

Legs salvaged from a different small table, sanded down, and a bit more cocobolo added in there to replace the original lower blocks that were not reusable....
cocoendtbl003.jpg

cocoendtbl004.jpg
 
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Excellent info. :good: Thank You. What is your source for Cocobolo?? Most of it now comes out of Nicaragua.

I can get a considerable amount of Ojoche. It is a tan color when finished, and a GOOD log will have abundant reds running throughout the log. I would like to "Extend" the amount, but, not enough to "Make" the color appear in a non colored piece. Cheating, in effect.

Now to try and find India Ink down here. Leather work is abundant, so, maybe finding that dye will be easy ??

Here's a shot of what I am trying to "Emphasize" or help create into Ojoche.
 

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Harold in CR said:
Excellent info. :good: Thank You. What is your source for Cocobolo?? Most of it now comes out of Nicaragua.

I can get a considerable amount of Ojoche. It is a tan color when finished, and a GOOD log will have abundant reds running throughout the log. I would like to "Extend" the amount, but, not enough to "Make" the color appear in a non colored piece. Cheating, in effect.

Now to try and find India Ink down here. Leather work is abundant, so, maybe finding that dye will be easy ??

Here's a shot of what I am trying to "Emphasize" or help create into Ojoche.
Click to expand...

I bought my cocobolo from a high end furniture maker. I think you can get the ink from amazon. Heres a link....
http://www.amazon.com/Speedball-Super-India-Ink-Ounces/dp/B0007ZJ8TM

I have never used Ojoche does it have any other names? Looks nice though. Maybe we could do some trading? PM if your interested. Thanks Larry
 
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