Tipps on aquiring Red Sandalwood (Pterocarpus Santalinus)

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Daniscool

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I am looking to buy Red Sandalwood but haven't had any luck searching the internet. I'm inside the EU and seeing as Pterocarpus Santalinus is on CITES Appendix 2 i am looking for a distributor inside the EU. Any help appreciated as well as information on its workability.
 
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Daniscool said:
I am looking to buy Red Sandalwood but haven't had any luck searching the internet. I'm inside the EU and seeing as Pterocarpus Santalinus is on CITES Appendix 2 i am looking for a distributor inside the EU. Any help appreciated as well as information on its workability.
Click to expand...
why don't you ask at this shop?i don't see sandalwood available but they might know something

Finest precious wood for Knife Makers, Wood- and Pen Turners and ...

Finest precious wood for Knife Maker, Wood- and Pen Turner and all other wood craftsmen
www.feinesholz.de www.feinesholz.de
 
i have asked and sadly they dont have it. i havent found a single german company that has it. i was hoping to find someone getting rid of old stock. i have quite the list of european exotic wood suppliers and none of them have it. the only thing i could find was this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3639758100...P0AUvt2khsRDJ/7Sd997SMuw==|tkp:Bk9SR9DAmYWpZQ. so if anyone has information on this seller that would be very much appreciated too.
 
I recently bought some "rosewood" on eBay that didn't include a species name in the listing. I just liked the figure of the wood, regardless of its species. I know listings often get labeled as "rosewood" just to draw traffic.
When he messaged me to tell me my package was on its way, I asked him exactly what kind of rosewood it was I would be receiving and I got this:
1740800154859.png

I received the wood on time and it was in perfect condition, but it didn't have a distinct aroma or anything that would lead me to think it was an obvious sort of sandalwood. But I have never worked with red sandalwood, so I am clueless.

If you're interested, I can share the seller info with you.
 
Firstly, I am interested in the seller info.

Secondly, red sandalwood is scentless (I foolishly bought some Pt. Santalinus Lal chandan sticks thinking they would be big enough for pen turning but they all had large drying cracks making them unusable).
Only real sandalwoods in the Santalum genus are aromatic. (The name sandalwood is applied here to denote the value)

Third, the seller that i mentioned before (https://www.ebay.com/itm/3639758100...P0AUvt2khsRDJ/7Sd997SMuw==|tkp:Bk9SR9DAmYWpZQ)
They actually sell 4 types of sandalwood of which i believe three to actually be padouks:
(African Padouk (here listed as african sandalwood) Pt. Soyauxii,
Andaman Padouk (here listed as nepalese sandalwood) Pt. Dalbergioides, and lastly
Burmese Padouk (here listed as burmese sandalwood. It also has a distinctly lighter coloration fitting in with the padouk theory) Pt. Macrocarpus)
The fourth variation of sandalwood they offer is simply labeled red sandalwood. I am hoping it is truly Pt. Santalinus.

Lastly, I am fairly new to using E-bay. How did you chat with the seller? It would make things a lot easier concerning the identification of the species before purchase.
Thanks in advance!
 
Done! I have ordered a piece. Well see what it looks like latest 12th of April. I have been experimenting on the Lal Chandan sticks and the wood oxidizes to near black within just 2-3 days in direct sunlight. It also is really expensive (one side ofa knife scale cost me 24,60$ without shipping or taxes). For value for money you are probably more likely to get better results from lightly coloured pieces of Bois De Rose. Which i have used and has had good results. It is also way easier to aquire seeing as you can just buy guitar fingerboards for 45$ a piece. (more than ten times the wood for just about twice the price)
 
Hey Kalai,
that sounds nice! What are you planning to do with it? I have some Indian and some Australian Sandalwood which i used for carving (though i did get some oil from the leftover wood chips) and they were both very very fine grained. Somewhere in the Boxwood/African Blackwood region of fine grain (it cost me that much too). So making smooth surfaces is really easy on Sandalwood. It also polishes to almost a mirror surface WITHOUT any finish on. Good luck and lots of fun with the wood.
 
I ordered some "red sandalwood" on alibaba once. It was lost in shipping. With some quick research I found out that India has outlawed its export and China is the main destination for the black market. Without being able to 100% identify it I would be a very leary of any source.
 
Well, a friend in India told me that plantations produce more than enough red sandalwood. The export ban is lifted for a specific amount each year. This amount is all sourced from plantations (still a lot less than is actually produced) but because locally the wood is quite cheap, it is more lucrative to sell it to smugglers. So in the end red sandalwood is actually quite plentiful on plantations but in the wild is nearly extinct. Because it is extinct in the wild CITES is still in effect to stop demand rising to the point where it is worth it to cut wild trees for their timber. I am sorry that you didn't receive your piece of wood.
 
Daniscool said:
Hey Kalai,
that sounds nice! What are you planning to do with it? I have some Indian and some Australian Sandalwood which i used for carving (though i did get some oil from the leftover wood chips) and they were both very very fine grained. Somewhere in the Boxwood/African Blackwood region of fine grain (it cost me that much too). So making smooth surfaces is really easy on Sandalwood. It also polishes to almost a mirror surface WITHOUT any finish on. Good luck and lots of fun with the wood.
Click to expand...
I make bowls out of the Sandal wood that I have but I thought if you needed some I would see what I could do. Aloha.

Kalai
 
Thanks for the offer but I'm good. I recently acquired a sandalwood log (indian sandalwood) so I don't require this.
 
Hello everyone!
The shipping company sent the stuff idk where but then they finally sent it to me. It just arrived.
So anyway when buying the aforementioned red sandalwood from e-bay I got infected by the "buy more wood" virus and also bought this "purple sandalwood":
www.ebay.com

Natural Purple Sandalwood Timber Blank Turning Knife Door Pen Handles Lumber 092 | eBay

Material: Purple Sandalwood.
www.ebay.com

Then when I asked each seller what species they were actually selling, the original one (red sandalwood) told me it was huidodendron biaristatum/parviflorum or red bean ironwood. (im not really fussed because ive never heard of this wood species and I like to collect rare woods).
The other seller (purple sandalwood) told me theirs was the venerable pterocarpus santalinus.
They have both arrived and I am very happy that I bought these pieces of wood.
If anyone else is looking for pterocarpus santalinus you can buy it from the link just above (may not work in the future).
I am also sorry to announce that my camera is broken so I cant show any pictures )-:.
 
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