What's with this Cocobolo explanation??

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woody350ep

woody350ep

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I am working on lining up some new woods for the second edition of the pool cue that busted up. I have seen cocobolo in SEVERAL applications, and used it for a few pens. It is used quite often on pool cues as well. Well, the guy came to me today with this printed out from westpennhardwoods.com



Cocobolo "DALBERGIA RETUSA" Cocobolo is a member of the Rosewood family. It grows in the drier uplands on the Pacific side of Mexico down to Panama. Extremely oily it will reject almost any finish except wax. It shines up to a nice luster. Even an oil based varnish will not stick. There is no treatment that will make it suitable for bonding with glue, but it can be nailed or screwed easily. It is waterproof which is excellent for making knife handles. It smells like lilacs while it is being sawn or sanded. It varies in color from red to yellow and striped with black to lighter black. It darkens with age.



Specifically speaking, I have never heard of it "rejecting a finish except for wax". Also, never heard of problems with glues. Mind you, I used glue for the tubes on my pens, and as you all know, CA glue is my FINISH!!! That adheres no problem. Are they just off base with this explanation of the wood, or am I missing something here? This will be glued to some other woods with tenons, and the finish will be lacquer. Again, please help to straighten me out on this, but I think I am right in that it is not problematic as they describe.
 
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they are off. I've seen similar descriptions of many of the oily woods. The oils can be cleaned from the surface for glueing finishing IF they are thick enough to cause problems.

The only wood that I've found that is real tricky is Lignum Vitae since it seems to contain a wax resin.
 
Thank you. That seems to be the consensus. I will take some precautions though by cleaning with MS and milling JUST prior to gluing. Better safe than sorry, ya know?
 
Ive had problems with poly drying and staying tacky, but Ive since switched to lacquer and wipe the blank with DNA first with no problems.
 
Do you dip lacquer or spray? I think I have the rest figured out, but my final concern is that my first coat of lacquer may not seal it off well enough to prevent the oil from coming out. I might have to go JUST a little bit heavier on the first build coat to make sure it gets good coverage....
 
If you don't wipe the wood with acetone or DNA and try to glue it together with white or yellow wood glue, then you might be in trouble. That's probably what they're referring to. Since us pens guys almost NEVER use these glues with our woods it's not really a thought. But no matter what wood you're working with, whether its teak, rosewood, ebony, ipe, lignum vitae, wiping it down with acetone or dna will get rid of the oils on the surface and allow you to finish or glue just fine. And when you're using CA glue, it actually bonds much faster b/c of the oils. The only problem that could arise with the finish is clouding. But I think if you wipe with acetone, do a base coat of shellac and apply whatever you want you'll be fine.

Definitely post pics when you get started though! Your last one was great to see!
 
crazy

I have several pool cues with coco in them. I have one from Joey Gold in chicago with 6 floating coco points in ebony. It's beautiful. It's a popular cue wood.
 
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