Cocobolo: It tricked me

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jbg230

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Took out a cocobolo blank from my drawer today to make a cigar pen. I bought the blank from a leading vendor. I thought I got lucky since the blank was a beautiful reddish/orangey brown with nice grain. Exactly why I chose this species.
Before I got the blank to round on the lathe, I noticed that the nice tone had disappeared and I was left with a dull greyish brown color. By the time I finished, I had managed to have a nice looking pen, but in reality it was just average in terms of color. A common brown. Still a nice pen since the grain is appealing, but I didn't expect such a dramatic difference in the loss of the red/orange.
So I have to wonder; could it be that a vendor would apply a stain or dye to the wood which only enhances the outward appearance of a blank? Certainly, as I have posted recently, that you never quite know what you'll wind up with as you get down to the bushings, but this change in color so quick in the turning process had me questioning.
 
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Cocobolo and other rosewood species tend to exhibit color changes as they oxidize or with exposure to UV light (sunlight).

Cocobolo is also a fairly oily wood ....

When you clean the blank just before finishing, use of rubbing alcohol (isopropyl 90% or denatured alcohol) or acetone to remove the surface oils will help a lot, in allowing your finish of choice to properly adhere and show off the natural beauty of the wood. Once your finish is applied on top, the true colors in the wood should pop out. Fresh cut cocobolo is generally a dull brown in color.

In some species (purpleheart is an example), it is beneficial to run a flame over the blank as it's spinning, just prior to final sanding and finishing efforts, in order to bring out the deep purple color you really want to see in the wood. Fresh cut purpleheart is also a fairly dull brown color.
 
This photo is what UV and time can do. The knob was turned 30 years ago.
The pen is two days old. This is the same wood
 

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So I guess I better have a disclaimer:
"The aging process even affects my pens. After some years, it won't be as beautiful as the day it was born and it may get some changes to its skin in its old age."
:) Amazing!
Then again, not really.
Thanks for the comparison.
 
I guess it depends on the batch. I had some really nice highly figured dark coco.
The next time I bought some it was light(color) and not very interesting. The blank was dark to begin with.
 
Another trick is to wipe the finished pen with something like Armor All. It has a UV inhibitor in it to protect the surfaces that it is applied to.
 
wood

Other side of the coin.
Everytime you wipe wood down with denatured alcohol it removes part of the wood color ,,, you can see the wood color on the towel .....

most rose woods are oily .
Personally I think the woods natural oil makes up allot or some of the woods natural color and the last thing I want to do is remove any of the color from the wood ..

Why does purple heart wood turn purple when its heated ???????
Because of the oil in the wood ....
Can you actual cook the oil and color out of purple heart ,,, Yes

Why would you wipe down any wood with alcohol when a blow gun or a vacuum does a better job ?
 
wood

LOIBLB said:
This photo is what UV and time can do. The knob was turned 30 years ago.
The pen is two days old. This is the same wood
Click to expand...

I have 50 year old cocobolo collectors cue with a satin finish and it hasn't turned black ..

IMO
The dirty oil from peoples hands turned the door knob black......
 
All woods and I mean all woods change color over time. Some do it faster than others. Some improve with age and some get dingy. You need to know this whenever using woods that are not man made. Many things can have effects how much and how fast they change. Such as sun(UV rays), exposure to skin oils, types of finishes, weather or not they were stained before finishing to enhance colors,and the list goes on. But you take wood for what it is and you treat it to protect it the best you can. What we do in pen making is take a piece of wood and turn it down so thin that many times it will loose its color or grain pattern and the piece of wood is now such a small sample of what it was before we turned it. A perfect example of this is when we buy board material and then cut a little 3/4" square out of it and ask where did all that beautiful grain go.

There is nothing like Mother Natures gifts to us though. So use wisely.:)
 
I actually find it puzzling that there aren't any cocobolo pens in the Pretty Wood Pen contest .... at least I didn't recall seeing any.

Some of those burls have an amazing chatoyance, how are you supposed to get a decent picture of them? lol
 
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