Is there any record of Brazilian Rosewood being used in a decorative way on a muzzleloader?

[Sudsy]

I have some incredibly beautiful deep dark, rock hard, figured wood that was destined to become guitar fretboards
Unfortunately the company went bust. I was their real estate broker and had the opportunity to buy some of this wood up (along with the luthiers bench where Johnny Cash, Eddie Van Halen and a few other stars sat while their guitars were being taken care of,)

South America was already well settled at the time most of the guns we are interested in were made. I find it hard to believe that some of these exotics never made it into any of them.

I'm thinking about combining some into the wooden patch box, an inlay or two, and maybe as a nose cap in a Chambers Smooth Rifle build I'm doing.

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Yes, there were a few guns made of rosewood, particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries. Some surviving early Scottish pistols and long guns were of rosewood called at the time "Brazil" wood. Some people are allergic to rosewood and it is hard on tools. I've used some to make ramrods for high end English guns. A dark rosewood would make a nice slising wood patch box lid that contrasts other woods.

dave

 

[tenngun]

I was going to comment on that. Brazilian log wood was a huge import product in to Europe
I don’t remember an American gun in it but it was seen on lots of stuff including guns in Europe
I seem to recall a photo of a Moroccan gun on Brazil wood with a Brown Bess lock

 

[dave_person]

Hi,
Don't confuse logwood with rosewood. Logwood was cut to make dyes for cloth. It was imported in great quantity to England for the cloth and woolen industries. The English established illegal logwood cutting communities on lands claimed by Spain and Portugal and those wood cutting stations were long term bones of contention between Britain and those countries. It is one of the issues that brought Spain into the 7 Year's War on the French side.

dave

 

[Eric Krewson]

Us bow makers call Brazilian rose wood Ipe, it is so dense that it sinks in water. It makes a good bamboo laminated bow but like was said the dust can cause problems for some people, one bow maker friend passed out cold with his first whiff of the dust.

It is common in the US and used for making outdoor decks.

 

[Sudsy]

Yes, there were a few guns made of rosewood, particularly during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Good Lord they must have been incredibly heavy, even the pistols !

I'm talking about using it as decoration bits, not the entire stock. Whole stock, you'd have to be the Hulk to carry it around all day.

 

[Sudsy]

Us bow makers call Brazilian rose wood Ipe, it is so dense that it sinks in water. It makes a good bamboo laminated bow but like was said the dust can cause problems for some people, one bow maker friend passed out cold with his first whiff of the dust.

It is common in the US and used for making outdoor decks.

This is not IPE or logwood (it's the real deal good stuff)
And yes, the dust can be bad with any high silica exotic - I learned that myself the hard way.

Here's the wood in a presentation Stubby Needle fishing lure I made for a charity event
The lure itself doesn't show the wood well as the epoxy finish has real gold dust mixed into it, but the base shows the woods color

 

[Sudsy]

this color, some with purple highlights

 

[Cruzatte]

Sounds like an interesting idea to me. I'd go for it. Heck, you could be the next Hershel House starting your own school of rifle making.

 

[Sudsy]

Sounds like an interesting idea to me. I'd go for it. Heck, you could be the next Hershel House starting your own school of rifle making.

LOL, doubt it

 

[ZUG]

I'd be careful when looking to buy REAL Brazilian Rosewood - it is an endangered wood species. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about it <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_nigra>

Here is a short paragraph on it

Conservational status​

[edit]
Dalbergia nigra is listed as vulnerable on the international IUCN Red List.[5] The trees' regeneration rates among existing populations are poor, possibly because the seeds of the few remaining fruiting trees are heavily predated by rodents.[3] In addition it is threatened by habitat loss, since most of the plant's forest habitats have been converted to farmland. Due to its endangered status, it was CITES-listed on June 11, 1992, in Appendix I (the most protected), and trade in it is restricted.[6]

 

[Sudsy]

Yup
The little bit I have was imported in the late 1970's, you can't legally get it now.

 

[Sudsy]

it is hard on tools. I've used some to make ramrods for high end English guns.

I would love to hear how you did that.
I doubt the blade on my little pencil sharpener style cutter would survive 3" of this stuff

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Hi,
Don't confuse logwood with rosewood. Logwood was cut to make dyes for cloth. It was imported in great quantity to England for the cloth and woolen industries. The English established illegal logwood cutting communities on lands claimed by Spain and Portugal and those wood cutting stations were long term bones of contention between Britain and those countries. It is one of the issues that brought Spain into the 7 Year's War on the French side.

dave

WOW
Learn some cool stuff when you least expect it.

I knew logwood was the source or part of the source for black dye, but never the politics and activities surrounding it.

LD

 

[ZUG]

logwood was also used to make dyes to stain gunstocks. I saw this on a gunstocking and finishing web site some years ago. The guy was reworking an old SXS breachloader.

 

[Clark Badgett]

Logwood was a common dye, but it’s very light sensitive. It will go to brown fast.

 

[Colonial Boy]

My only brush with Brazilian Rosewood was helping to carry and assemble a late 1700s four poster bed made of it.
The bed was quite plain but exceptionally well made.
I still remember the weight.

 

[dave_person]

WOW
Learn some cool stuff when you least expect it.

I knew logwood was the source or part of the source for black dye, but never the politics and activities surrounding it.

LD

Hi Dave,
The country now called Belize was once one of those illegal British logwood cutting stations.

dave

 

[waksupi]

Rosewood goes beyond allergies, the dust is actually poisonous. Any time we used it on rifles, it went to a separate shop so as not to contaminate the air in the main work area.

Keep in mind it is also illegal now, that is why the company was shut down. They should have been grandfathered, as the wood was already in stock on premises when the law went into effect.

I guess I had never thought of logwood as anything other than trap dye.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Hi Dave,
The country now called Belize was once one of those illegal British logwood cutting stations.

dave

I'm familiar with Belize as it was also a "Sugar Colony". I didn't know about the logwood. My wife's ancestors were big in the Caribbean sugar trade, and Demerara Rum.

LD