Rosewood, Premium Wood with Stunning Appearance

Rosewood is very famous in the woodworking industry for its quality and beauty. Rosewood is actually wood from trees in the genus Dalbergia, but in the woodworking business there are several other varieties that are also called rosewood. This tree is found in many tropical regions, such as South America, Africa, and South Asia. The properties of the wood vary depending on its origin and how it lives. Then in the woodworking industry, rosewood is recognized by its origin, such as: Brazilian rosewood, Madagascar rosewood, Nicaraguan rosewood, Indian rosewood, etc.

Rosewood properties

Although there are many names and varieties, rosewood is known in the woodworking industry as an expensive wood. This wood has a brown base color with very strong grain character and dark blackish brown color stripes with a beautiful pattern. With proper finish, the beauty of rosewood can be explored to produce a very nice and special wood appearance. This wood has a natural slippery surface with a smooth texture that can show the nice natural shine. His unique appearance makes many people love this wood. 

Rosewood is also naturally strong, hard, and high density. He has high resistance to scratches, insect attacks, and rot. This wood is also friendly to the woodworking machine. He can be cut, shaped, and formed with woodworking tools and machines. This wood is also relatively easy to be sanded and polished to produce a smooth and slick surface.

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Rosewood veneer

Veneer is wood that is sliced and cut to be attached to panels or engineered wood to make wood-look components. Rosewood veneer is the best option if you want a rosewood-like appearance with cheaper price. Rosewood veneers are widely used to replace solid wood to make many products, such as furniture, house walls, doors, or other decorative wood products. 

Uses of rosewood.

Rosewood has good physical properties to be used in the woodworking industry. He is quite stable, has good durability, is relatively easy to be processed, and has a very beautiful natural appearance. Here are some uses of rosewood:

• Luxury furniture

Rosewood is one of the best materials to build high-quality, luxurious, and expensive furniture. With proper design and process, the wood can give a good-looking furniture product. Various kinds of furniture products, such as tables, chairs, and cupboards, can be made with this wood. It has beautiful grain and color that can be explored to make wood products with unique and special look: luxurious, elegant, and expensive.

• Decoration and architectural products

Rosewood is also good choice for building or room decorations such as walls, doors, ceilings, floors, and other architectural stuff. This wood has good strength to fulfill the building product requirement. But the most impressing is its special appearance to build the special impression for the building, home, and interior decoration. 

• Musical Instruments

Rosewood has good acoustic properties. This wood can produce a clear sound and is rich in resonance. His properties bring it to be used to make many musical instruments, such as: guitars, violins, pianos and other wood musical instruments

• Handicrafts and art products

Due to its texture and hardness, rosewood is also a good material to make art wooden products. The rosewood is also quite popular among the wood artists. The wood is also commonly used to make many art products, such as statues, wooden jewelry, and artistic carvings. The grain pattern of the wood naturally adds aesthetic value to the workmanship and results in a high-value handcrafted product. 

Things to be considered when doing rosewood

• The proper design

Even though rosewood has a beautiful and attractive natural appearance, to produce beautiful products, you always need the proper design and models. The proper design and shape will maximize the beauty of this wood, whereas inappropriate design may be against and kill the beauty of the wood. The simple form and model are a good option for this wood, as it will maximize the natural beauty of the wood. Too complicated models or too heavy carvings is not appropriate for this wood because it may conflict with its grain pattern.

When rosewood veneer is used, then the right arrangement is the key to making the good-looking product. The proper veneer arrangement will maximize and enhance the wood's beauty. The combination of the rosewood veneer with other wood is another technique to produce the beautiful and special-looking wood products

• The proper finishing

Finishing is the way to maximize the beauty of wood. Although rosewood has beautiful grain, it still needs good finishing to unleash his special look. A transparent finish with a light stain or no stain followed by proper sealer and top coat is recommended for this wood. The light color stain will keep the natural beauty of the wood. Too thick stain or too strong color will potentially reduce its grain character and kill its natural beauty.

Full gloss finishing with a thick film layer can be used to produce luxurious and expensive wood products. But make sure you use the good clarity clear coat. Antique finish with old look is also good option to make the classic or antique-looking product, which still gives his expensive impression. 

Finishing with a solid color is not recommended because it will kill the natural beauty of this wood. Solid color finishes are also problems due to oils in the wood. The oil bleeding at the finish as a yellow-brown stain 

Solvent-base coating is a good choice for rosewood because it will give the best appearance with less problems. NC coating with thin film and best clarity is the best choice if you want the natural or antique look. For the thick film and close pores finish, the PU or polyester coating is the best choice. 

If the water base coating is used, then you will need to apply the insulator or oil-blocking sealer to take care of the oil in the wood. Rosewood contains oil that could potentially interfere with the finish layer. The oil may cause less problem for the solvent base material, as long as you don’t do solid color or white color. But, in water-based finishing, the oil gives greater risk of finishing problems. In many cases, the oil can cause color and adhesion problems in the finishing. 

• Oil on rosewood

Rosewood contains oil that can cause problems with its appearance or in use. The oil content in this wood can vary depending on the species and origin of the wood. There are several types of wood species that contain little oil, but there are several types of wood that have a very high oil content, such as cocobolo (Nicaragua rosewood). The oil in this wood can actually be useful because it can provide a more beautiful appearance and make the wood more durable. This wood can be polished in unfinished condition to make a beautiful, attractive appearance. However, in some cases, the presence of this oil can interfere with the product's performance. This oil will interfere with the appearance of the finishing when the wood is finished in white or solid colors. Wood oil will appear as a yellowish-brown stain that damages the appearance. Oil also has the potential to cause allergies for some people who use products made from this wood. The oil also potentially interferes with the adhesion of the finishing layer, especially when the water-base finishing material is used.

• Correct process

Rosewood is dense wood; it has high hardness; thus, this wood requires a sharp and strong knife to cut and shape it in the woodworking process. As dense wood, it needs to be dried carefully to control the quality. The drying process cannot be run too fast since it risks damaging the wood and ruining its quality. This wood is brittle and easy to get crack, which will be a problem when processed, especially when dealing with veneers. Rosewood veneer is easy to curl and break when it is stored. Then make sure it is stored properly in the dry room to avoid the shrinkage and break problem. The veneer softener may be needed to anticipate problems with shrunken veneers.

Although this wood is classified as hardwood, it is still recommended to do chemical treatment to preserve the wood from the insect attached. It is very unfortunate when your beautiful and expensive wood products are damaged due to the wood-eating insects.

• Sourcing

Rosewood is expensive wood. This rosewood tree takes a long time to grow, so cultivating this wood is not easy and takes a long time. Today, several types of rosewood have been declared as rare and protected wood and cannot be traded. Then the resources of this wood become more limited and difficult. So make sure you find the realiable resources when you do this wood. Also, make sure you get a legal source of the wood and consider the forest and wood sustainability.