Comments on: Kingwood

By: Mike Stafford

Mike Stafford — Fri, 03 Oct 2025 21:11:16 +0000

A box in Kingwood

By: Graham

Graham — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 17:34:10 +0000

In reply to Hammy Hamilton. I'm no wood expert, but am wondering about cocus wood. Daniel Pailthorpe plays on this in the BBC SO, having sourced one of the last pieces in Britain. Many 19th century flutes were made of cocus, I believe. You might ask or compare.

By: Hammy Hamilton

Hammy Hamilton — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 19:54:45 +0000

Hello,
I work restoring antique flutes, and have been doing a lot of research recently into the wood that they were made from, which are very often misattributed in sales catalogues and museum listings. One timber that is seen almost exclusively used in French flutes in the last half of the 19th century has often attracted comment from flute makers and collectors, but no one seems to really know what it is. One unusual aspect of it is the way it maintains the lighter colours, where most other woods used in flute making darken very quickly with exposure to light and air, and in the course of playing are heavily handled.
I’m inclined to think that this timber is Kingwood, and that the French flute makers opted for the lighter coloured wood. ( I see that one of the comments made here attributed the colour to whether the growing season was wet or dry)
The difficulty with trying to asses what wood valuable antique instruments are made from is that you can’t really cut a piece off for analysis, and that the amount of end grain visible is very small. That said, here’s a few pics of the wood I’m talking about, including some end grain pics taken with a small digital microscope.
Love to know what you think?

By: Bates woodworking

Bates woodworking — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 12:48:12 +0000

Kingwood used on the outer edge of this cutting board. Great dark heartwood and light yellow sapwood with this stuff. Great to work and really hard.

By: Felipe

Felipe — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 22:08:28 +0000

Real Kingwood for the enthusiasts.

By: Felipe

Felipe — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 22:03:12 +0000

In reply to Adam. These pictures don’t resemble Kingwood at all. Kingwood has knots and are very pinkish like. The picture resembles Pau Ferro or some other species. Here a set of a beautiful MG Kingwood back and sides.

By: Valleyedgecanada

Valleyedgecanada — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 15:33:21 +0000

I Made a Mk2 frag keychain and the spoon is of Kingwood:

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 17:09:51 +0000

In reply to Mark.

Hi Eric:
FYI you were correct, the wood is Pau Ferro. Thanks again.
Mark

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 07 May 2021 22:07:12 +0000

In reply to Mark. I have sent a sample to a lab for analysis and will let you know the outcome!

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 06 May 2021 04:02:29 +0000

In reply to Mark. Does the wood sink in water?

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 05 May 2021 14:49:26 +0000

All I know is my Father purchased it as “Kingwood” in the 1980’s. Thanks again.

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 05 May 2021 07:05:38 +0000

In reply to Mark. Thanks for that. It doesn't look like kingwood to me. I can't say what it IS, however. Pau ferro is definitely a suspect, but the grain looks too interlocked from that closeup picture. Do you know where the wood originated from? My memory is a bit fuzzy, but it reminds me of an African hardwood I've seen before.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 03 May 2021 17:07:05 +0000

Thank you Eric. Attached are more photos.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 03 May 2021 03:49:12 +0000

In reply to Mark.

Have you worked with kingwood before, and are you familiar with its odor? It can be very hard to ID rosewood-type woods just by facegrain appearance. Most kingwood I’ve seen and worked with is a darker and more purplish color, but that’s not to say that’s not what you have. To me, at least superficially, the picture looks closest to morado (sometimes called pau ferro or Bolivian rosewood). https://www.wood-database.com/pau-ferro/ Even without wood anatomy knowledge, if you have firsthand experience with each of the species, you can usually smell the difference, as strange as that may sound. But getting a closer endgrain image might be of further help.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 01 May 2021 21:47:25 +0000

Can someone help me to confirm the planks in the attached photo are Kingwood?
Thanks,
Mark

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 03:23:31 +0000

In reply to Joseph Melton. As someone that works with kingwood daily as a turned object, I can attest that the wood in the photo is certainly kingwood (Dalbergia Cearensis). The grain in that particular piece exhibits grain patterns indicating long wet seasons and low levels of tannins. While most kingwood pieces are nearly a dark violet in color (hence the nickname violetwood), many are almost orange in color when subjected to long wet seasons.

By: steve

steve — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 19:43:41 +0000

In reply to Joseph Melton. They are close relatives. There is cocobolo, kingwood, and para kingwood. The above photo is closest to kingwood.

By: Joseph Melton

Joseph Melton — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 01:15:04 +0000

I would bet the turned object (Kingwood) above is Cocobolo. It doesn’t resemble Kingwood at all. At least, in your photo.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 00:44:30 +0000

In reply to Peter. I've been doing a bit more work with the Camatillo and it smells more like coconut surfboard wax

By: Julia Xia

Julia Xia — Wed, 17 May 2017 01:53:00 +0000

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