For 27 years we have used dalbergia retusa (aka Cocobolo) as the primary wood in our tools.
Interestingly, during most of the ’90’s we (Bridge City) were participants in a sustainable yield test program only to learn that Cocobolo is not a sustainable yield timber. This was one of the reasons that led to the new sculptural aesthetic now found in our products. And although we still own some lumber, we have accumulated three decades of shorts and trims–this material, in my eyes was always going to be used someday by somebody. Hey, that day is here! And you could be that somebody! Admit it–you always wanted to be a somebody…
Prior to announcing our exclusive special to those of you who should be doing something more important than following the worthless drivel on this blog, a word about boiling water in a vacuum…
As you SHOULD KNOW, water boils at 212 degrees F. at sea level. As you lower atmospheric pressure, the water boils at lower temperatures and it is possible to boil water at room temperature (no, it is not 212 degrees while boiling, it is the temperature of your room…almost) in a partial vacuum.
The reason I bring this up is that you need to learn something here. What might that be you say? Thanks for asking!
All of our cocobolo has been vacuum kiln dried. This means that the water was boiled out of the stock (at around 90 degrees F.) which dramatically reduces end checking (if you have ever had chapped lips you understand end checking….). This means our three decades of trims are good for something…in your shop.
Tool handles. Furniture pulls. Knives. Pens. Plugs. Chop sticks… I am sure you can think of a few too.
We have pre-boxed all this material into ten pound units and we think you need to act fast before we post this on our website. The picture below is representative of what you will receive when you steal this material from us. Nothing is over 16″ long. Some of it is thin. Some fat. Some smooth. Some not. Some can be turned. Some can’t. None of it is junk.
As a loyal follower of the drivel in this worthless blog, you will get first crack at a really nice ten pound box that you have no control over the contents. No whining or complaining. And if we thought you would whine or complain, we wouldn’t be doing this.
Ten pounds. $35. Free Shipping (no, not overnight, ground USA only)
How?
sales@bridgecitytools.com
If we have your credit card on file, just tell us how many boxes you desire and we will do the rest.
Limit 10,000 boxes per customer. (Sorry).
Or, you can call 1-800-253-3332 to find out how hard it is raining here.
–John
To help put this into perspective: Ten pounds for $35 works out to around $20/bd ft. Cocobolo is currently retailing for around $35/bd ft.
I ordered two boxes.
Regarding sustainability: There are some tree farms in Costa Rica (perhaps elsewhere as well) that are at least trying to produce cocobolo sustainably. I don’t think any of them have reached the production stage yet, though.
-Steve
Don’t forget the free freight–10 pounds from PDX to the other coast is about $12 bucks and around $8-10 on average everywhere else.
John,
Alright, so I ordered 2 boxes myself, and then saw the line; No whining or complaining. Just to clarify, does this now mean I have lost my right to complain about ANYTHING, or just the lumber. I’m fine with the lumber part, but complaining in general is kind of my thing, I’d hate to have to find something else to talk about!
-Rutager
John,
I received the production update email, and didn’t see the Tenonmaker on it, does this mean it’s already on the Fedex truck and heading my way?
-Rutager
How foolish of me. This is the internet…nothing but complaining.
I forgot.
–John
John,
I only complain in person! I have a simple rule about putting anything in print, be it the interenet, email or letter; It has to be pleasant and factual. If it isn’t I don’t send it. I really have to beleive that this has kept me out of lots of trouble. Maybe it’ll catch on.
Now that I and others have all of this wood coming our way, any suggestions on complimentry woods or other media to use it with?(we know it looks good with brass!)
-Rutager
Rutager-
Great question.
Exotic woods are often used in excess and gratuitously–these are traps to try and avoid.
Also, because the grain is rich, if you are going to make something in its entirety out of cocobolo, small is usually better. i.e., a chess piece.
It looks good with holly (almost white) and as a contrasting element against black (ebony or equivalent). The polish one can achieve is astonishing because of the natural oils in the wood.
Lastly, wood and metal is sexy. Cocobolo looks good with brass because the red in the wood brings out the red in the metal, whereas ebony often looks great paired with silver. Epoxy, polyurethanes and the cyanoacrylates work most of the time. For insurance, we often would wipe the surface to receive glue with acetone.
By the way, drop a small piece of cocobolo in a baby food jar of acetone and let it sit for a week to see what happens…. 🙂
The world is your oyster, so play a little!
You are right, the stuff is flying out of here–can’t wait to see what everybody does with the pieces.
Best-
John
John,
As a lover of all things drivel I too have ordered two boxes to be sent to me. Really just wanted to see how many times I could use to, too, two in a mundane drivel like sentence. 😮 😮 Rutager, I asked in another thread here in John land but I do not think you saw it. Would you please email me at proergo@gmail.com. Danke.
Fred
Is there any chance a lucky person – say, some nice oceanographer in (rainy) San Diego – might find a nice BCTW tool accidentally packaged in with the wood scraps?
I made a couple of puzzles out of cocobolo – a Soma cube and a Bedlam cube. The Bedlam cube had a secret code on the faces of the pieces (using dots made of brass rod). The code only worked in one of the 19,000 configurations of the pieces. I also used some of the scrap to make a music box for Gillian. It was pretty cool: a rectangular chunk of wood with a stainless steel handle coming out of it. I’d sliced the top off the block of wood, then routed out the interior to hold the mechanism, then glued the top back on. You could hardly tell it had ever been touched. It looked almost like the tree had grown around the music box mechanism. Very minimalist.
– Peter
Oh dear John, 30 years of hoarding scraps… I thought I had it bad.
Wait a second, I just ordered a heap of your scraps to add to my heap scraps- damn it…
It’s a vicious cycle!
Niels
Niels-
We have boxes. 55 gallon drums. Pallets. It is all over our warehouse–I don’t think there is such a thing as rosewood scrap.
I remember the first time I saw Brazilian Rosewood, it was in the early 70’s. All I can say is it deeply moved me. The smell, the heft, the oily feel and the pink and black streaks… From that day forward I have had a reverential relationship with all of the dalbergia species.
The sales rep for the rosewood told me ALL of the most beautiful things in the world are in Brazil. Gems. Birds. Fish. Wood. Women. I need to go to Brazil to verify one of those as I just love fishing……
The bad news is that on average there are two Brazilian rosewood trees per hectare. Extracting them trashes the forest. Cocobolo is not quite that rare but rare enough that you just bought some shorts. This is really cool since it is likely that a monkey or two lost their home when the tree was felled…
When I first saw cocobolo I couldn’t believe the talent of mother nature. It is so incredibly beautiful, intoxicating and toxic to some. DUST MASK IS MANDATORY!
Because our trims are in all different configurations, we included a cross sampling in each box. While tossing in this, and tossing in that, I was flooded with ideas and now want to design a line of cabinet hardware with rosewood infill/combined with silver/brass/forged metal/extrusion/… the options go on and on.
Should we perhaps have a contest later in the year? I think that would be a blast and I want to enter it!
Thanks for making your “short” heap bigger and ours smaller!
Best-
John
“The sales rep for the rosewood told me ALL of the most beautiful things in the world are in Brazil. Gems. Birds. Fish. Wood. Women. I need to go to Brazil to verify one of those as I just love fishing……”
Brilliant! I hope your wife reads this so she can appreciate what a nut case she married.
I’m very much looking forward to the cocobolo/metal contest. With people like you and Rutager around, we’re all bound to learn something.
– Peter
Peter;
Something tells me that somehow my response brought a smile to your face. What do you have against nut cases?
Furthermore, where is Cooter Ditchman when we need him?
By the way, just went out for sushi and have a killer idea for a contest–but there is a catch (it’s a sushi pun…) Next door to the sushi joint was an Irish pub–had to stop in and see what the mood was like for tomorrows World Cup match between England and the USA (Yes, you should watch–it’s a big deal).
Don’t know who is going to win but the beer was awesome.
More later. And then again, maybe not.
–John
Impressive coincidence: it was Sharon’s birthday today, so we had sushi from our favorite place. We decided to do take out, so that we could drink a bottle of sake and not have to drive.
Burp…
No time for football watching tomorrow: gotta shop and cook for Sharon’s actual b-day party. California tapas for our vegetarian friends. And a top-notch selection of CA pinot noirs. Yum!
– Peter
P.S. Nothing against nut cases. I’m related to many of them. Heck – I may be one myself.
Nah… 😉
I was re-reading an old Fine Workworking recently and there was an entry about ‘freeze drying’ green wood to dry it. Ever tried -40F to extract the moisture?
I haven’t tried it–what issue?
Finding the issue again would be somewhat problematic. I put freeze dried in quotes as it was just a subscriber sent in tip. He was resawing smallish green wood into thick veneers, would sticker them and place in his home freezer for a few months. He maintained the wood came out dried and flat.
I was wondering if that same thinking could apply to a more industrial scale utilizing a flash freeze and a vacuum.
Hmm, I just emailed an order for two boxes, but I do have a question regarding the Cal. Pinot: what’s wroong with the excellent Oregon wines?
FWIW, my daughter who lives in Sonoma and works for a winery would kill me if she discovered this email!
I think you’re referring to a tip published in FWW#125 (p. 28). It works in that case because, well, just about any drying technique works for wood that’s only 1/16″ to 3/32″ thick. I don’t think the freezer did anything except provide a low-humidity environment. The veneer would probably have dried more quickly if he had used an airtight box and some dessicant at room temperature.
True freeze-drying (lyophilization) is a very different technique, in which the item to be dried is subjected to a vacuum in order to sublime the water contained therein. For wood, the vacuum kilning that John mentioned above does essentially the same thing more efficiently, because it runs at higher temperature. (The purpose of freezing is to preserve the physical and chemical structure of the item; since wood doesn’t mind being subjected to moderately high temperatures, there is no advantage to freezing it before pulling a vacuum.)
-Steve
TenLayers:
You really threw a curve ball into the drivel by asking a legitimate question! Congratulations! (not that I have anything against BCT drivel….) I’m curious – why did you ask the question? Do you have something specific in mind you need it for? there are a lot of ways to dry wood. Vacuum (i.e. pressure) is an effective influence on drying, heat is also, and relative humidity is the other. I like the relative humidity option, but it takes time. I have even made a chamber with a dehumidifier in it to speed up the process. My least favorite is heat because heat crystallizes the pitch in the wood. I like to use (BCT) hand tools and air dried wood. Air dried is butter compared to kiln dried wood. I have never tried vacuum because it is difficult for any quantity of wood. I don’t know if this has ANY value to you, but I cannot comment on the quality of wine because I’m a midwesterner and we don’t have wine out here….
DJ
Stumper, you bring up a good point. I’ve liked all (ALL) the Oregon Pinot Noir’s I’ve had in Oregon. I haven’t much liked the Oregon Pinot Noir’s I’ve had in California. I haven’t liked most of the California Pinot Noir’s I’ve had in California – but there are a few wonderful exceptions. I just drank one on Saturday (a 2004 Sanford single vineyard), and have two more cellared (both Babcocks).
My conclusion is: go to Oregon to drink Pinot Noir.
Or get John to bring some down when he comes to San Diego for sushi…
– Peter
John;
I have to agree with you about cocobolo- I think I had the exact same reaction to rosewood the first time i saw it. Its depth and richness of the color is magical, captivating!
Personally, I have a hard time working with exotic materials. Wood is a tricky thing- I’ve worked mostly with glass for the past 10 years- which is a different creature entirely. Glass also holds magic and curiosity, and can be worked in the most fantastic ways but I have always felt it the material was cold, it’s lacks soul.
Now, wood’s got soul.
I have a very strong affinity to wood. I feel that working wood is a sort of stewardship. As woodworker I feel a responsibility to use the material in a way that respectful of that inner life of the wood- the life that remains long after the tree has fallen.
It’s from this feeling that my deeply seeded “wood guilt” springs! The guilt (and my upbringing under radically frugal parents) keeps my “scrap” bins ever filling. It’s also what keeps me working in local-domestic hardwoods. I’ll take white ash over bubinga anyday. All wood be used to make beautiful things- CONVERSELY, you you can make some really horrible looking junk out of beautiful wood! I choose what is available, affordable, and responsible.
HOWEVER- Did I mention how much I LOVE rosewood!
The only exotic wood I have ever bought was some really old rosewood boards from an rhode island cabinet shop that was going out of business. Those boards are still squirreled away in my racks until I have the skills that they deserve. I was absolutely thrilled to hear that you were selling your cut-offs. The fact that I will be “upcycling” your “waste” satisfies both my yankee-wood-guilt and my burgeoning tree-hugging-hippie.
I think this is an amazing opportunity and a truely inspired decision on your part to open up your production cycle. If all businesses were as forward thinking imagine the all the “waste” could be spared from the landfill and put back to the workbench!
Cheers!
-Niels
ps. contest: yes
pps. trip to brazil: yes!!!
dpj,
No agenda, just wondering. I hadn’t heard of John’s vacuum drying before and thought I would ask a related question.
And as far as Pinots go the best bottle I’ve ever had was a Sea Smoke from Santa Barbara county in California. I’ve been working for the wine industry (photographing) since the 80’s. I was on a four day shoot in Paso Robles area and the client took us out to dinner. She didn’t order her wine but the Sea Smoke and manoman, that was truly yummy.
Actually, vacuum drying is a cool concept. I work in a plant where we make corn syrup and we boil this a very low pressure (vacuum) to avoid carmalizing the syrup. I think this would have the affect of speeding up the process, and drying the wood without setting the pitch in the wood – both good. I do think you would have the same potential issues with cracking due to the resistance to migration of the water to the surface where it can boil. I see I’m not even close to your league in wine Connoisseurmanship. The name Sea Smoke sounds very provoking however. I’m jealous. (actually I do like wine, but I don’t have experience)
For a company that clearly prides itself on precision to the enth (nth?) degree, BCTW was stunningly imprecise on my shipment, about 20% fat by my estimation. Huffed and puffed all the way to the shop. Decided to order some more and risk a wave of newly found precision overtaking Portland.
Owen-Clearly your box of blocks was packed by Michael…a payroll deduction is in order…
Thanks for helping!
John
John & Michael,
You OWE me. I received my two boxes of cocobolo and beautiful pieces of wood without question. However, one box weighed 10 lbs 10 oz and the other weighed 10 lbs 7 oz. After emptying each box and weighing them, I found that the boxes weighed 10.9 ozs. So, as you can clearly see, I am owed an additional 3.9 ozs of cocobolo. If you would just drop that into an envelope and send it to me, we will be all square. 😮 😮 😮
Fred
Fred;
You have way too much time on your hands. Go downstairs into your shrine and make something…
John
I think Fred had a project all planned. But it required EXACTLY 20 lbs of cocobolo. Now he’s stuck. Poor guy – all alone in his basement, surrounded only by the world’s most beautiful (and functional) tools. But not enough cocobolo…
– Peter
John,
My shrine is bereft due to the lost 3.9 ozs. Someday it and I may recover but alas I know not when. 😮 😮 😮
Fred