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 Post subject: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:16 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

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First name: john
Last Name: shelton
City: Alsea
State: Oregon
Zip/Postal Code: 97324
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I just sawed up a plank of Cocobolo that was bought about 30 years ago. The outside of the plank is a beautiful dark brown with cream colored sapwood along the edges. When I sawed the plank the interior is a ghastly color with pink, orange and yellow hues. I plan to use this wood for a double top guitar with laminated sides (Port Orford/Cocobolo) and double back (red cedar/nomex/Cocobolo). Do you think fuming with ammonia will darken these hideous panels? Any other ideas?


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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:40 pm 
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Koa
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First name: Michael
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City: Anacortes
State: WA
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Give it time to oxidize. You could set it in the sun and see what it does.

My $.02

Best, M


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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:42 pm 
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Cocobolo
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Joined: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:19 am
Posts: 184
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Just let it sit for a little while. It should oxidize and return to its normal color in a little while, it will,also change if you sand through the outer layer but will again darken up,given a little time.


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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 6:58 pm 
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First name: Brian
Last Name: McDonald
City: Okanagan Centre
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Zip/Postal Code: V4V2H6
Country: Canada
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Status: Amateur
Its amazingly photosensitive. Its pretty much back to original darkness now.


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These users thanked the author Bri for the post: jshelton (Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:46 pm)
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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:45 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:27 pm
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First name: john
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City: Alsea
State: Oregon
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Country: usa
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kjaffrey wrote:
Just let it sit for a little while. It should oxidize and return to its normal color in a little while, it will,also change if you sand through the outer layer but will again darken up,given a little time.

It's only 13/16" thick and has been sitting in my shop for over thirty years, after all that time the oxidation is only about a mm or so into the wood. I went through this with another piece of Cocobolo a few years ago and several months after re-sawing it had darkened only very slightly. I plan to sand this wood to about 1mm in thickness for laminating and am hoping there's a way to get it to darken rapidly and all the way through like fuming. Just wondered if anyone had tried fuming on Cocobolo or if there's another way to get it to darken (oxidize) rapidly all the way through. I don't want to have light spots when I scrape the bindings level with the sides.


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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 7:48 pm 
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Cocobolo
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Location: Heaven and Hell (Florida)
First name: Julie
Last Name: Moriarty
City: Punta Gorda
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Zip/Postal Code: 33950
Country: US
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Status: Amateur
The fretboards on the guitars below are made from macassar ebony, on the left, and cocobolo on the right.
Image

This is what the cocobolo looked like freshly sanded
Image

This is what it looked like with mineral spirits on it
Image

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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:09 pm 
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First name: Brian
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Country: Canada
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You might look into some Uv lamps, or if you know someone with a tanning bed.

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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 12:15 pm 
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Brazilian Rosewood
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I like the colors of day old Cocobolo. I wish I knew a way to keep it from darkening. If you heat the surface with a heat gun that may bring the oils up and cause it to darken.
If it is thick enough to use as is it seems a shame to gum up the sander to take it to a mm. Some of the old veneers were cut to 1/24 inch. They might be less work and give as good a finished product.


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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Tue Jun 19, 2018 6:50 pm 
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Cocobolo
Cocobolo

Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:27 pm
Posts: 375
First name: john
Last Name: shelton
City: Alsea
State: Oregon
Zip/Postal Code: 97324
Country: usa
Focus: Build
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Clay S. wrote:
I like the colors of day old Cocobolo. I wish I knew a way to keep it from darkening. If you heat the surface with a heat gun that may bring the oils up and cause it to darken.
If it is thick enough to use as is it seems a shame to gum up the sander to take it to a mm. Some of the old veneers were cut to 1/24 inch. They might be less work and give as good a finished product.

Thanks for your thoughts. I have a bunch of old maple veneer that is 1/24", I bought a whole flitch about 50 years ago for $35 and am still using it. I generally agree with you that wasting nice woods like this by laminating it is wasteful but I really don't like Cocobolo, I hate the smell and in general don't want to work with it. It is however over 30 years old, has a nice tap tone and is very stable so I feel compelled to use it up. It's way too heavy to use on guitars for my most valued customers so laminating is really the only solution to keep the guitars weight down. This is the last piece of Cocobolo I have and I will never buy any more. I bought it from Gilmer hardwoods in Portland Oregon, at that time he had a stack planks of this wood that must have been 30' tall and 50' wide. Kind of like the big piles of Black Limba that was being used for cabinets.


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 Post subject: Re: darkening cocobolo
PostPosted: Wed Jun 20, 2018 9:17 am 
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Location: Spokane, Washington
First name: Pat
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Couple years ago Mamie Minch did a video using potassium permanganate to darken new spruce so it would match the original wood in a repair. I tried it to darken Indian rosewood and it worked well. It worked by chemical reaction rather than staining or dyeing, so the wood still had some life in it, as opposed to the way dyeing just kills all the character. Got mine from Home Science. Might be worth a shot.

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These users thanked the author Pat Foster for the post: jshelton (Wed Jun 20, 2018 1:27 pm)
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