Bloodwood: Brosimum rubescens

Inventory:

Rough: 4/4  & 8/4  RW

Turning Blocks:

D2S: short boards of various widths & lengths

Pricing: from $16.95 /BF +

 

The Wood: 

Bloodwood is one very red, very dense exotic wood from South American. With a Janka rating of about 2900 , you get an idea of its density. Having said that, I find that it retains its colour better than say Padauk, and has a grain structure and fine texture similar to Purpleheart, so you rarely have difficulty with long fine slivers pulling away from the wood (ie. like wenge or padauk 🙂 … of course having said that, I also recognize that the wood can be somewhat brittle, so drilling holes is always better with a forstner bit that scores the perimeter before it attempts depth of cut.

 

It makes a great turning wood, as long as the chisels are sharp and with such a tight grain it is easy to get a glass-like  finish on peppermills and bottle stoppers. Great contrasting wood for cutting board inlays!

 

NOTES: Using UV finishes can slow the colour shift, but it does darken to a rich dark red eventually. Mineral deposits like the tyloses in white oak can make working with bloodwood harder on the tooling, but in my biased opinion its lustrous finish is worth the effort (or cost to re-sharpen 🙂