Can this be repaired and used?

[Pepe Silvia]

I have a piece of Brazilian rosewood I have on eBay right now. I want to make sure that it's a fixable and usable piece if I'm selling it. Right now it's 1/2" thick. I believe if it's planed to 1/4" it would make for good fingerboard blanks. But, if someone wanted to make a back out of it is it fixable? It's from an antique desk from the 1800's. I hope I'm not spamming. I'm just wanting to make sure that I'm not selling a useless piece to anyone.

[charles Tauber]

Based upon the photos, I'm having difficulty understanding exactly what that piece is. My suspicion is that it is a solid wood core that has been veneered front and back, though I could be wrong. Veneering a solid wood was a common practice.

Assuming that it is solid Brazilian rosewood, many people will be interested in it for instrument use simply because it is Brazilian rosewood. However, it isn't a piece of wood that would interest me.

[Pepe Silvia]

It is Brazilian, and it is solid.

[redir]

It looks like veneer to me too, can you see the end grain run from the top and through the ends to the other side? Sometimes they so a real good job with the veneer and it's hard to tell. But from here it looks like veneer.

In any case if it is solid then you could make a back from it for a small parlor guitar or a 3 piece for a larger one. But then you would be stuck without sides. It's also flat sawn but it seems that these days since it's BRW that gets a pass.

To answer your question, I'm not sure any of us can tell you from these pics if it's usable. I'm seeing what look like cracks for example, but it's too hard to tell without flexing the wood and looking for movement. You could certainly get bridge blanks out of it.

[Pepe Silvia]

Originally Posted by redir

To answer your question, I'm not sure any of us can tell you from these pics if it's usable. I'm seeing what look like cracks for example, but it's too hard to tell without flexing the wood and looking for movement. You could certainly get bridge blanks out of it.

The cracks are actually was asking about. Sorry I reread my post and see I didn't specifically ask about cracks. The last picture you can see the grain running through the whole piece. I know for a fact it's a solid piece. I'm asking whether someone would be able to epoxy or CA the cracks closed and use the piece?

[fazool]

Well, if it was me, here's what I would do:


I would clean the wood up with a planer as much as possibly (obviously removing the minimum needed). Cut off the cracked/broken/damaged spots. See what thickness and size of usable wood you end up with.

Whoever is going to use this wood will have to do that anyway, so you're not reducing the usability by doing this. You would be making it more sell-able because people will know what they are getting and the clean-up is already done.

Someone will be interested because it's rosewood and hoping to get a piece cheap, clean it up themselves and have a valuable piece of wood, cheap.

[John Arnold]

It can be repaired with thin CA and rosewood dust.
I would not do a whole lot of surfacing.
For resawing, I like to start with at least 3/8" thick. Even then, the cut must be nearly perfect to get two slices for a bookmatched back.
Is the smell consistent with BR?