Cocobolo, (rosewood)

Cocobolo is rosewood!

Many people refer to cocobolo as "rosewood", and rosewood has been the most popular name for this species of exotic hardwood.  However, rosewood refers to more than 100 species of trees and shrubs, indigenous to various tropical locations in the world.  In this sense, "rosewood" is a very generic term.

"the wood of choice for high quality handgun grips"

The cocobolo we use, dalbergia retusa, is the most dense and strongest of all the rosewoods, and considered the most beautiful exotic wood due to it's colors and highly figured grain patterns.  Cocobolo is the second most dense wood in the world, it has twice the density of walnut.  For these reasons, it is the wood of choice for high quality handgun grips.

"the finest exotic wood available in the world"

The supply of cocobolo is very scarce, and for this reason the principals of Wood Grips actually spend much of their time in the tropics of the America's sourcing the best cocobolo they can lay their hands on.  When you purchase a set of grips from Gun Grips, you can be assured they are handmade from the finest exotic wood available in the world...........that is our personal guarantee.

Ivorywood

a tropical hardwood resembling ivory

Ivorywood grows throughout southern Brazil & into parts of Argentina & Paraguay.  It is also known as Marfim, a Spanish/Portuguese word for Ivory.  The off-white colored hardwood has a density between that of walnut & cocobolo & was formerly made into fine furniture.  These days it is more rare and generally only available in smaller lumber sizes. 

Black Cristobal

Cristobal grows throughout Central America.  Cristobal is actually a dark brown color, left in the outdoors to air dry an aging process causes the wood surface to darken to a grayish black color.  With the application of a proprietary polyurethane finish, the resins react to turn the surface a jet black color.  Cristobal is almost the density of cocobolo making it a very durable wood for handgun grips.

Walnut

the traditional wood of the firearms industry

Claro Walnut is indigenous to the Sacramento Valley area of northern California.  It has high natural durability and mechanical properties which combine to make it one of the best timbers for rifle stocks.

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Last modified: July 22, 2017