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Wood Types

Wood Types
  • Pernambuco (6)

Color

Color
  • Orange (6)

Wood Properties

Wood Properties
  • Dried (1)

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Ship Worldwide
  • NOT allowed to be shipped outside the USA (5)

Pernambuco

This wood, also called Brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata) is now very rare and in the near future will be unavailable, most likely for many years. Do not confuse it with Chakte viga (caesalpinia platyloba), a similar more common wood that has somewhat different properties and color.

What is the difference between Pernambuco and Chakte viga as the two are often confused, even by vendors? First of all, it is no longer clear if they are even related to each other. Chakte Viga is a different species and has some different qualities. While Pernambuco is the world’s best wood for violin bows, Chakte Viga is not. Chakte Viga is a nice wood though, and works well. Pernambuco has a finer grain and also usually a deeper color that goes all the way through the wood plus a higher specific gravity, making it the heavier of the two and it polishes better. Pernambuco dust is used for a dye for clothing and yarn, as the color is more intense.

Chakte Viga often looks almost white when you cut into it and then it recovers its color especially when exposed to sunlight. Pernambuco also reacts to sunlight, but much less so. Pernambuco does not have the very light almost white color when you cut below the surface, which is the best way to tell them apart. It is possible to mix up the two, but if you see the really light color when you cut into an orange wood, it is very likely to be Chakte Viga and not Pernambuco. Also if the wood is wet, it is almost certainly Chakte Viga because the newest Pernambuco legally imported into the USA is likely over 20 years old and even if waxed it would have dried a very long time ago.

🪵 Good to know

No shipping outside the USA unless YOU have a CITES permit. Normally only finished musical instrument pieces can be shipped across borders.

Craft Blanks

Pernambuco 1 to 14

These are Genuine Pernambuco. These are all unusual pieces that have other color wood and also spalted areas in some cases. We have glued most of them with superglue and the spalted areas have been heavily glued to harden them if necessary. Normally just the orange part of the wood is sold, but we thought these were interesting. The cost is only for the orange part, the other parts of the wood are basically included "free".

Piece 6

Pernambuco , dried, size; 1.25 x 1 7/16 x 5 1/8 inches

Piece 7

Pernambuco , dried, size; 1.25 x 1 3/8 x 3 5/8 inches

Piece 9

Pernambuco , dried, size; 1 1/16 x 1 5/16 x 6 1/8 inches

$13.00
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Piece 10

Pernambuco , dried, size; 1 x 1.5 x 5 1/8 inches, with some figure

Piece 11

Pernambuco , dried, size; 15/16 x 1.5 x 5 5/8 inches with some figure

Piece 12

Pernambuco , dried, size; 7/8 x 7/8 x 9 inches

$10.50
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Piece 13

Pernambuco , dried, size; 7/8 x 1 13/16 x 12 5/8 inches

$24.00
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Piece 14

Pernambuco , dried, size; 11/16 x 11/16 x 10.9 inches

Pernambuco T to V

See the close-ups of each piece, they do have some nice figure in them. These pieces were all cut from the same extremely high density board. Pernambuco is rarely seen for sale. It was last imported about 24 years ago and these were from stock imported around 1995. This is different from the more common wood Chakte Viga which is readily available. Also, note that some vendors call Chakte Viga as Pernambuco also, but it is not the same species. A Rare opportunity to get this wood, which was sold out most places about 15+ years ago.

Piece T

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 5/16 x 1 5/16 x 15.75 inches

$49.00
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Piece U

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 5/16 x 1 5/16 x 6 1/8 inches

$18.00
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Pernambuco A to H

This is genuine Pernambuco. Pernambuco was last imported around the year 2000. There is another orange wood, Chakte Viga (we sell this too) which is somewhat similar to Pernambuco. Some vendors call Chakte Viga by the name Pernambuco. The ones we are selling here are the original ones called Pernambuco, which is also known as Brazilwood. (That is where Brazil got its name by the way). Used by makers of violin bows for centuries, this wood has become rare and heavily protected in the wild. It is not allowed to be exported from Brazil for about 24 years or so. The trees which are left are being protected by various groups including some associated with the violin industry.

Piece A

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 2 7/16 x 2 71/6 x 14 1/8 inches

$138.00
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Piece B

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 1 7/8 x 2.25 x 10.75 inches

$63.00
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Piece C

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 1 9/16 x 1 7/8 x 12 1/8 inches

$49.00
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Piece D

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 1.5 x 1.5 x 16 3/8 inches

$59.00
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Piece E

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 1 1/8 x 1 1/8 x 11 7/8 inches

$18.00
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Piece F

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 13/16 x 13/16 x 12 inches

$15.00
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Piece G

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 3/4 x 3/4 x 10.25 inches

$12.50
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Piece H

Pernambuco (caesalpinia echinata ), dried, Cannot be shipped outside the USA,
Size: 11/16 x 11/16 x 10 9/16 inches

Pernambuco 1-8

Real pernambuco is basically gone from the market for many years, it is uncommon to see a piece for sale. Note this is not the same thing as chakte viga, which we also sell. It is not longer clear if the two wood types are closely related, but pernambuco is the rare one which is hard to get. You can darken the color by putting in direct sunlight and then remove once it is almost as dark as you want. Sometimes this can take only 3 hours, so watch the piece while "tanning" it. Some pernambuco that is darker has very little response to sunlight.

Piece 4

1 x 1 x 12 inches

$15.00
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Knife Blanks

Pernambuco i to S

This is genuine Pernambuco. Pernambuco was last imported around the year 2000. There is another orange wood, Chakte Viga (we sell this too) which is somewhat similar to Pernambuco. Some vendors call Chakte Viga by the name Pernambuco. The ones we are selling here are the original ones called Pernambuco, which is also known as Brazilwood. (That is where Brazil got its name by the way). Used by makers of violin bows for centuries, this wood has become rare and heavily protected in the wild. It is not allowed to be exported from Brazil for about 24 years or so.

Piece I

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1.5 x 1.5 x 6.75 inches

$21.00
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Piece J

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 9/16 x 1 9/16 x 5 1/8 inches

$17.00
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Piece K

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1.5 x 1.5 x 3 5/8 inches

$10.00
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Piece L

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 7/16 x 1 5/8 x 6 inches

$20.00
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Piece M

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 7/16 x 1.5 x 6 1/8 inches

$19.00
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Piece N

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1.25 x 1.5 x 4.25 inches

$11.00
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Piece O

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1.25 x 1 5/16 x 6 1/8 inches

$14.00
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Piece P

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 1/8 x 1.25 x 5 15/16 inches

$12.00
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Piece Q

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 1/8 x 1.25 x 6 inches

$12.00
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Piece R

Pernambuco, dried, size: 1 x 1.25 x 5.5 inches

Bowl Blanks

Pernambuco W to Y

Pernambuco is rarely seen for sale. It was last imported about 24 years ago and these were from stock imported around 1995. This is different from the more common wood Chakte Viga which is readily available. These bowl blanks are the only genuine pernambuco bowl blanks I have seen on the market in years. Also, note that some vendors call Chakte Viga as Pernambuco also, but it is not the same species. A Rare opportunity to get this wood, which was sold out most places about 15+ years ago.

Piece W

Genuine Pernambuco Bowl Blank, dried, size: 1 7/8 x 5 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches

$68.00
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Piece X

Genuine Pernambuco Bowl Blank, dried, size: 1 7/8 x 5 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches

$68.00
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Piece Y

Genuine Pernambuco Bowl Blank, dried, size: 1 7/16 x 4 x 4 inches, see notes on photos

$38.00
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