Pterocarpus erinaceus of the family Fabaceae (syn. Leguminosae) the legume, pea, or bean family. Not a true rosewood, although the genus Pterocarpus is in the same family as the genus Dalbergia (the genus for true rosewoods). This wood is as beautiful as most of the rosewoods and more beautiful than some, with similar density and working properties, which is presumably why it has a common name with "rosewood" in it (in addition to the obvious marketing power of that name as opposed to one of its obscure African common names).
my samples: NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K) colors will vary under other lighting conditions
a plank contributed by Savvy Lin, whom I thank for the contribution.
closeup of the plank directly above
small plank and end grain --- this was cut from the larger plank directly above and fine-sanded for the pic --- the rich color is accurate --- this is a beautiful wood.
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
a piece cut from the larger plank at the top of the page and shown here as end grain, end grain closeup, and END GRAIN UPDATE. HUGE enlargements are present.
veneer sheet and closeup. These pics were sent to me for identification and were on the Mystery Wood page for a long time as Mystery Wood #141. Later I became familiar with Senegal rosewood and while I cannot make a 100% ID from just these pics, this wood looks exactly like Senegal rosewood and not much like any other wood I'm familiar with.
web pics:
planks
planks listed as Senegal rosewood / Pterocarpus erinaceus
drums identified as Senegal rosewood / Pterocarpus erinaceus
one of my segmented bowls with Senegal rosewood (osage orange between the two pieces and with padauk veneer behind the osage orange).
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