Have you heard of Bud Rosewood?

[goma]

Bud Rosewood...I see it all the time as a material for chess pieces, but only there, even after googling around.

So I am thinking this is a term invented somewhere in the chess manufacturing community and then just repeated by others. Sometimes these sites claim that Bud Rosewood and Red Sandalwood are the same.

Since I cannot find any reliable source for what Bud Rosewood is, is it possible that there is a connection between Bud Rosewood and RS?

The typical explanation, btw, for Bud Rosewood is that it is from the roots of the rosewood tree. It is usually a deep wine red with orange highlights. Actually a very nice wood for a chess piece.

TY.

[Charlie Self]

True rosewoods are members of the dalbergia family. What you describe sounds a lot like kingwood, or dalbergia cearensis, also called violetwood. Supremely exepnsive because it is very rare in anything other than veneer form. It has a waxy feel to the surface when finished, and develops a nice sheen, unfinished, as it ages.

The tree is small, maybe 10" max, and no more than 50' tall.

Flameood might be another candidate, Dalbergia cochinensis, and just about as expensive. Not as rare, colored mroe to the deep red or burgundy, to a light rose-purple shade, but streaks tend to be brown and red. More brittle than kingwood, but still fairly easy to work.

[Gerald Ross]

Sounds like someone with poor vision was trying to copy burl rosewood.

[goma]

Here's a pic of "bud rosewood" in a chess piece.