On Oct 15, 2014, at 9:45 AM, scott grandstaff  wrote:

> 
>   No, you can't take a crappy piece of wood and make it rosewood by soaking it
in a barrel of oil, whatever somebodies granny said or some newbie woodworker
heard and repeated.
>  If you want rosewood, just go get some rosewood and make your tool out of
that instead.

Very true, but...   There just ain't no rosewood out there, at least no
Brazilian, which is what we think of when we say rosewood. But, you can
approximate the look of rosewood, at least the color of it, by using red and
blue analine dyes mixed together to make a deep purple. You apply this to a
lesser wood, say walnut, and after it dries you hit it with a wet coat of garnet
shellac. Voila! A decent fake.

But I agree with Scott. Putting lipstick on a pig does not transform that pig
into Marilyn Monroe.
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