# XF cocobolo scales



## phinds (May 25, 2015)

My friend David Clark is working w/ the Chinese to set up a xylarium and they have decided that they want some small fancy pieces for display purposes. He had me buy 13 outrageously priced cocobolo scales from a major vendor here in the states. These pics show 4 of them. They really look like this ! (of course given what they cost, they damned well SHOULD look outstanding).

I put them here rather than in "recent finds ... " because I wanted people to be able to comment on them if they wish.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 3 | Way Cool 1


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## Kevin (May 25, 2015)

Those are pretty nice Paul. What is the difference between a xylarium and a xylotheque? One of my oldest FBE customers is in Europe and has a substantial xylotheque of his own, but I don't really know how that differs from xylarium. 

Two different words with the same meaning?


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## kazuma78 (May 25, 2015)

How expensive are scales like that? I feel like you could get coco like that and resaw some scales on your own


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

Kevin said:


> Those are pretty nice Paul. What is the difference between a xylarium and a xylotheque? One of my oldest FBE customers is in Europe and has a substantial xylotheque of his own, but I don't really know how that differs from xylarium.
> 
> Two different words with the same meaning?


Don't know. Never heard the word "xylotheque". Maybe it's French for xylarium? Sounds French.

Nearly as I can see on the Internet, they do mean the same thing ("a collection of wood")


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

kazuma78 said:


> How expensive are scales like that? I feel like you could get coco like that and resaw some scales on your own


These run $30 and $40 per pair. Prorates out to something like $1000/BF.

If it were my money, I sure as hell WOULD do it myself, but why waste my time when the Chinese are paying? I don't have any interest in making scales or making money from scales, I just am happy that David is getting them through me so I can take pics of everything for my site.


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

kazuma78 said:


> How expensive are scales like that? I feel like you could get coco like that and resaw some scales on your own


Another thing, in case you didn't notice ... these are NOT just any old piece of cocobolo and finding pieces this good is not trivial. That's one reason they are so expensive. Only the choicest pieces go into this quality of scale.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## kazuma78 (May 25, 2015)

phinds said:


> Another thing, in case you didn't notice ... these are NOT just any old piece of cocobolo and finding pieces this good is not trivial. That's one reason they are so expensive. Only the choicest pieces go into this quality of scale.


 I have cocobolo like all of those but the top ones so I didnt know it was difficult to get stuff that looked like those.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 1


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## Nature Man (May 25, 2015)

I give up. What are scales? Chuck


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## SENC (May 25, 2015)

Those are some gorgeous specimens, Paul! I'm partial to the bottom two.


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

Nature Man said:


> I give up. What are scales? Chuck


Blanks for knife handles / gun grips

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

SENC said:


> Those are some gorgeous specimens, Paul! I'm partial to the bottom two.


Yeah, they are all great. It was the top one that really struck me.


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

kazuma78 said:


> I have cocobolo like all of those but the top ones so I didnt know it was difficult to get stuff that looked like those.


Damn, wish I'd had that kind of luck buying cocobolo. Where did you get yours?


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## kazuma78 (May 25, 2015)

phinds said:


> Damn, wish I'd had that kind of luck buying cocobolo. Where did you get yours?


 Some from members on the forum and one piece from a guy in El Paso. I bought some from ebay at one time but there is a guy on there now I bought some pen blanks from recently that has some fantastically colored cocobolo. I specifically requested some of the really orange stuff with lots of contrasting black line and thats what he sent me, no extra cost. Some of his stuff has alot of the really cool rainbow cocobolo colors. Heres a link to some of his stuff: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-square-fo...760?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58a20b8808 Seems steep per board foot but the colors are pretty nice and its BIN/OBO so you could always make an offer on a certain number of board foot. Based on my one buy from him he would probably cut a specific kind of figure for you if you really wanted. He has ALOT of cocobolo though and in much smaller pieces if you look at his stuff.


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## phinds (May 25, 2015)

Thanks for that link.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tony (May 25, 2015)

That is some beautiful wood!!! Tony


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