Red sandalwood

One of the HoS sets I purchased 10 years ago is a 4” king Collector series. The pieces are boxwood and what I believe was described as red sandalwood. It was my understanding back then that red sandalwood was a euphemism for (blood?) rosewood as rosewood restrictions were coming into effect and there were some marketing concerns. Today I see rosewood fairly freely used but not much use of red sandalwood. Can anyone confirm my recollections? Thanks!

Hi Smoke. I have a HoS Centurion series with Red Sandalwood. I bought it about 2004 or so. I recently asked HoS the same question and received this reply:

Red Sandalwood is now an endangered species and cannot be harvested. Blood Rosewood is African Padauk.

Here's a couple of pictures of my set:

 

beautiful set (and pics)!

 

Thanks, Roberto!

Smoke, Yes. I believe the Centurion and Collector series' were born of the same idea of replicating the famous Jaques sets. Mine is a 4" King as well and the squares on the board you see are 2.25"

Today I only use vinyl or silicone boards for my larger sets so looking for a wood board. They’re inexpensive so I have a number of them in different sizes and colours.

The Collector set feels like it’s best suited for 2 3/8” squares but still sits well on 2 1/4” squares. When I saw your board I guessed it was 2 1/4” squares as the king seemed to take up a good bit of the square but the overall impression was the combination looks terrific and eminently playable.

My other wood set has the same king height and diameter as the Collector but the other pieces are proportionally a bit smaller so the set sits better on 2 1/4” squares. Also have a plastic 3 3/4” HoS set that’s just right for 2 1/4” squares.

Thanks for the information as getting a wood board with 2 1/4” squares will very nicely accommodate all my larger sets. Now if I can just find a board I like that costs less than a weeks wages before taxes!

You're welcome, Smoke. Good luck finding a new board. I look forward to some photos of it with your pieces! 

Rosewood is now also restricted by CITES, so you'll see less of that around too.  

Well, if that keeps up, what will they start using for the dark pieces? Ebony is expensive and if they just "ebonize" the box wood, pretty soon box wood will be endangered! 

Many ebony species are already endangered and some are already listed, box is still fairly common, but its expensive too. CITES learned some painful lessons from the attempts to manage ivory trade "sustainably".