How to distinguish small-leaf red sandalwood from large-leaf red sandalwood

Dalbergia macrophylla

That is African rosewood. In fact, big-leaf red sandalwood is a misname for this kind of wood in the rosewood furniture market. It is called this way in order to deliberately increase its value. The heartwood of large-leaf red sandalwood is orange-red on a newly cut surface, which will turn into dark brown or dark purple over time. It will emit a sour aroma, very similar to reddish sandalwood, but its texture is coarse, mostly reddish brown, and the pores are relatively large, the brown lines are long and not bent, and the cow-hair patterns formed by the pores are long, straight, thick and numerous, and look rougher than reddish sandalwood.

Dalbergia microphylla

That is Indian red sandalwood, which belongs to the rosewood family. Dalbergia microphylla has the scent of sandalwood. The new material of rosewood is reddish with black stripes. Very fine cow-hair patterns can be found on its cut surface, and there are also band-like stripes on the radial cut surface. The stripes are generally straight, mostly with different shades of dark. The width of the stripes is about 3-5 mm, and most of them are yellow.

The difference between small-leaf red sandalwood and large-leaf red sandalwood

When the outer bark of rosewood is removed, you can find that there is a layer of biomass between the outer bark and the heartwood, which is the white bark. When you remove the outer bark of the big-leaf red sandalwood, what you see is the heartwood. Basically, no secondary material can be seen, and it is difficult to see the white skin.

The color of big-leaf red sandalwood is light, the texture gaps are relatively wide and straight, and the texture color is often red and white. Dry and oily, with many black threads in the brown lines.

There are obvious water ripples in some areas. The small-leaf red sandalwood is much more oily than the large-leaf red sandalwood and looks more spiritual. The glossiness and oiliness of large-leaf red sandalwood after polishing are worse than those of small-leaf red sandalwood, and the market price gap between the two is quite large.

The growth of small-leaf red sandalwood is extremely slow. Generally, one circle of annual rings takes seven or eight years to grow, while the growth rate of large-leaf red sandalwood is much faster. Therefore, small-leaf red sandalwood generally only appears in some small handicrafts, and is rarely made into furniture.

Here is a simple way to distinguish these two types of wood. Take the wood and scratch it on white paper. When a purple-red scratch appears, it means it is large-leaf red sandalwood, while the scratch color of Indian red sandalwood is orange-red. In terms of texture, the texture of small-leaf red sandalwood is fine, while the texture of large-leaf red sandalwood is relatively coarse.