Kingwood is a classic furniture wood, almost exclusively used for inlays on very fine furniture. Occasionally it is used in the solid for small items and turned work, including parts of billiard cues, e.g., those made by John Parris

John Parris

John Parris , of Forest Hill, London, England, is one of the most renowned manufacturers of handmade snooker cues in the world.A large number of professional players use John Parris' cues, including Ronnie O'Sullivan, Steve Davis, Tony Drago, Terry Griffiths, Dominic Dale, and Stephen Maguire.His...

. It is brownish-purple with many fine darker stripes and occasional irregular swirls. Occasionally it contains pale streaks of a similar colour to the sapwood, as in the picture.

The wood is very dense and hard and can be brought to a spectacular finish. It turns well but due to its density and hardness it can be difficult to work with hand tools. It also has a tendency to blunt tools due to its abrasive properties.

It is available only in small sizes (it is yielded by a smallish tree, Dalbergia cearensis

Dalbergia cearensis

Dalbergia cearensis, a smallish tree native to the Brazilian states of Bahia, Ceará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, and Piauí, is the source of kingwood, a classic furniture wood. In Brazil, the tree is called Jacaranda-cega-macho, Jacaranda-violeta, Miolo-de-negro, and Pau-violeta....

, restricted to a small area in Brazil). Other woods yielded by the same genus

Dalbergia

Dalbergia is a large genus of small to medium-size trees, shrubs and lianas in the pea family, Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. The genus has a wide distribution, native to the tropical regions of Central and South America, Africa, Madagascar and southern Asia...

 are cocobolo

Cocobolo

Cocobolo is a tropical hardwood of the tree Dalbergia retusa from Central America.Only the heartwood is used: this is typically orange or reddish-brown in color, often with a figuring of darker irregular traces weaving through the wood. The sapwood is a creamy yellow, with a sharp boundary with...

, rosewood

Rosewood

Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. All rosewoods are strong and heavy, taking an excellent polish, being suitable for guitars, marimbas, turnery , handles, furniture, luxury flooring, etc.In general,...

, blackwood

Blackwood

-Botany:* African Blackwood , decorative timber tree native to seasonally dry regions of Africa* Australian Blackwood, Acacia melanoxylon, native to eastern Australia...

 and tulipwood

Tulipwood

Most commonly, tulipwood is the pinkish yellowish wood yielded from the tuliptree, found on the Eastern side of North America and also in some parts of China. In the United States, it is commonly known as tulip poplar or yellow poplar, even though the tree is not related to the poplars. In fact,...

.