When seasoned East Indian Rosewood is said to be two-and-one-half-times as hard as Oak, stronger and stiffer, just a heck of a lot more expensive so you might think twice about replacing your shovel handle with it. Anothet piont of interest, those occasional chaulky white deposits can blunt your cutters. Who else has noticed the faux Indian Rosewoods that are showing up in inventorys around the country. Personally I like the dark wood better. Perhaps this is the result of the introduction of Indian Roasewood to country's like Burma, Nepal, Srilanka, Kenya and Nigeria or just the pressure being put on the demand for the true Indian Rosewood that grows in India and on the island of Lava in Indonesia. We usually have Indian Rosewood in inventory, the dark stuff.