In India, the most commonly found tree/wood is Acacia. It grows easily and abundantly. Hence, it doesnt cause a environmental damage. The wood is heavy and strong therefore ideal to make exercise equipments. It has a lot of natural moisture content, hence that makes it heavy when its cut but it loses weight over time. Losing weight is the escaping of moisture from the wood. During this process, the wood or the item made from it starts to develop superficial cracks. These cracks wont usually break the equipment, but doesnt look good aesthetically. The cracks can be filled with our crack filler kit.
Acacia is called babul/babool/babhul/babhool in India. Along with Acacia, other similar wood types are Neem, Mahogany, Pine (Deodar) etc.
In premium woods, Teak wood (Sagvan/ Sag Van/Sagwan) and Rosewood (Sheesham/Shisham/Shisam) are majorly used. Both woods have long life, 50+ years if good quality. The look, feel and finish is superior. Price of these two wood types is therefore much higher making their equipments pricier.
But practically, any wood is ok when it comes to exercising. If you wish to pass down your Mudgar for eg to your grand kids, then go for teak or rosewood. Otherwise acacia will do the work, especially for beginners.
Once made, the equipments are polished with multiple layers of sealer and coatings to prevent any cracks or corrosion to the wood. The polish makes it a better product and then doesn’t need maintenance for a few years. If one wants it unpolished, we do offer that too. Then one needs to keep oiling the equipment at home to maintain it. 95% items are sold as polished though.
Happy swinging!