Rosewood s Ebony

I'd like to buy a chessmen set from CB. The Black's pieces come optionally as rosewood or ebony. What is better from the terms of durability? Does anyone have some experience to share?   

There is a complaint here about chess bazaar : 

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/chess-bazaar-beware-of-guarantee And many others are unhappy. There was a second forum about it, but it got deleted I guess. I wouldn’t really buy from chess bazaar overall,but your choice.

In terms of durability alone I would probably give the edge to Rosewood. Ebony has been known to crack in some circumstances. (dry climate for example) It's a little heavier than Rosewood and has a silkier feel to the touch. I've had no problems with my Ebony set so far but others have. (I live in a humid clime) I would say the SAFEST bet would be Rosewood.

Have no idea what storage conditions these pieces were kept at — an attic? Car trunk for a few years? Looks like a massacre. Durability depends on how careful one is with their things. Hey at least with ebony, when it does develop a random crack or two, it's not that obvious during a game. 

I have repaired several cracked ebony chess pieces   with starbond black ca glue. It fills gaps and can be polished when it cures.  

Ouch! Looks like boxwood (White pieces) also cracks no worse than ebony. In fact any wood would if stored incorrectly. BTW most of the pieces cracked at the bottom where the weights are implanted. Wet wood that got very dry?
P.S. In general, nice Reykjavik set. Do you know where purchased from?

Bro you really should put a NSFW warning. 

I would agree with others that rosewood is the way to go if you are concerned over durability. I have sets made of many different kinds of wood and never had an issue. I live in a place where the humidity is very stable so all I need to do is keep my sets out of the sun and HVAC vents. If I lived in a place with extreme fluctuations in humidity then I would use the Bovida packs and store the sets in air tight containers. 

@Pawnerai One more thought - I see that the boxwood pieces suffered mostly on the pawn side (and the rook's "crown") whereas almost every ebony piece cracked. That makes me think that given the same storage conditions ebony is much more susceptible to cracking overall. 

Unfortunately, Rosewood no better than ebony. It cracks like no tomorrow, I have The Sinquefield Cup 2017 Chess Pieces in Bud Rosewood & Boxwood from CB. 

@ogouriev that's a nice set you have. Here I saw photos of cracked rosewood too but by far there are more reports of cracked ebony. Do you have any photos of your cracked pieces? BTW did you repair them or CB replaced the damaged ones?

The pics are from an eBay listing that recently ended. House of Staunton Reykjavik set, most likely manufactured in India.

Judging from the poor exterior condition of the box, it looks like a family owned and thoroughly played with set that has not been stored away or taken care of in any way over the years. They certainly got their money's worth! Hah! 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/265695280073

That may be from piece slamming...I've never seen so many cracks in one set before. I can't believe it sold for 100.

Is there any other way to play for fun? BOOM! LOL

Hahaha!!! I was guilty of that in my younger days. One of my best friends was worse than me about it. How my poor old set survived those days is a miracle. I'm so glad I still have it...Now I baby it more than my ebony!

Many, MANY more people are VERY HAPPY with their products, including myself. Based on more than 20 sets I purchased there, not just on one. But you'll never hear from those people, only from the whiners.....

Anyway, regarding the actual question, I always pick ROSEWOOD over ebony. Ebony is more likely to crack, plus rosewood looks a lot more lively. 

These aren't Chessbazaar pieces though, they don't package their pieces like that.

I only bought ebony pieces from them if there was no other option, but the 4 or 5 ebony sets I bought from them had no cracks when they arrived, nor did they develop cracks in the 2 or 3 years I owned them. 

Pardon me for asking, but what do you do with that many chess sets?

chesmaster-diamond----I  have whined and praised chessbazaar.  I am very satisfied with the 5 sets that I bought from CB. But I  have had problems with their customer service.  -----QuirkyGator--I have at least 60 sets. Some are antiques, works of art.   I play with 10sets, in rotation. @30 sets are cheap plastic sets that  I use when I teach chess programs for children and seniors. Usually in local libraries and senior centers.  

I sarted collecting sets, but eventually I sold the vast majority of them. Now I'm down to about 6 wooden sets.