In the early days, there were many big logs of high grade agarwood just like normal mid-size timber log, many of them are perfect materials for agarwood beads and art material. Forward to present days, we have smaller agarwood logs for beads making but the market is now flooded with different types of fake agarwood beads and modified agarwood bracelets which even to my eyes, are hard to spot, especially those lightly compressed ones, which make the word sinking less valuable.

I am going to share some information about agrwood beads/agarwood bracelets below. With the first photo, this would be a entry-mid grade of agarwood beads raw material, you can study the beautiful "agarwood resin ring" in the cross section below. So the rings you see on agarwood bracelet looks something like this in raw material form. Lower grade are mostly without any agarwood resin rings or lines, especially cultivated agarwood beads. Which you can read it here.



So when we buy agarwood logs, we need to study the cross section to see which portion will create a sinking beads(Usually darker color portions) and how many sizes we can do. (8mm,12mm,16mm and many more) So the bigger sizes are rolled out first, follow by the smaller ones in agarwood beads standard.

Sometimes, in certain agarwood blocks, you may either find some lucky dense resin ring for you or some "outerspace weight gaining materials" such as iron block,tar, nails,metal and etc.. Well, agarwood logs are not recommended for new agarwood learners, it's expansive and many times, many hidden treasures are waiting for you to uncover :)





How about the log on top, will some sinking beads come out? The answer is...some very small size may sinks during the time when it is not fully dried. There is alot of water loss for agarwood bracelet, so to find one sinking agarwood bracelet of size 16mm, which offcially 31g will sinks (without upsize) it is better for you to buy between 34-37g for 16mm..just to ensure it will not float up and say hello to you during "water testing" :)

Sinking Agarwood Bracelet
To have sinking agarwood bracelet in the past, you need to source for the very high grade logs, most are very expansive and you will need to gamble your dollars on it, most of the time, you will have a mixture of sinking and non sinking beads. The rest of the shavings can be sold for kodo purposes.

Now, with compressed agarwood beads and unknown agarwood look alike wood log, it's very easy to find sinking agarwood beads, but it defeat the purpose of having one real and authentic agarwood beads to admire the scent in it's most natural form.




Finally, there are two types of the agarwood beads making, one which is hand crafted and another type would be machine made, i always love things in an old school fashion, there is always beauty in imperfections, which is always true in the journey of agarwood.