HELP Identify this wood please !

[Stone Message]

Hello Everyone

I am in the middle of writing a review of the Rotex 150 and realised that I do not know the species of the wood in the picture below - can you help?

Please do not be afraid to disagree with a previous poster and also please submit a post to confirm your agreement with a previous poster  - this will help to get it right.

Many thanks in advance.

Peter

 

[Michael Kellough]

I'd guess beech (rift-sawn) but it's nicer looking than any beech I've seen before.

 

[Stone Message]

I do not think that it is beech - I use a lot of beech and have never seen that pattern before.

The surface is very difficult to plane and this piece has sat in my workshop for years because of that. I then thought about sanding it with the Rotex 150 (brilliant sander by the way) and it came up really well. In the picture I have given it a light oil in order to bring out the grain.

Peter

 

[peter halle]

I don't know if you have ever bought any exotics, but maybe lacewood?

Peter

 

[Michael Kellough]

This is picture of corkwood, from Australia. Looks closer than beech.

Hobbithouseinc.com is where I go to identify wood. Link.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Peter might be right.

Australian Lacewood

Riftcut Brazilian Lacewood

Slightly different angle of cut changes the size of the rays.

We need to see the end grain.

Leopardwood

A discussion of the above similar looking woods is here.

 

[Stone Message]

I thought that it looked like lacewood but a friend was adamant that it was not. I think that the pictures that Michael has provided show an almost exact match.

The subject is not closed and so if anyone else has any ideas or wants to support any of the suggestions so far then please join in.

I only have one piece, about 15mm thick, 240 mm wide and 1500 mm long. I was going to use it for a small book rack (Peter Rabbit books) as the grain is so pretty.

Peter

[just made a correction]

 

[Stone Message]

I have taken another picture...

Peter

 

[mouppe]

I really don't think it's lacewood. I have a roll of lacewoood veneer in my workshop and it is more reddish, and also more textured. The texture is also more uniform i.e. it lies in straight rows.

 

[bullieblue]

Without seeing it in person I would say it is either Leopard wood or more than likely - Rewarewa (New Zealand honeysuckle or New Zealand bottlebrush)

 

[sgryd]

Probably a stupid guess, but the sawn off end wood looks like oak. Could it be oak that is resawn at an angle?

[attachthumb=#]

 

[tiralie]

Probably a stupid guess, but the sawn off end wood looks like oak. Could it be oak that is resawn at an angle?

If it's not lace wood or leopard wood maybe fishtail oak or silky oak which are often confused  with lace wood. Based on the color it looks more like silky oak.

 

[CharlesWilson]

I don't know if you have ever bought any exotics, but maybe lacewood?

Peter

My first impression was also Lacewood, but I am beginning to have my doubts. Wipe some mineral spirits before taking a photo and we might have a better sense of it.

Charles

 

[Michael Kellough]

Charles, the surface in this photo is oiled.

The confusing thing to me is that what I think are the rays are darker than the surrounding wood which is the opposite of how the very dense rays of species I'm familiar with accept color. Maybe it's a species that has less distinct rays?

 

[CharlesWilson]

I just cleaned up a couple of lacewood scraps with a card scraper, and put some mineral spirits on them for this picture:

Quite a variation in appearance is to be found with this wood.

 

[Stone Message]

Charles, the surface in this photo is oiled.
The confusing thing to me is that what I think are the rays are darker than the surrounding wood which is the opposite of how the very dense rays of species I'm familiar with accept color. Maybe it's a species that has less distinct rays?

Yes, I am sorry but for magazine work you have to do a few 'tweaks' to get the best out of a shot - hence the oil.

Peter

 

[sgryd]

I like this kind of threads. Much to be learned.

Could you try to find out the density of the wood? Cut off a bit and weigh it. Then lower it in a can of water an measure how much the water level rises to get hold of the volume. How does one take into account the humidity of the wood when measuring density? Does the wood density databases state how many % water is in the wood?

Do you have any means to measure the water inside of the wood, or would it be safe to say "about 6-10%?

Actually, I would be very interested to hear from someone knowledgeable in determining wood species. Is the density a usable figure, or are most species too close to each other in density?

//Michael

 

[peter halle]

I had never seen fishtail oak, but here are some images:

[attachimg=#]

Peter

 

[CharlesWilson]

Is the density a usable figure, or are most species too close to each other in density?

//Michael

I have found large variations in density exist within some species. The two pieces of Lacewood in my picture above have different densities and hardness. They both came from the same lumber yard and were bought at the same time.

Charles

 

[Tinker]

I have gone thru a dozen web sites looking for Fishtail oak and Lacewood.  It seems to make a difference where one is and where the wood comes from how it is identified.  There are samples shown from Brazil and Austrailia for both woods, including Silky oak and Oak lacewood. Also, Lacewood oak.  Leopard wood is also identified.  Also there seems to be a European lacewood, or is it a European silky oak.  I ended up with a lot of confusion that i wood only be able to sort out by printing all of the miriade of pages and putting them side by side to figure out.

There seems to be a close resemblance between all of the above, even tho they are all in apparently different families.  The one certainty I have come away with is that none are in the oak family, but some are related to oaks. (One responder on a Q&A site suggested that in his own assesment, he felt he was doing a great immitation of a lawyer.)

there are pictures on most of the pages showing samples of each wood mentioned.  There are differences between samples of identicaly identified as well as close resemblances of apparently unrelated samples.  After all of this gobbledegook I have just gone thru, i think the Fishtail oak suggestion might be the closest.  However, i would not venture to dispute those who wood say otherwise. 

I am quite sure that Peter's wood is niether Walnut or Chestnut.  :
Tinker