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Sorry for posting this if this isn't the right forum. Is this hickory? I got a few free rounds which are slices of a log instead of a board. Supposedly the slices are 30 years old stored in my grandparents garage.
If it is, what do you use to finish it?
could be ash? Very hard to tell from that picture.
Can't tell, but hickory is very heavy compared most other "normal" wood, like cherry, maple, walnut, etc.
I'm often wrong but I'll guess red oak. Here's a piece of red oak for comparison :
Attachment 347532
Dave, can you post a picture of the end grain, preferably after taking off a clean shaving?
It is definitely not hickory. It looks like red oak. If you cut a thin slice off and suck on you should be able to suck air through it. If you can it is red oak. Hickory is so dense that wou cannot pull air through it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Macy
Dave,
Guessing a wood type from a picture of a board is just a guess. If you really want to know there are several things you can do.
One, is use a razor blade to cut a clean area on the end grain of a small piece (a 1/2" sample is enough) and look at the pore structure with a 10x magnifier. Most domestic species are identifiable this way. There are pictures of the pores on the internet, for example this, at the bottom of the page: http://www.wood-database.com/shagbark-hickory/ My favorite resource is Hoadley's book "Identifying Wood". The Wood Database web site also has some useful information in their article on wood identification: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...ication-guide/
What is the relative weight? Weighing and measuring a piece is also helpful since the density of dry wood is well documented. If the wood is too light or too heavy you might eliminate some species. If you have the bark on the rounds you can look that up too. (30 year old round log sections? Are they split from shrinking while drying?)
2, you can send a small sample to the US Forest Products Lab. They will ID up to five sample of wood per year for any US citizen.
http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/research/ce...dfactsheet.php
3, show the actual wood to a local expert. Some people are very good at identifying lumber they have worked with.
As for finish, what will you make out of this?
JKJ