4 new pieces from mystery wood

[Scott Hackler]

Several months ago I grabed up a larg log from the limb and brush dump (where its all burned) and recycled this log into 4 pretty decent peices. It is very satisfying, to me, to see what can be made out of potential firewood.

Either way, I have no idea what kinda wood this is. My Dad thought maybe red elm, because it had wide growth rings and a redish hue when wet, but Im not as sure. It also sat for a few weks and didnt crack before I cut it up and the grain has little knots here and there. It was cut down here locally (Wichita, KS metro) and it had a deep bark on it, kind of similar to cottonwood. It dried very light wieght and moved very little. An absolute dream to rough, return and sand. Wish I had a crap load more. If anyone has an idea of the variety I would be greatfull. Sorry about the camera phone quality pictures.

It doesnt appear to be but the color is a nice brown, with a slight red. I finished them (so far) with cherrywood stain and BLO. The natural color looked almost like walnut. I think I will buff them out and call it good, no poly.

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[Steve Schlumpf]

Nice work on everything Scott! Growth rings sure look like some type of Elm but I am by no means an expert when it comes to identifying wood! Really like the high sided form with the slightly enclosed rim. Nice!

[Brian Novotny]

I am itching to know what that is,....I have a piece here that I think is the same wood, but it's in my mystery category too. it's downright GORGEOUS!!!! and want to hunt out some for myself. and the one piece with the disapearing lip is really nice....Until that look was posted a few days ago I had never seen that and I am becoming obsessed with that style. very contemporary. i'm so sick of looking at the same old shapes......and that look is HOT!!!!

[Thomas Knapp]

My guess would be Russian Olive.

[Prashun Patel]

Sure looks like walnut - if it weren't so light.

[Brian Novotny]

could it be a darker variation of ash?

[Mike Svoma]

Catalpa maybe?

[Jarrod McGehee]

maybe ash or elm.

[Scott Hackler]

Russian olive is out. This log was close to 15-20" in dia and had big, deep bark.

It was very dark and redish when wet but after returning it was ( I swear) the same color as walnut, but 1/3 the weight. Really stable. The larger bowl only warped about 3/8" out of round after 2+ months on the shelf.

The little knot marks in the wood is throwing me but the wide fast growth type rings suggest a really fast growig tree....like elm. All I know is that it was a lot softer than the normal elm I have turned

I thought that it may be pecan? Sure wish I would have taken a picture of the log and bark! If I could get a truck load more I would take it in a heartbeat.

[Harlan Coverdale]

Nice work Scott. My guess for the wood is some type of elm.


could it be a darker variation of ash?
It's been stained. So don't use the color to guide your senses. ;)

[Scott Hackler]

Nice work Scott. My guess for the wood is some type of elm.


It's been stained. So don't use the color to guide your senses. ;)

Yeah I jumped the gun and stained / oiled them prior to taking a picture so try to imagine dry / light walnut for the color.

[Harlan Coverdale]

Hmm. The elm I've turned sure was hard when dry. Same with pecan. But the dark reddish color also hints at some type of elm.

Whatever it is, it's pretty looking. :) Maybe you should just make up a name as say it with authority whenever you're asked.

"Oh that piece? That's some rare orange Patagonian Tiger Wood I picked up on ebay."

[Brian Novotny]

I really don't think it's pecan, knowing it's stained makes it a little difficult. pecan doesn't have those growth rings and is white as day......but since it's stained you got a picture of any leftovers not stained? This is better than jeopardy. I think it's rare tiger wood only grown in the panhandle of texas.....one of the only trees to survive the dustbowl. :D I think rare has alot to do with where you are. When I was in Hawaii we got 4 ft. logs by 1ft. diameter of highly figured koa for $15.......i just found some koa at a shop and it's low low grade and they want $50/bft. and mango burl was dumped along the roads everywhere. There you couldn't give the stuff away, but I couldn't find mango burl here if I had a cadilacc to trade....except for maybe that guy that said he has 40 year old fruitwood.....that guy might have it.

Knowing where it was growing could help alot....unless it's from california because just about anything can grow in california.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great looking bowls. Wood looks like Elm.

[Scott Hackler]

Well I would say that a elm variety is leading the pack right now. Very strange that it doesnt turn or look like all the other elm I've turned.

I dont have any pieces of the log left. I turned all five ( I already made a little saucer out of it cause it dried first) peices and the scrap got thrown in the fire. So no matter what the variety is, I love it and wish I had more.

Thanks for the help and comments.

[Curt Fuller]

Those are all great looking bowls Scott. I'll add another vote for elm of some variety.

[Tom Lewis]

Catalpa wood.

[Scott Hackler]

Having seen the bark on a mature catalpa tree, I dont think thats it, but what do I know. The bark looked totally different then a mature catalpa.

[Greg Just]

nice bowls - I'd vote for elm

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Nice bowls Scott, as for the wood ID, it does look like Red Elm to me, but the pictures aren't sharp enough or have enough of a close-up to really tell what the grain looks like.
So I pulled a picture of some White Elm I have, with some annotations on it, it shows the wavy wood grain all Elms have when cut oblique through the grain.
If you can find that your bowls shows this wavy grain, it will tell you that you do have Elm, HTH

[Tom Sontag]

My guess is catalpa. Surely the cherry stain is making the color deceptive. Catalpa is fairly lightweight and has the kind of grain I see here. And its bark is thick and coarse. If you really want us to play the "name that wood" game, give us a close face grain and end grain shot before finish!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

My guess is catalpa. Surely the cherry stain is making the color deceptive. Catalpa is fairly lightweight and has the kind of grain I see here. And its bark is thick and coarse. If you really want us to play the "name that wood" game, give us a close face grain and end grain shot before finish!

Well here's some Catalpa, and I don't think it looks like Scott's bowls, what do you think ??

[Jeff Nicol]

Scott, The way you describe it, it sounds just like the big siberian elm I got this spring. It has the same grain, same little knots redish hues and looks like walnut when dry. Most of the stuff has stayed very stable, but one of the larger trunks had some "Shakes" in it and will spit along those lines. I was amazed at how light it has become after turning it, I have a bunch roughed out and pretty close to being ready to finish then I will know for sure and will post a picture of one.

The reason I think it is not Catalpa, is the coloring and most of the Catalpa I have has very few little knots. Also a 12" round 20" long chunk that is pretty dry would weigh about 10lbs. It is very light and the end grain is a bear to get cut nice!

Hope we all have helped,

Jeff

[Scott Hackler]

Jeff I would bet, that from your description, it was a siberian elm. Was the bark on your siberian elm log large and kinda deep (similar to a mature cottonwood)?

[robert baccus]

could it be chinaberry-- it is reddish, grows fast and is somewhat light. an import that excaped--is a member of the mahogony family. turn it quite often--------ol forester

[Jeff Nicol]

Jeff I would bet, that from your description, it was a siberian elm. Was the bark on your siberian elm log large and kinda deep (similar to a mature cottonwood)?
Scott, Yes it was very deep and craggy barked. Leo tuned me up on it when I got it as most of the people here in Wisconsin have called it "Chinese Elm" but it is Siberian elm. Nice stuff no matter what!

Have a great day

[Scott Hackler]

Well, cool that should solve the mystery. Now where to find a truckload of fresh cut siberian elm!! :D

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Scott, I should have properly read your post :o, but I didn't, just looked at the pictures, and so didn't clue in on the info you gave in your post, so after reading it properly now, I would agree that it could very well be Siberian Elm.

But mind you mature Elms have deep and rough bark, not just the Siberian Elm, I'll add a couple of bark pictures of some Elms and a Cottonwood to compare, all these are from big mature trees.

Hope these pictures help, though it is very often difficult to ID a tree by just looking at the bark.

[Scott Hackler]

That first picture seems to be like what I remember, but that was 2+ months ago and I have slept since then!