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View Full Version : Wood ID help, please



Alan Lightstone
05-20-2012, 11:56 AM
Picked up these boards yesterday, and need some help IDing them:

The first is a reddish board. I'm thinking either Bubinga or Cocobolo:
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The second board looks like Black Walnut, but the seller said it was from South America. I'm thinking Ipe. Any ideas:
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Dave Zellers
05-20-2012, 12:36 PM
I have some Brazilian walnut. Much darker than American walnut. Otherwise, it works and machines the same.

The sawdust is so dark it looks like coffee grounds.

Steven Green
05-20-2012, 9:07 PM
The top one looks like Mahogany to me.

Alan Lightstone
05-21-2012, 10:51 AM
Definitely not Mahogany. Far redder. The cellphone camera didn't do the colors justice.

Alan Lightstone
05-21-2012, 10:59 AM
Here's a picture that better conveys the color of the sample. Above the mystery board is hard maple with Zebrawood and Ipe above it.

Below the board is zebrawood and sapele. So the board is far redder than Sapele, with fairly prominent ribbon grain, but fine pores. The closest I can figure is Cocobolo, but I'm not at all sure.
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Bill Huber
05-21-2012, 12:15 PM
If the top one is really heavy, could it be bloodwood?

Here is a shot of some bloodwood I have.

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Alan Lightstone
05-21-2012, 4:02 PM
If the top one is really heavy, could it be bloodwood?

Here is a shot of some bloodwood I have.

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Interesting, Bill. Didn't think of that. Hard to tell if it's heavy, as it's already 8/4.

Maybe I'll weigh a piece, calculate its volume and determine it's density. Bloodwood should be around 74.6lbs/ft^2 from what I can find. Cocobolo should be about 67lbs/ft^2. Seems in one way a little nuts to identify wood this way, but on the other hand, it seems pretty smart. I wonder, however, how much individual variation there is in different boards (10% I've read).

I guess Bloodwood also fluoresces in UV light, especially an extract made from DNA and sawdust, but I don't have a UV light. Sounds neat, though.

Tom Fischer
05-21-2012, 8:33 PM
Second pic does look like Ipe, weathered by the sun.
As noted by others, these woods can get heavy. Water weighs 62.4lbs/cu foot. If a wood species sinks in water, generally gets labeled as Iron Wood.
I have some Ipe scraps in the basement. They sink in water.
And when you drop Ipe scraps in a pile, they sound like ceramic.
Sawdust can get nasty, similar to the oil in poison ivy. Splinters are like steel needles.

Nice stuff, be careful with it.

jud dinsmore
05-21-2012, 9:32 PM
red board looks like it has some orange in it? could be jatoba (very heavy). other red guess would be paduak. how does it cut?

Joel Wesseling
05-21-2012, 9:34 PM
The Red one looks like Padauk.

Bobby O'Neal
05-21-2012, 10:34 PM
I'll also vote Padauk on the reddish board.

Montgomery Scott
05-22-2012, 9:41 AM
Top one is African paduak. Surest way to check is to put it in the sun for a few days. If it goes a few shades darker it's african paduak.

Second looks like walnut. I'm thinking it's not ipe as the grain is too open. It could be brazilian walnut, just like in the US the brazilian has a wide range of shades, not just super dark. I had some BW some years ago that was about that color and grain structure.

Mike Hollingsworth
05-22-2012, 9:48 AM
Second looks like walnut. I'm thinking it's not ipe as the grain is too open. It could be brazilian walnut,

I always thought Ipe and BW were the same.

My vote is Padauk and Ipe.

Montgomery Scott
05-22-2012, 12:50 PM
I always thought Ipe and BW were the same.

My vote is Padauk and Ipe.

Yes and no. Ipe is also called BW, but so is imbuia, that is what I was referring to. The pores on ipe are tighter that what appears to be shown in the picture so I'm guessing it's not ipe.

Alan Lightstone
05-22-2012, 4:46 PM
OK. I got confirmation that it's Brazilian Walnut and Paduak.

I also thought that Brazilian Walnut and Ipe were the same. Interesting.

I weighed the reddish wood. It came out at 47.5 lbs/ft^3 which is consistent with Padauk.