Table - What kind of wood is this top?

[Keith Kelly]

You may have seen my other thread where I had totally messed up on sanding & finishing this top. So, I learned about how to properly use an orbital sander & I am back down to the wood and I have high hopes that I sanded correctly.

Question now - what type of wood is this?

[edit] This appears to be very soft wood due to how deep my fingernail sinks in.

274091

274092

[John Lanciani]

Meranti maybe? Definitely one of the Asian export woods (that they make a lot of mass-market table tops out of).

[Larry Browning]

It looks a lot like ash to me. However ash is pretty hard and would not dent very easily from your fingernail.

[Peter Quinn]

Looks like Chinese white wood....something similar to pine that looks sort of like birch crossed with ash but softer than either. It could be a few different species in the "white wood" category, none of them are great, but they are cheap.

[Keith Kelly]

ok. Yeah it's definitely soft, and though we bought it used, I'm sure it's a mass produced style of table, and likely cheap wood.

What kind of finish would you put on it, given that it's a soft, mass produced wood? We plan on having kids beat on this for the next decade.

[Bill White]

It's called rubberwood. Milled from non-productive rubber trees.
Bill

[Keith Kelly]

Ah, good find. I looked up rubberwood per your recommendation and that looks exactly like it. Thanks!