Is this wood Sheoak?

[Brian Kent]

I made this chalice a couple of years ago and I can't remember what the wood is. The wood was a gift from a Creeker.

Is this sheoak?

If so, I am trying to find more of the same for a plate to make it a communion set for a chaplain. Any ideas on a good wood source?

Thanks

[Roger Chandler]

Brian, I am not familiar with sheoak.........never been up close and personal. That being said, what you show in the first pic has some similarity to sycamore........albeit, one that is in good shape with no spalting or punky wood.......did you turn this from green wood, or do you remember?

I am not saying this is definitely sycamore, but it sure resembles the lace grain a lot!

[thomas prusak]

Another vote for Sycamore

[Brian Kent]

If it is sycamore I have a source (see log). I have just made 17 communion sets from sycamore and there is a lot of variety in them. It is possible, but this one seems a little lacier in the grain pattern. The sets in the picture are from spalted sycamore logs.

[Brian Tymchak]

I too think it looks like Sycamore, although after looking at sheoak on hobbithouse (http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/sheoak.htm) (towards the bottom of the page) I guess there is a possibility that it is sheoak. I wonder if the large grain pattern is lending to the amount and size of the "lace" compared to other samples you are referring to. Must have been a very fast growing tree.

[Brian Kent]

When I look at the price of Sheoak blanks and boards, I may just re-do the whole set in Sycamore.

[John Grace]

I've used the wood pictured many times...to include the bookcase glued up in the shop right. If my 'hunch' is correct, then like the others, it's quarter-sawn sycamore. Sheoak is much darker in color and produces what looks like a 'fish net' appearance. That's my thoughts anyways...good luck.

[Paul Hinds]

No way this is sheoak. I agree that it could be sycamore but to me it looks a bit more like silky oak. Can you get a more detailed pic?

[Brian Kent]

Paul, that makes sense - silky oak. Here are some more pictures. I made a couple of plates from green sycamore last night just in case, but I'll look for a silky oak blank too.

Edit: Stop! You're both right! According to Hearne Hardwoods Silky Oak is a member of the Sycamore family. :)

[Paul Hinds]

Paul, that makes sense - silky oak. Here are some more pictures. I made a couple of plates from green sycamore last night just in case, but I'll look for a silky oak blank too.

Edit: Stop! You're both right! According to Hearne Hardwoods Silky Oak is a member of the Sycamore family. :)

Being a member of a family is fairly insignificant ... a VERY loose relationship. MUCH more significant would be if they were in the same genus and they are not.

Yeah, that definitely looks much more like silky oak.

If you clean up an end grain area enough to see the details, they are trivially easy to tell apart. Both are diffuse porous and both have noticeable rays, but silky oak (on the left) has uniformly spaced thin parenchyma bands between the rays and sycamore has none, plus sycamore has much smaller and more numerous pores than silky oak.

These are 1/4" square end grain cross sections.


291916

If you're trying to ID a wood and you DO have a cleaned up end grain (and a 10X loupe or a camera with a good closeup capability, generally called "macro" on modern digital cameras), you will find it useful to check out my sub-site on wood ID via anatomy, linked to on the main page of my site.

[Brian Tymchak]

Hmmm, learned something new today. I've never heard of Silky Oak.. Thanks guys!

[Paul Hinds]

Hmmm, learned something new today. I've never heard of Silky Oak.. Thanks guys!

Yeah, it's not something you typically see even at an exotic wood store, but it's not to hard to find on the internet. As you can see from Brian Kent's pics, it's gives a nice result on turned objects because of the ray flakes.

[Joe Kaufman]

Sure looks like Silk Oak to me. Wish they weren't planted behind our property. they are 60-80' tall and have to be topped every 3-4 years to limit the height. Limbs keep dropping in our back yard. The sappy blooms are a mess to clean-up. Last year I collected 3 sections of a 11-12" diameter vertical limb. It cracked even with the pith removed, cut surfaces sealed and bark left on, may due to being located in a landscaped area with plenty of water. Around a populated area, I believe they are such a nuisance that they are normally removed before they become too big.