Type of wood??

[Nate Conley]

I am wondering what type of wood this is. A little history on where it came from: I bought it in mid Michigan. It was all rough sawn in a barn sticker stacked for 30+ years. This wood is a lot softer and lighter compared to oak. It machines well and can be easily worked with hand tools. I believe it might be butternut (white walnut), but I have only been woodworking as a hobby for about 2 years and do not know much about identifying the different types of lumber. The sapwood is very light colored and there is not much on it at all.

Thanks - Nate


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[Bradley Gray]

The end grain pores and light weight remind me of Chestnut, but stock I have come across in Southern Ohio tends to be more amber in color.

[Nate Conley]

Chestnut was my other thought, the camera and lighting hides the light amber tone.

[Neil Bosdet]

It's hard to say with photos but it looks like Cherry to me.

Cheers,

Neil

[Yonak Hawkins]

Butternut sounds like a great guess. It's lightweight. The color and grain are right . . .

[Nate Conley]

Neil,

I have some cherry and I don't think it's cherry, however, I am going to throw a planed board in the sun and see what it does. It does have similar grain patern to cherry in areas, but its much softer. I'll try to get more pictures up of different boards.

-Nate

[Jim Matthews]

When you cut it, does it smell like Root Beer soda?

[Wade Lippman]

I think you are correct about the butternut.

[jeffrey bailey]

I think Jim is thinking of sassafras. It does look like it. I have used quite a bit of it.

[Jim Becker]

My guess is Butternut...sometimes called "white walnut" as they are related. Very similar grain pattern, but lighter in color and a little softer. Really nice stuff. The house I lived in when I was a young child featured butternut woodwork throughout and it was gorgeous.

[Nate Conley]

Sassafras is a possibility. I have not noticed a distinct smell, however, I use black walnut a lot and my nose is drawn to that smell in the shop. I'll post a couple more photos tonight. Thanks again for the thoughts. Any particular photos I should take to help identify? More end grain? Sap wood? Edge grain?


-Nate

[Wade Lippman]

Sassafras and butternnut look similar, but only butternut is soft and light. Sassafras is more like oak in those chararteristics.

[cody michael]

do you live around mid michigan? I live in midland.

[Nate Conley]

Wade,
It's light and soft compared to oak, I'm thinking butternut it is.

Cody, I'm from the Lansing area.

-Nate

[Bill Adamsen]

Another possibility is Mulberry. I recently made a cabinet from Mulberry harvested in Northwestern CT and when I saw your sample that was my first thought from color, face and end grain. Probably White mulberry. It was easy wood to work with and finish.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/mulberry.htm

[Don Orr]

Butternut is most likely correct. The "mountain peaks" in the cathedral grain on the flat sawn face is characteristic of Juglans cinerea. Excellent end grain shots too! American Chestnut is a possibilty as well

[Peter Quinn]

Butternut is a very good guess, dead ringer for it. I just subbed on a butlers pantry all in butternut, looks just like your photos. Dents just by looking at it.

[Jim Rimmer]

Looks like this sample of butternut I found with Google300869

[Nate Conley]

Thanks for the comments. Don, the end grain seems more semi ring porous which makes me think it is butternut. But I want to find a rift sawn or more quarter sawn board and look at that end grain to see if I can get a better straight layer look vs the arched look i got with that perticular board in the picture. Either way, it's gorgeous lumber that I got for a very good deal. I would just like to know what type of wood I'm using. I bought it all rough sawn stacked in a barn for over 30 years, probably much longer. I would love to find out it's chestnut, but it seems unlikely. I may take a board to a local mill to see if they can confirm my guess.

[Yonak Hawkins]

Nate, if you want a positive ID you could always send a sample to the Forest Products Laboratory.

[Danny Hamsley]

It is butternut. The pore pattern is semi-ring porous, where the pore size gradually changes in size through the annual growth ring instead of one distince line of large pores and one distinct line of small pores. The two distinct lines of pore sizes is what is seen in oak, ash, elm, sassafras, and mulberry, among others. The gradual change in pore size from large earlywood pores to small latewood pores is seen in black walnut, butternut, and persimmon.