Help me ID this board

[Dan Oelke]

Can anyone please help me identify what this board is. I just don't have much experience with identifying wood yet.

It appears that it is perfectly quartersawn, and I figure that explains the grain. A thumbnail presses into a corner easier than red-oak. It appears to have an open grain with lots of pores.

I found it in my stash when I was grabbing for something to test out my jointer now that I *finally* got the 220 run out to my shop. I think it came from an auction where I bought that pile of wood in the corner of the barn.

I think I've properly attached the photos below, and there are higher-res versions at
http://www.oelke.com/people/dan/WoodID2a_Big.jpg
http://www.oelke.com/people/dan/WoodID1a_Big.jpg

Thanks!

[Donnie Raines]

Sure looks a lot like mahogany or Spanish cedar to my eye....though I don't recall those species showing off that much ray fleck when qrted...mahogany could,though......

[Andy London]

Definetly looks like a member of the mahagony family, second piece looks like Sapele.

Andy

[Chris Padilla]

Well, cedar will be easy to detect simply by smell. How does it smell, Dan? :)

I sure looks like red oak to me but the rey fleck is very different so I would guess it isn't red oak. I wonder if quartersawn Ash could look like that?

Still, the board is definately reddish like mahagony as Donnie suggested.

[Keith Burns]

I am for sure not an expert but I'll offer my guess. I don't think it's oak but my guess is Mahogony. I have some that looks like yours.

"Some days it's just not worth chewing off the restraints."

[Donnie Raines]

Well, cedar will be easy to detect simply by smell. How does it smell, Dan? :)

I sure looks like red oak to me but the rey fleck is very different so I would guess it isn't red oak. I wonder if quartersawn Ash could look like that?

Still, the board is definately reddish like mahagony as Donnie suggested.

Nah...no smell like the cedar we no love so much on this side of the pond... :cool:

[Dan Oelke]

Those are both pictures of the same board.

It isn't cedar - seems harder than that, and definetly doesn't have the smell of cedar. I was guessing a mahagony, but really wasn't sure. I don't know if mahagony has ray flecks. Also - does mahagony have open grain like oak or ash?

The stripes that run with the grain - I can't really pin down what causes that look, except that with the right light you definetly notice them, as shown in the one picture.

[Lee Schierer]

I vote for mahogany. It certainly isn't oak. The color and grain are all wrong for ash.

[Steve Clardy]

Sycamore I'd say.

[scott spencer]

First thing I thought of was QS sycamore.

[Greg Heppeard]

My vote goes for quarter sawn sapele

[Andrew Ault]

Boy, that sure looks like spanish cedar. It is used on classical guitar necks and does not smell like western cedar. The piece I used smelled sort of peppery.

-Andy

[thomas prevost]

luan mahogany. the pores and rays are typical of it. Does not machine well, splinters like crazy QS sycamore would be more yellow.

Check it out against luan plywood underlayment in the borgs. I am sure you will see the similarity.

[Gary Bingham]

Looks just like some sapele that I've been using. In fact, I've had a few boards that looked exactly like that, especially the second pic. Here's a pic of the only board with a QS edge that I have left:

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Egbingha/images/00008.jpg

[Dan Oelke]

Well I'm getting lots of good suggestions here - *maybe* I can eliminate a couple.

I think that sycamore does not have open pores - if this is correct then it isn't sycamore. This board definetly has open pores you can see by looking at the high-res phots. I have never used sycamore - and only found one reference saying it doesn't have open pores so I could be wrong on this.

Now from what I found, Mahogany, Sapele, and Spanish Cedar all have open pore grain. Is that correct? How does one distinguish between them? Or, how does one distinguish between Luan Mahogany and Honduran Mahogany??

Thanks for all the answers and suggestions - keep them coming!

[Bill Stevener]

I vote for African mahogony.

The best page I have ever found for looking at and I/D ing wood, lots of pictures. Link noted:

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

Use this one if you have HSN. he has a slower link for land line users. Lots and lots of good info.


Bill.>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Donnie Raines]

Mahogany, Spansih Cedar and Saple have open grain(pores) and the cedar is not like the cedar we see growing here in the States...nor does it smell like it. The ribbony stripes you see is simply some figure that the board has....nice if you ask me(which you did not...) :rolleyes:

[Jim Dannels]

Sycamore I'd say.
Is`nt it also known as American Lacewood?

[Bill Stevener]

Well Dan,

What is the wood?? Surely you know by now.;)
You said keep em comming:confused:

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Steve Clardy]

Is`nt it also known as American Lacewood?

Yes. Our version of lacewood.

I also thought of Luan.

[Jim W. White]

I've never seen sycamore with that pore structure.

With the alternating darker and lighter lengthwise shading I'd say it was Philipine Mahagony. The African, in my experience, is pinker.

my 2 cents,

Jim W

[Dan Oelke]

Bill, et. al.:

Well - I'm not sure what it is.

It doesn't have much scent so I'm guessing that it isn't Spanish Cedar. (But I did get a wierd look from my wife for picking up a handful of shavings from the jointer and sniffing them)

I am guessing not Sapele - but I found a couple of pics on the web that have the same ribbon type figure. The reason I'm eliminating that is it is too exotic for the source.

The board was in a pile of dusty boards in a corner of a barn when I bought it on auction. A lot of the "lumber" there has been bonfire food - old siding, door casings, etc. etc. Some of it was 2-4' boards of mostly oak and ash. A few long rough 2x material of cottonwood. This is the only board that I haven't been able to easily identify. The oak might have been cut-offs from a cabinet shop, but everything else was definetly old farmer type stuff and not "woodworking" type stuff.

So that leaves me mahogany. Philipine or African or Honduran??? That is a good question. I really don't know and haven't found anything that gives me a good explanation as to how to tell the differences. Maybe I'll take it into the local Woodcraft or Rockler and ask their opinion - or maybe I'll not worry about it and just find a good use for it. After all - that's what beautiful wood is for - right!?

[Steve Cox]

Just to clear one thing up, Sapele is one of the "African Mahoganies". One of the problems identifying a board as a specific mahogany (and I'm pretty sure this is mahogany) is that the terms are used so loosely. "Phillipine Mahogany" is usually taken to mean Luan but it could be Meranti or any of many other species from there. The same goes for "African Mahogany". Honduras is a little more specific to my knowledge as I don't believe there are as many varieties there as in the Phillipines of in Africa. Best guess from the pictures would be Luan. It ha the lighter color more typical of that wood and the ribbon stripe figure is not uncommon. Hope this helps.

[Dan Oelke]

Thanks for clearing that up Steve. I know that Mahogany is a very broad term, with Luan not being a real Mahogany. I didn't realize that Sapele was a Mahogany.

[John Shuk]

It looks alot like a piece of Mahogany I have. The rays are exactly alike. I just don't know what kind it is.