Wood ID - Any ideas?

[Jebediah Eckert]

A few months ago I bought a basement shop of wood (two unorganized pickup truck loads) from somebody who was moving off CL. I kept the domestic stuff I knew I would use and sold off a bunch of exotics. He sure didn't mind spending money on materials, a bunch of boards had tags on them and cost a ton of money. A lot of it was purchased from Berkshire Products. Smaller pieces that were easy to ship I saved and intend to sell off, I have to draw the line somewhere due to space. There is rosewood, cocobola, ebony, a bunch of thick "burl slabs" (I guess that's what they are called), heavy figured pieces, sunburst patterns, figured claro walnut etc etc. I think over 20 years he bought every fancy piece of wood he could find.

Well anyhow I have a bunch of these boards (pictured) and I have no clue what it is. They are about 16" X 6" or so and 1/2 inch thick. They are real light but feel solid. Help me out with an ID if you can, and what would it be used for?

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[Andrew Hughes]

I would call that some crazy cool wood.I can see lots of weird stuff in there so I would leave it whole as possible.
Your a lucky guy Jebediah have you see Krenovs cabinets?

[Peter Quinn]

Looks like maybe a burl, possibly walnut (American black walnut).

[Jebediah Eckert]

I just looked up the cabinets, way cool. The "solid" part almost looks cherry. It had a tag but was written in pencil so it wore off. I'm not even sure how you would flatten something like that? Some type of burl is probably right. I will grab a few more pictures maybe make it easier. These aren't even the craziest boards in the lot but those were labeled at least.

[Allan Speers]

Spalted Ambronia Burl?

[Mike Cutler]

Jebediah

Some type of spalted wood, but it's nice.
If he was buying his stuff from Berkshire products, you know it was not just run of the mill. That's not their business.

If you decide to have a garage sale, please put me on the invite list.:D

[peter gagliardi]

The darker parts definitely look like walnut, as Peter said. Walnut has a definitive odor, so that might be the easiest test.

[Mike Cashman]

That piece would look great simply framed and hung on one of your shop walls. Or even in the family room; it's piece of natural art if there ever was one.
Had a friend in Seattle who had a piece about 9"x16" and he didn't know what to do with it so his wife had it framed. And then hung it on the door leading into his basement wood shop. It was just awesome looking piece, much like yours and looked great in a frame and under glass. A beautiful piece of art. I'm always keeping an eye out for a similar piece and I will do the same some day.

[Shawn Pixley]

Looks like walnut burl to me.

[David Helm]

[QUOTE=peter gagliardi;2485556]The darker parts definitely look like walnut, as Peter said. Walnut has a definitive odor, so that might be the easiest test.[/QUOTE

Judging by the level of spalting, there may not be much walnut smell.
Strongest odor is likely mildew. I have framed, and sold similar pieces of maple. Some people really do like wood as art.

[Jebediah Eckert]

Here are the rest of the pieces. 324505


Im not even sure how you would work them. Certainly don't think you could plane or anything, I imagine they need to be stabilized like turners do? Maybe just sand them flat.......

[Jebediah Eckert]

I forgot I had these in the lot, I also don't know what they are. There are a bunch of other even funkier and larger pieces but fortunately most were marked.

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There is also a large buckeye burl and maple burl that are like 6" thick but hey are similar as I'm not sure how you would make them workable. I have never used any burls or heavily spalted thinks before, they seem like they would break apart etc.

[Bill Orbine]

For your two more unknowns....first piece possibly spalted fiddleback maple. The other Carpathian Elm, possibly. Your original piece (beginning of post) may very well be walnut. It's hard to see with the lighting you are using and also you should at least give the wood a "wet" look wiping it with mineral spirits or paint thinner. Wipe half of wood and shoot!

[Jebediah Eckert]

Yah I will give that a whirl. The first piece is included in the group of five. They all appear to be sawn from the same "block."

[Jebediah Eckert]

Here it is with a few spots wiped down with MS

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Anybody know now of any threads or YouTube videos on how to work with this kind of stuff, burls I guess?

[Jebediah Eckert]

How about Redwood burl for this One? I just found another similar one in the pile and that is how that one is labeled.
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[Ian Moone]

The lower piece of your 2 unknowns, to me looks like a piece of West Australian Jarrah Birdseye burl wood. (Euc marginata).