Wood ID

[Rick Bailey]

My wife has owned this bowl longer than me- we been together 30 years.:)
She found it at a garage sale, it was painted green.:eek:
Stripped and oiled it and it looked ok.
She asked me to try and buff it.
This is the result.
Any idea the wood?

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[thomas prusak]

Redwood burl

[Ken Glass]

How about Butternut? It has a real similar look to me. Just my two cents worth.

[Reed Gray]

Well, not sure.... I have seen yew that looked like that, but usually more yellow. Could be redwood, but that stuff dents if you look hard at it. Ken, I don't think it is butternut, though the color is close. Note the wavy growth rings in your butternut. I found out that is a common limb ring pattern, makes the inside look kind of like a spider web. Could be cherry. Where was the garage sale? Some times location can be a good hint.

robo hippy

[Leo Van Der Loo]

You can’t go much by the color the wood has now, I’m sure the color has changed over time even if it was painted over at one time.

It isn’t Butternut or Hickory as the way those grow they give that wavy look to the grain.

Old Yew wood, would be much darker than this by now.

I doubt it is Redwood or Cedar as it would be full of dents, as that is very soft wood.

It was a slow grown tree to look at the close year rings.

It also looks like there are pitch spots in the wood, like Black Cherry often has, but I’m not ready to call it that, but it could be I think.

Anybody with a better ID ??

333786

[Brad Barnhart]

The more I look at it Leo, I'm not so sure as maybe Birdseye maple. By the growth rings, & the way they spread out, & with the "eye" look in it as well. What do ya think?

[Aaron Craven]

Isn't it a mortal sin or something to paint nice wood like that? And even worse... green?!?!?

[Ben Pierce]

I think it's cherry. I was stumped until the last photo.

[Rick Bailey]

I think I'm going with Leo on this one,
Looks like some burl in it.
With the pitch Knots and sap lines, but who knows?

What we do know is it's over 40 years old, who knows it's journey?

I'm just glad we own it now.

We think it's beautiful. :)

[David E Keller]

Looks like myrtle to me, but it's just a guess...

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Looks like myrtle to me, but it's just a guess...

I have never turned any Myrtle David, and you could very well be right, I could eliminate a bunch of the common wood types, but wasn’t ready to call it Cherry.

The very slow growth of the tree was something you very seldom see in Black Cherry, though not impossible.

[Prashun Patel]

cherry is my vote. the color and grain spacing seems fine to me, but I haven't seen it so prominently grained. But I'm still sticking with cherry.

[Reed Gray]

Well, I have turned a couple of tons of myrtle, and don't think that is what it is. Myrtle can have all sorts of gold, green, grey, black, and even red, but it just doesn't look like it to me. The grain patterns really look like yew to me, and the color is right. Could be cherry...

robo hippy

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Well, I have turned a couple of tons of myrtle, and don't think that is what it is. Myrtle can have all sorts of gold, green, grey, black, and even red, but it just doesn't look like it to me. The grain patterns really look like yew to me, and the color is right. Could be cherry...

robo hippy

Reed like I said before I never turned Myrtle, so I don’t have any experience with it.

I also agree that Yew has a similar color when freshly turned, but that color changes quite drastically after some time, so I pulled a couple of pictures that show the color of both newly turned Yew and then the color of the older Yew, you can see how much darker the Yew wood becomes.

It is why I don’t believe the bowl is Yew wood.

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[Rick Bailey]

Question guys,
We know it's over 40 years old.
It has a very drastic dove tail on the foot.
So with that said how early did we have chucks with dovetail jaws?

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Question guys,
We know it's over 40 years old.
It has a very drastic dove tail on the foot.
So with that said how early did we have chucks with dovetail jaws?

Not turned with a chuck IMO, more likely with a screw chuck (see filled hole in the center) most often a faceplate or waste block was used besides the screw center.

If a chuck was ever used it was a 3 jaw metal chuck, I have used that some 50 years ago turning wood.

[Rick Bailey]

Not turned with a chuck IMO, more likely with a screw chuck (see filled hole in the center) most often a faceplate or waste block was used besides the screw center.

If a chuck was ever used it was a 3 jaw metal chuck, I have used that some 50 years ago turning wood.
Leo,it don't look like it was filled,so why would it be dovetailed?

[Reed Gray]

In pictures 1 and 2, which show the bottom of the bowl, you can see a 'plug' of some thing of a different color in the dead center. In the days before chucks, and well after the first ones came out, it was a very common practice to mount on a screw chuck, rather than a face plate. Some times it was turn the bottom and outside, drill a screw chuck hole, reverse, turn the inside, finish, and then put a plug into the bottom hole. The bottoms were usually thicker so the hole didn't go all the way through. Too much work to turn the hole out.

robo hippy

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I love this game. Can I play? I see Apple, but it would have to be a really big apple to get all heartwood. The color and pitch spots would be right for Apple. Pear would give the same color and grain.

[robert baccus]

Yew or cherry is my vote. Where is a source of Yew or myrtle wood for turning?

[Reed Gray]

Yew is harder to get. I called my log guy about finding me some more madrone and myrtle, and he said the myrtle was going to be hard to find and expensive. Some one is buying up most of it and paying way too much for it, and supposedly milling and shipping it out of country. Normally he gets back to me in about a week, and it has been a month.... I don't mind a lot though, every one here does myrtle, not so many do madrone.

robo hippy

[Rick Bailey]

You guys are cracking me up.:D
What a wounder full group of folks.:o
But I'm sure we will get to the bottom of this sooner or later.:D

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Leo,it don't look like it was filled,so why would it be dovetailed?

It just does look like there is a lighter wood in the bottom center, so that’s why I’m suggesting that, but it could have been done in the other manners as I said.

As for the shape of the bowl and/or the foot, that you would have to ask the turner of that bowl, there are lots of bowls, also non wood bowls, that have a similar foot.

[Reed Gray]

One of my 'round-2-it' projects is to make a swatch book to have when I go to do demonstrations or to shows for a 'how many can you identify' thing.

robo hippy

[Malcolm Schweizer]

One of my 'round-2-it' projects is to make a swatch book to have when I go to do demonstrations or to shows for a 'how many can you identify' thing.

robo hippy

I would love that. I enjoy identifying wood, especially in the presence of a novice. They think you have a sixth sense, and it can be something easy like Douglas fir. I have been asked to restore some furniture for a local museum and cannot wait to get in and see what they are made of.

[Rick Bailey]

It just does look like there is a lighter wood in the bottom center, so that’s why I’m suggesting that, but it could have been done in the other manners as I said.

As for the shape of the bowl and/or the foot, that you would have to ask the turner of that bowl, there are lots of bowls, also non wood bowls, that have a similar foot.


Yep you were right, had to put my glasses on to see it.:o