Identifying wood and species recommendations

[Jeff Franklin]

So over the years I have collected a few small boxes. Not fancy, artistic boxes, but rather simple, funtional boxes. Now that I am starting to learn about woodworking I want to know what species were used to make the boxes I collected. Yeah, I know. Sounds a bit futile over the Internet, but here goes.

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The box on the left is made by the now defunct Bower Studios, Vergennes, Vermont. I bought it 24 years ago and it has an oil finish according to the sticker on the bottom. The wood is medium weight and has a reddish, golden color. The sides are made of jointed pieces about 1 inch wide. It is obviously the more "artistic" of the three.

The middle box is really old. It was the shipping box for my brother's microscope when we were kids. Might be as much as 50 years old. It is very light weight and has an amazing sort of irridescent sheen in the grain when you move the box in bright light. I think the wood is unfinished in keeping with it's original mundane purpose. When I say very light I mean like almost balsa wood light. It's a bit startling when you pic it up.

The right box is the newest, but I don't remember where I got it. It is the heaviest of the three and is very light colored as you can see. I doubt it is maple, but it might be.

So yeah, all you folks can do is guess, but I figure I'll get some good info that way. Also, if I want to start making boxes like these (all are 1/4" thickness) where is a good place to get thin stock? I don't have a bandsaw so resawing is out. I do have a jointer and a planer to square and thickness the planks, but I don't want to waste a lot of wood by shaving thicker stock way down.

Thank you in advance.

[Andrew Hughes]

Maple,Paulownia,Maple.
My best guess

[Jeff Franklin]

Maple,Paulownia,Maple.
My best guess

I was not familiar with Paulownia, but upon researching I agree with you. It also sounds like an interesting wood to experiment with. They make surfboards from it!

[Bradley Gray]

Pauwlonia is an interesting wood. It arrived in this country as seeds, used for packing peanuts for dishes from China - up the Mississippi river system. It is now considered an invasive species by The Nature Conservancy for one. It gets killed by winter every few years here in Ohio, but in the Southern Appalachians and Smokey Mountains it is a serious problem. The wood,however, is very usable and in the far east is used for ceremonial boxes as well as the Japanese Koto instrument. Surfboards in the US as you mentioned.