Wood ID Help

[Ricc Havens]

Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the piece with the bark on it before I turned it. But, is this Norway maple or some type of walnut? Only have this one piece of the crotch I caught from a friends's woodburning pile. He thought it was Norway maple but it looked darker than the maple I am familiar with.

Thanks
Ricc Havens360919360920360921360922

[Glenn C Roberts]

I believe the two smell different. Walnut is one of my favorites. If walnut and maple are the only choices, my vote is walnut based on the sharp distinction between the sap and heart wood.

[Ricc Havens]

Glenn, the color distinction isn't so sharp compared to the walnut I have had before. The walnut I have had usually has a creamy or more white sap wood. This seems somewhat consistent to me. Here are more pics taken in sunlight. the center almost looks lighter in color.

Ricc

[Prashun Patel]

Looks like walnut or butternut that I have worked with.

I would suspect the crotch of walnut to be darker than that, but that's not proof negative.

[Bob Bouis]

Your pictures are kind of small for me, but if it was walnut or butternut it would have a distinctive "open" pith. Not to mention open grain (which it looks like it has).

Maple would not have open grain and it wouldn't have the open piths. Example of open piths: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/images/chamberedpith.jpg

Also, the sapwood color isn't a good indicator of the wood type, since walnut sapwood is easily discolored. Plus, walnut heartwood tends to change color gradually after it's cut as it dries. It usually starts out lighter. How dry is that wood?

[ron david]

it may be English (European) walnut which is a lot lighter in the heartwood. there is quite a bit of it that was plantd in this area
ron

[John K Jordan]

Sorry I forgot to take a photo of the piece with the bark on it before I turned it. But, is this Norway maple or some type of walnut? Only have this one piece of the crotch I caught from a friends's woodburning pile. He thought it was Norway maple but it looked darker than the maple I am familiar with.

Thanks
Ricc Havens360919360920360921360922

Look at the end grain after shaving a bit smooth with a razor blade. Walnut and butternut is semi ring porous. Compare with photos on the web to see if walnut is a possible candidate. Doesn't look like walnut to me but the appearance of the surface of the side grain can vary a lot.

JKJ

[Bob Bergstrom]

The bottom of the bowl is closest to the pith. If it were walnut it would be brown rather than a cream color. Norway maple heart wood is also dark so color wise neither looks right. Because it was in a wood pile colors may have leached into sap wood but this is a strange swirl and John's way maybe the best to ID it.

[ron david]

The bottom of the bowl is closest to the pith. If it were walnut it would be brown rather than a cream color. Norway maple heart wood is also dark so color wise neither looks right. Because it was in a wood pile colors may have leached into sap wood but this is a strange swirl and John's way maybe the best to ID it.
here is a pice of european walnut that I installed in a dash of a Morgan. It can be quite light.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1600x1200q90/908/818pPm.jpg
ron

[Leo Van Der Loo]

This is Black Walnut that has sat wet for a while.

As you can see the sapwood is spalted on the bottom edge in this picture, you can also see the pith if you have a close look.

The picture also seems to have a lighter spot in the center, probably caused by either the camera or lighting.

As it is an older piece of Black Walnut the darker heartwood has bled into the sapwood, as is normal for Black Walnut.

The open grain is good to see here even with all the staining caused by the wood sitting wet for a while.

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