Interesting Wood Species

[Jim Becker]

I was grabbing a piece of sapele off my wood rack upstairs today and noticed a 5/4 board I had forgot about that was marked "red heart" and came from my cabinetmaker neighbor a number of years ago when he gifted me a pile of odds and ends. I'm not convinced it's "red heart", but whatever it actually is, it has a similar ribbon pattern to the sapele but is clearly a different color as you can see below. I think it may be paduk but I could be wrong about that. It's also very dense and heavy. Since it was pretty darn flat, despite having been in storage for a long time, I skimmed it through the thickness planer since I was already using it for something else and wow.. holy intense color, Batman! You can see the comparison to the sapele in the second photo.

416748 . 416749

Whatever it is, I'm surly going to find some project to use it!

[Jim Morgan]

Certainly does look like padauk.

[Jacob Reverb]

Looks like nice stuff, whatever it is. How is it to work with hand and machine tools?

[ChrisA Edwards]

This was a game board I made out to Padauck, looks similar

https://i1094.photobucket.com/albums/i452/cedwards874/Woodworking/AggravationBoard1_zpstmhje8cf.jpg

[Robert L Stewart]

Looks like all the Paduk I have

[Paul F Franklin]

Since you have a nice rectangular piece, weigh it. Padauk averages 47 lbs cu ft.

I have some African mahogany left over from a project that looks very similar as well. It would be a little lighter, averaging 40 lbs cu ft. Both have large open pores visible on endgrain.

Definitely not to be wasted!

[Mark Daily]

+1 on Padauk.

[Jim Tobias]

Definitely looks like Padauk to me.

Jim

[John K Jordan]

..I'm not convinced it's "red heart", but whatever it actually is, it has a similar ribbon pattern to the sapele but is clearly a different color as you can see below....!

Redheart will change color similar to paduk but a lot slower in my experience.

If you want to know for sure if it's redheart, grab a 365nm UV light (everyone has a couple of those lying around, right! :)). Sometimes it helps to skim the surface in case there is oxidation.

Red heart will fluoresce nicely.

Here is a piece of red heart next to a chunk of honey locust, room light and UV light.

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UV is great to distinguish between locust and look-alikes. The color in redheart is stunning.

Common Name(s): Redheart, Chakte Kok
Scientific Name: Erythroxylum spp. and Simira spp.

https://www.wood-database.com/redheart/
https://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/fluorescence-a-secret-weapon-in-wood-identification/

As for UV lights, I've bought and tested a bunch. The two favorites I keep in my shop:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014AYMBMQ
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IZTTI5G
Do NOT get a cheap 400nm light - they way too much white light to be useful.
There are some cheap 365nm lights but in my experience the quality of the wavelength is variable, even when bought from the same vendor. Of course you could buy two or three cheap ones for the same price as the proven lights. Check the candlepower forum for the latest recommendations.

Besides wood ID, UV lights are good for checking the freshness of eggs, exploring in the woods at night, and impressing kids.

JKJ

[Rob Damon]

Here is some redheart I have that I used for some picture frame inlays.

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[Jim Becker]

I seems like my guess of Paduk is likely accurate.

Paul, the piece is about 6' long ;) which means it's actually useful for something.

[Rob Damon]

Take a sliver with a hand plane and set it out in the sun for a while.

If it goes from orange to brown to black it is padauk.

I have several hundred BF of padauk in various stages of oxidation from orange to brown to black. A little sanding or handplane will take the black back to a bright orange. It is just surface deep..

[Jon Nuckles]

If it goes from orange to brown to black it is padauk.

Or put some boiled linseed oil on it and will turn a deep red.

[Stan Calow]

I used some redheart a long time ago. I remember it being more fine-grained than your photo. The red color was more raspberry-ish, sometimes almost coral. It turned mostly brown (still attractive) after several years. At the time I was looking into it, I recall reading that there were more than one unrelated species being referred to as redheart.

[Rob Damon]

https://www.bellforestproducts.com/redheart/

416830

My stuff. Exactly matches grain/color.

[Jim Becker]

I used some redheart a long time ago. I remember it being more fine-grained than your photo. The red color was more raspberry-ish, sometimes almost coral. It turned mostly brown (still attractive) after several years. At the time I was looking into it, I recall reading that there were more than one unrelated species being referred to as redheart.

Yea, I pretty much have decided with the help of above comments that the piece was mis-marked by my neighbor. While the grain is different than a recent hunk of paduk I acquired (because of how it was milled), upon close examination, they are the same wood.