What is this Mystery Wood?

[Todd Sebek]

I bought a bunch of 8/4 mixed wood from a guy in South Texas that was in the oil field. The wood came off of train cars that would be spacers for stacked 36” pipe. All of it was rough wood and full of nail. There was quite a bit of oak, hickory, etc. Each board was approximately 6” wide and 1 7/8” thick. I put this wood through the jointer and said, “WOW!” The figuring was really cool. I truly have no idea what it is. I was thinking possibly the heartwood of maple. It is a closed grain wood, not as dense as oak, but plenty hard. I took it to wood craft and asked what they thought it was. The best guess was Ambrosia Maple. I thought I would ask and find out if y’all could identify it.

[Mike Henderson]

That is definitely not ambrosia maple. I've used a fair amount of ambrosia maple and it looks very different than that.

When I have that situation, I call the wood "wonder wood" - that is, I wonder what it is.

Mike

[Mel Fulks]

I think it’s gum.

[Jim Matthews]

Shellbark Hickory

[Jim Becker]

Not maple including ambrosia bug decorated versions. I'd say a "nut wood" of some sort, like pecan, hickory, etc., especially if it's hard and heavy.

[Alan Lightstone]

I'm thinking hickory also.

[Steve Demuth]

One of the several Carya ​species that are known as Calico Hickory?

[Brian Tymchak]

Hickory is my first thought.

[Erik Loza]

Hickory also my gut reaction.

Erik

[Jim Matthews]

Hickory also my gut reaction.

Erik

High fiber diet?

[johnny means]

I'm gonna say butternut.

[Jim Becker]

I'm gonna say butternut.

Butternut looks like walnut, but is lighter in color (and slightly softer) which is why it's often referred to as "white walnut". I don't see that in the OP's photos at all. Plus...Texas.

[Brad Schmid]

If sourced in south Texas specifically (and although Pecan is quite plentiful here too) I'm going to vote Sweet Gum. They both can be visually similar and Sweet Gum has a history of being relatively inexpensive and commonly used in the world of pallet/blocking/crating for truck and train shipping which would seem to match its origin in this case of moving pipe. Nails and crushed stone embedded in the blocking would not be out of the ordinary either, so could be hard on blades... Sweet Gum has a wilder more interlocking grain which typically becomes evident (tear-out) when jointing/planing. The challenge with sweet gum wood will be that it can twist like a pretzel as it dries.
Your table looks nice by the way, well done :)

PS - do a quick google search on "sweet gum wood furniture" and I think you'll recognize the visual similarities.

[Mark Gibney]

I agree with Brad that it looks like Sweetgum, aka liquidambar.

The OP says it's not as hard as oak, so that rules out hickory for me.

[Doug Dawson]

Butternut looks like walnut, but is lighter in color (and slightly softer) which is why it's often referred to as "white walnut". I don't see that in the OP's photos at all. Plus...Texas.
Butternut is so soft that you could easily dent it deeply with your fingernail. Totally unsuited to pallets or similar. It can be totally beautiful for cabinet faces, though.

[Jim Becker]

Butternut is so soft that you could easily dent it deeply with your fingernail. Totally unsuited to pallets or similar. It can be totally beautiful for cabinet faces, though.

Yea, beautiful stuff. The house I lived the first six or so years of my life had extensive butternut woodwork including build-ins, as did the house next door. As an aside, I surprise myself actually remembering that. LOL

[Erik Loza]

High fiber diet?

We have a large pecan tree in the backyard. Our husky is obsessed with eating the fallen pecans. Shell and all, just crunches them right up. I can tell it's the season because when I do yard "cleanup", it's like little duraflame logs. No fiber issues for him.

Erik

[Brad Schmid]

We have a large pecan tree in the backyard. Our husky is obsessed with eating the fallen pecans. Shell and all, just crunches them right up. I can tell it's the season because when I do yard "cleanup", it's like little duraflame logs. No fiber issues for him.

Erik

Right on Erik, my hound is the same way, LoL :D
And the other thing about the pecans is that they're like bullets coming out of the lawnmower and they break windows!

Brad

[Erik Loza]

Right on Erik, my hound is the same way, LoL :D And the other thing about the pecans is that they're like bullets coming out of the lawnmower and they break windows!Brad

Brad, thankfully we don't have grass in the backyard but the squirrels chew up pecans in the tree and drop the half-eaten shells on our deck. I swear, it's like stepping on a Lego to land on one of those things with your bare feet.

Erik

[Ronald Blue]

Brad, thankfully we don't have grass in the backyard but the squirrels chew up pecans in the tree and drop the half-eaten shells on our deck. I swear, it's like stepping on a Lego to land on one of those things with your bare feet.

Erik
Erik are you sure it's not intentional? Are they up in the tree laughing at you hopping around on one foot in pain? Those squirrels are ornery critters.

[Brad Schmid]

Brad, thankfully we don't have grass in the backyard but the squirrels chew up pecans in the tree and drop the half-eaten shells on our deck. I swear, it's like stepping on a Lego to land on one of those things with your bare feet.

Erik

Since this conversation has already taken a left turn, I'll oblige... Now the real quandary is this... What's worse, stepping in bare feet on the "little duraflame logs" or the pecan shells?
Regardless, the dang squirrels are definitely up there laughing :D
Cheers

[johnny means]

Butternut is so soft that you could easily dent it deeply with your fingernail. Totally unsuited to pallets or similar. It can be totally beautiful for cabinet faces, though.

You are correct. I missed the comment about hardness. We use a fair amount of butternut because it's rustic appeal seems to fit our aesthetic. I despise working with the stuff. The furry grain, and splintery nature make it wholly unpleasant to process.

[Tom Bender]

So an important question is where was the 36" pipe sourced? Mexico, Canada, Indonesia?

[Erik Loza]

Since this conversation has already taken a left turn, I'll oblige... Now the real quandary is this... What's worse, stepping in bare feet on the "little duraflame logs" or the pecan shells?
Regardless, the dang squirrels are definitely up there laughing :D
Cheers

Brad, I will take literally ANYTHING over stepping on a lego with your bare feet. ANYTHING.

Erik