Help with possible wood ID

[Jerry Bruette]

Looking for some help with wood identification.

The wood in question is being reclaimed for at least the second time. It was being used as a floor in a barn that was in the family for decades. Prior to being a floor the wood appears to have been part of a large wooden tank. The pieces were cut with angles on the sides like the staves of a wooden pail and some pieces had markings on them with numbers we believe indicated depth in feet. The wood is soft and has no noticeable odor when being cut, at least to my old nose. As seen in the pictures it has a very tight grain and a honey brown color and doesn't feel very heavy for it's size. The piece in the picture is about 8"W by 42" long and 1 3/4" thick after I ran it through the planer.

I'm guessing the wood is over 100 years old. The barn was torn down about 12 years ago and the barn was by my parents house for over 70 years.

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[Jim Morgan]

Chestnut, perhaps.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I vote Cypress

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am with Mike. Cypress. I am fairly confident. Compare it to the swivel chairs that were posted recently.

[Mel Fulks]

I think it’s cypress ,too . Nice old growth stuff.

[Jerry Bruette]

I'd like to make some frames with the wood. Are there any finishing concerns? I'd probably use waterborne or wipe on oil based poly.

[Bob Falk]

Cypress is pretty soft. That alone would differentiate from Chestnut. Cypress was used in water tanks.

[Mel Fulks]

The old growth cypress is hard and usually a lot heavier than the light weight cypress that’s more available. Guys who have only used the
new stuff sometimes don’t recognize old cypress .

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I am seeing 50 growth rings per inch. Its lovely wood!

[Prashun Patel]

It could be cypress.
Might it also be butternut?

[Mel Fulks]

It could be cypress.
Might it also be butternut?

No , I did not know what butternut looked like, so I looked it up. The wood is definitely cypress.

[Jon Grider]

Looks like some Butternut I have in my stash. Mine is soft, light and somewhat stringy when machined.

[Tony Shea]

I also vote Cypress. Looks like some that I have but not as old growth as what you show. But I'm pretty confident it's Cypress.

[dirk martin]

How about Black Ash?

[Scott T Smith]

That really looks like old growth cypress to me. I have some here in the shop that is very similar. Plus, as others have stated cypress was historically used for water tanks (along with white oak)

[Tom Bender]

No help on ID but i'm intrigued about the original use. Could it have been a silo? What is the angle and width of the sides? Could calculate the diameter from that. Also, any telltale marks from the hoops?

[Jerry Bruette]

No help on ID but i'm intrigued about the original use. Could it have been a silo? What is the angle and width of the sides? Could calculate the diameter from that. Also, any telltale marks from the hoops?

I don't think it was a silo, but I suppose it could have been. My grandfather worked at the paper/pulp mill in town for a while. I'm guessing that's where the wood came from. There is some charring on some of the wood like it may have survived a fire.

Never thought to check the angle of the sides. When I get more of the wood from my brother I'll do that and maybe the diameter of the tank could be figured.

I don't know how wide a silo stave would be but this board was over 8" wide before I milled it.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Some info about wood tanks. A few in Chicago have been made into rooms.

Ask Geoffrey: Chicago’s Vanishing Water Tanks | Chicago News | WTTW (https://news.wttw.com/2020/07/16/ask-geoffrey-chicago-s-vanishing-water-tanks)