Wood ID?

[Dan Forman]

Can you identify which is bloodwood, and which is padauk?

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1010559.jpg

Thanks,

Dan

[John Shuk]

It looks like deadly poisonwood and it is only safe to use in Putnam County New York. By coincidence I live there so I would be willing to help with this.
I'm not sure what it is but is is very nice. Enjoy making something with it.

[Wayne Gordon]

I just used some bloodwood last week. So i'd say the bloodwood is on the left and the padauk is on the right. The bloodwood would also be heavier.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Wayne if I had to guess!

[Jack Ferrell]

I don't have any bloodwood, but I do have some padauk and it looks like the one on the right.

[Don Bullock]

If you can't figure out, I'll take it off your hands.;) :D

[Mike Parzych]

bloodwood = left
padauk = right

I can tell by the smell

[Mark Singer]

Padauk on the left...

[Andy Hoyt]

Dang - Mark beat me to it.

[Bill Simpson]

Bloodwood left Padauk on right....

I am looking at a sample of each piec as I write this and if I hold my Bloodwood up to your left picture, it is dead on it. As for the Padauk, mine is finished and still dead on your right picture.

Not a scientific approach as I dont have a hundred or so pieces to choose from but in my little world I an Czar and that is what I say.

[Dan Forman]

First off, let me thank those selfless souls who offered to take the wood off my hands, thereby saving me any further stress secondary to the identification issue. It is, however, my cross to bear, and so I must just try to get along the best I can under the circumstances. ;)

I bought both boards at the same lumber yard, and was told the left one was african padauk, and the right one was bloodwood. I came to question this when I posted the picture and above description on another website in response to another photo ID post, and the majority there said that I had them mixed up, so thought I'd try here too. I'll tally the answers tomorrow. In the meantime, keep them coming.

Dan

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I assume L = Bloodwood because R sure looks indentical to all the Padauk I have worked with this year.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got 3 boards of bloodwood in my shop and they look nothing like the board on the right. The board on the left has a bit more variation in color than my bloodwood, but I would imagine thats not uncommon.

How wide are those boards?

[Dan Drager]

The Majority is correct. The Bloodwood is on the left and if the one on the right isn't Padauk, I'll eat it.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

The one on the right looks like Padauk

[Dan Forman]

On the thread on the other forum I mentioned earlier, someone stated that padauk will bleed into maple if shellac is used due to the alcohol content in shellac, which is something I recall reading some time ago. He said that bloodwood was relatively colorfast. Given this info, the Mr. Wizard in me (guys of a certain age will remember Mr W) decided to conduct an experiment. Using the same two boards pictured earlier, I cleaned an edge of each one with alcohol to remove any dust, then swabbed the same section of each board (about 12 inches) with a clean paper towel soaked in denatured alcohol, 8 strokes for each board.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/T-Caster/P1010562.jpg

The difference is pretty substantial, the stains on the towel are in the same relative positions as the boards in the picture. If the information is correct that padauk bleeds into alcohol more than bloodwood, than it would appear that my lumberyard was correct in identifying these samples.

Anyone else know anything about colorfastness of these woods?

Dan

[Matt Calder]

Dan,
I am in the process of making a bed with bloodwood right now. What confuses me is the left one is the color of mine, dead on. But, the grain pattern of the right one is more similar. The example on the left has a straighter and more pronounced grain than any of the boards I have.

According to

http://www.exotichardwoods-africa.com/paduakafrican.htm

bloodwood has a density (dry) of 40 lb/ft^3 and padauk a density of 45 lb / ft^3. That's a 10% difference, which one is heavier?

Matt

[Terry Bigelow]

Bloodwood-left Padauk-right I bought a bunch of bloodwood shorts and offcuts at my favorite wood supply and what I got (and what they have LARGE quantities of!) looks exactly like the left piece.

[Jesse Thornton]

The one on the right looks like padauk to me. I'd be suprised if it was the other way 'round.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

The left side looks like teak

[Keith Cope]

Bloodwood on the left, Padauk on the right--I agree with all the wise folk replying before me...