What type of wood is this?

[Lyndon Graham]

I saw this in Texas last year. Look at the shelves. For my 1st real project, I want to try something like this. These shelves were 2" thick finished. So I figured he started with 10 or 12/4. The shelves went for about $2k each and the desk about $5k. The surface looked distressed.

Thoughts on the type or types of wood?

If it is Mesquite I am in trouble. Getting Mesquite to OR is not a simple task. What type of wood could be substituted if it is some exotic SW wood?

Thanks



http://s-lgraham.smugmug.com/photos/440635715_YdGUY-L.jpg

http://s-lgraham.smugmug.com/photos/440635742_3j4bU-M.jpg

http://s-lgraham.smugmug.com/photos/440635782_nktou-M.jpg


http://s-lgraham.smugmug.com/photos/440635711_zf7HG-M.jpg

[Dewey Torres]

I hate to tell you but chances are coming from Texas and looking at this, it is probably mesquite.

[Barry Richardson]

I don't think it's mesquite, it would be very rare to have that much in those dimensions with no knots and defects. I was at a showroom a while back that featured a lot of that chunky/old world looking stuff and it was all made of of Central, American wood that I'd never heard of, in other words "mystery woods".

[Michael Faurot]

It's difficult to tell with certainty as the pictures don't have enough resolution to allow close scrutiny of the grain. But from what I can see, they do not appear to be made of Mesquite.

Here's why I think it is not Mesquite:



You don't typically get a lot of clear Mesquite in large sizes. At least not the type that's found in South Central Texas, which I'm familiar with. So there's always a lot of filled voids and defects in it. Thus you would expect to see dark spots in the pictures--which I don't (at least what I can make out).
Here in the San Antonio and the Hill Country area--Mesquite is not stained or distressed. Some of the pieces in these pictures appear to have been stained. I'm not saying Mesquite can't be stained, but I doubt any Texas woodworker would do so.
Except for the bookshelf against a white wall and that has nothing on the shelves, the other pieces don't have the right coloring. I've attached a couple pictures of a box I made from Mesquite, that will give you an idea of the coloring and grain pattern. The red wood is Bloodwood, the finish is TruOil. Be sure to click on the thumbnails as they'll give you the option to see a larger resolution picture with enough detail to see the grain.

[Chris Padilla]

I know it isn't Neander-ish, but to save money (over the long run, likely), you can get thick-looking boards/shelves resawing veneers and using a vacuum press. I'm doing this on my Tansu (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=92396) project.

[David Keller NC]

Lyndon - Based on my experience, that strogly looks like southern yellow pine heavily stained with a pigment stain (as opposed to a dye stain). Yellow pine absorbs pigment stain unevenly between the soft early wood and the hard late wood, and the uneven absorption makes the figure stand out strongly, as is the case with the furniture you've photographed.

[Bob Smalser]

Use Western White Pine.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/4173972/51855527.jpg

It's local, cheap, stable, fairly light, loves hand tools, loves glue and comes in clear, wide boards. You can stain or paint it to look like anything you want. Make those pieces out of Mesquite and your spouse will need a backhoe to move them for cleaning whatever is beneath.

Moreover, Mesquite isn't exactly hand tool friendly. Neither is Southern Yellow Pine or Doug Fir, for that matter.

[Alan DuBoff]

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/4173972/51855527.jpg

Bob,

What a tease you are. Would like to see some updated pics of your house! ;)

Last pics I saw had some log/timber in one of the rooms, bet that looks pretty good with the rest of the house.:cool:

[Casey Gooding]

Honestly, it looks like some mystery wood from Southeast Asia. I run across this stuff all the time. People import handmade (though not very well) furniture from Asia super cheap and mark it up several hundred percent. No telling what it really is. Just find something you like and go from there.

[Michael Faurot]

Moreover, Mesquite isn't exactly hand tool friendly.

The species I get around here certainly seems to work well and easily with hand tools. I don't know if that means I've just been lucky or there's a big difference in the species of Mesquite in different regions. But for what's around here in South Central Texas--it's very hand tool friendly.

[Corey Filkins]

Most of thier stuff is pine, I think it is mostly from East Texas area.

I live in the FW area and I they have two stores, 1) in Fort Worth and 2) in Dallas at the Farmers Market.

My wife and I have looked at it and from what I can tell Stained pine. They do a great job of distressing the wood.

Hope that helps. Send them an email and I am sure they would tell you.

[Lyndon Graham]

Most of thier stuff is pine, I think it is mostly from East Texas area.

I live in the FW area and I they have two stores, 1) in Fort Worth and 2) in Dallas at the Farmers Market.

My wife and I have looked at it and from what I can tell Stained pine. They do a great job of distressing the wood.

Hope that helps. Send them an email and I am sure they would tell you.

Yes, and to all of you thanks. Now I need to find some Western White Pine

[Kelly C. Hanna]

Most of the pine furniture sold in Texas is not from here. If the wood had small holes in it is is defintely from Mexico and is marked up way beyond it's worth. Most of the SYP cut down in Texas is used for PT pine or SYP 2x's. To find anything thicker is unlikely from our area.

There are a million furniture importers here. Your best bet may be to find a small local mill down here that will cut and ship to your location, even then it might eclipse the cost of buying Doug Fir in your area and beating it up to get the look you want.