Can you --- Name This Wood!! See the pictures

[Sam Murdoch]

It's not Walnut. Walnut has large pores. I think it's Jatoba. Pau Ferro isn't a bad guess, but I work with a lot of that and it usually has at least some light brown streaking in it. Teak is also not a bad guess....teak can look a lot like Jatoba.

If bought from a lumber yard, and if it's Jatoba, it was probably sold as "Brazilian Cherry" because I guess "Jatoba" is too difficult for us.

I agree with Jatoba.

[Andrew Hughes]

It could be walnut,Brazillian walnut ,also called IMBUIA i have worked Imbuia once and its hard and heavy another tropical wood.

[Barry Richardson]

Toasted wood sounds like a good guess... or maybe Pauduk thats seen a lot of light...it gets that brown.

[Van Huskey]

If I just saw it across the room Walnut. But closer it looks denser and the pore structure isn't right. I would bet on one of the species sold as Ipe but I would be surprised to see it sold by the piece... I have seen Jarrah that looked very similar but again just not right. Jatoba, thats my final answer BUT I my gut tells me it si wrong to, would love to be able to hold it...

[Nick Sorenson]

You know, that does look a little like Walnut. I should plane a dark Walnut board and put it next to it for reference.

But as others guessed, Walnut would be too obvious for us USA folks.

It's an exotic. The interesting part is that I bought two boards from the exact same vertical stack with the same bar code and similar color but they look different. The other almost looks like Zembrano. I figured that it was probably just the angle of the grain (the other one happened to be quartersawn). But when I cut them on the band saw they smelled like completely different woods. This one (pictured) smelled bitter and was hard to breathe next too. The other smelled a like stale old used coffee grounds (sort of sweet and fragrant yet stale smelling just like old coffee grounds).

I'll get a picture of the other board from the same pile in the morning. I'll also give the species. A few have already guessed it... I'll leave you wondering who you are for now

I'll also give the price as a clue... The board was around $10 bd/ft. There was another species I purchased on that same trip that was $30 bd/ft.

That tells you (and the sticker) that they were from a high markup hobby hardwood store (but not Rockler or WC).

ALSO... I should add... the wood is EXTREMELY hard and dense tight pore structure (harder than anything I have in the shop out of several rosewoods, Hard Maple, Oak, Ash, Walnut, etc). It machines great and comes out of the planer virtually tear-out free as you can see in the picture (the small piece I cut off and planed).

[Jacob Reverb]

"Festool Walnut®©™"?

i.e., wood that looks, works, machines, sands, glues, stains, finishes, holds fasteners, weathers, weighs, smells, feels and tastes identical to walnut but costs 50 times as much?

(Sorry, couldn't resist...)

[John Coloccia]

You know, that does look a little like Walnut. I should plane a dark Walnut board and put it next to it for reference.

But as others guessed, Walnut would be too obvious for us USA folks.

It's an exotic. The interesting part is that I bought two boards from the exact same vertical stack with the same bar code and similar color but they look different. The other almost looks like Zembrano. I figured that it was probably just the angle of the grain (the other one happened to be quartersawn). But when I cut them on the band saw they smelled like completely different woods. This one (pictured) smelled bitter and was hard to breathe next too. The other smelled a like stale old used coffee grounds (sort of sweet and fragrant yet stale smelling just like old coffee grounds).

I'll get a picture of the other board from the same pile in the morning. I'll also give the species. A few have already guessed it... I'll leave you wondering who you are for now

I'll also give the price as a clue... The board was around $10 bd/ft. There was another species I purchased on that same trip that was $30 bd/ft.

That tells you (and the sticker) that they were from a high markup hobby hardwood store (but not Rockler or WC).

ALSO... I should add... the wood is EXTREMELY hard and dense tight pore structure (harder than anything I have in the shop out of several rosewoods, Hard Maple, Oak, Ash, Walnut, etc). It machines great and comes out of the planer virtually tear-out free as you can see in the picture (the small piece I cut off and planed).

Well, Zembrano (i.e. Zebrawood) smells like....well, Zebra poop. It's pretty distinctive, and most people don't find it particularly pleasant. Coffee grounds? Maybe...I'll have to think about that.

I'm going to double down on Jatoba based on the dense and stinky description.

[Prashun Patel]

if it smells like burnt stale coffee grounds, then I believe it's some sort of walnut species. That's a tell-tale for me.

[Ron Kellison]

I was going to guess Red Gum (poor man's walnut) until you mentioned the weight/density. Pao Ferro or (possibly) Mesquite?

[Alan Schaffter]

If it is an exotic like Ipe (which I'm sure it is not), it could be any member of a large genus (family, genus, species). Ipe is a generic name for wood from the Tabebuia genus that consists of around 100 different but closely related species!!

[Nick Sorenson]

Coffee grounds? Maybe...I'll have to think about that.

I'm going to double down on Jatoba based on the dense and stinky description.

if it smells like burnt stale coffee grounds, then I believe it's some sort of walnut species. That's a tell-tale for me.

No the other wood (labeled the same as this but I know it's different) smells like stale coffee grounds. This one pictured smells bitter like a rosewood of some sort. It's an irritating odor.

I'll take a picture of the other (sold as the same name as this) and a piece of Walnut next to the pictured wood just for fun.

Then I'll give the name of "Both" woods. I'm sure one is different.

[Nick Sorenson]

Ok... we have votes for the following in order of posts to the thread:

-walnut
-Cocobolo
-Teak....Afromosia...could be rosewood
-Pao Ferro
-another walnut vote
-Ipe
-Filtered purpleheart
-"toasted" maple
-Jatoba or Pau Ferro
-Jatoba
-Imbuia
-Paduak
-Jatoba
-Walnut
-Pau Ferro or Mesquite


Ok now let's see what the Hardwoods store that sold it said it was...................

PAO FERRO



Now here are the pictures of the two woods from the same "Pao Ferro" bin at Metro Hardwoods in KC Mo. Same Bar code but look at them... they look very different. To me more importantly, they smell much different.

Rabbit trail... I can usually tell a wood by the smell when I cut it on the band saw or scratch and edge with a blade. Oak always has an Oak smell, Hard Maple usually smells a little like Mint to me, Walnut is distinct and always smells the same, some rosewoods smell like Vanilla, etc. etc. Both of these smell much different. The original (on the left in the picture) was putrid and hurt to be around while being cut. The one on the right smelled a little like Hazelnut coffee but sort of stale. But they smell very different. To me that says they're not BOTH Pao Ferro. I personally think the one on the right is Pau Ferro. But I'm curious to see what others think.

They're both very hard. One is very pingy when hit the other sounds pretty subdued. Both feel smooth and hard.

Same stack in both pictures. The left picture has a piece of walnut in there just for reference. The left pic is the pile with Camera Flash; the right is natural lighting.

[John Coloccia]

I would bet money that the fingerboard sized stuff in both pictures (far right bundle in both pictures) is Pau Ferro. The other stuff still looks like Jatoba to me.

Pau Ferro doesn't smell bad when it's cut. Maybe a little incense? Boy, it's difficult to describe smell. Surely, though, if they smell different they're different. Pau Ferro is distinctive. Send me your address and I'll send you an off cut if you'd like.

[Nick Sorenson]

I agree John on the wood on the right. It actually smells not bad. Though I don't think I like it, it's an ok scent. The wood on the left (the original that I had from the first post) is a strong pungent scent and pretty irritating. I don't think it's Pau Ferro. But that's hard to say.

[Van Huskey]

IF you have one Jatoba and one Pau Ferro the Jatoba will generally have much larger pores, PF tends to have very small pores. What is the pore structure like on the pieces you have?