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Thread: Wood I.D. Help

  1. #1
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    Wood I.D. Help

    A friend at church brought me couple pieces of wood yesterday. He washn't sure what kind it was. Can anyone identify it from the pics below?

    Thanks
    Ricc
    IMG_1178.jpgIMG_1179.jpg

  2. #2
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    This is probably wrong, but it bears some resemblance to a carpathian (english or european) walnut I cut down. If it is, the light sap wood will darken some, and get some dark blotches and what looks like mineral stains.
    Brian

    Sawdust Formation Engineer
    in charge of Blade Dulling

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Brian Brown View Post
    This is probably wrong, but it bears some resemblance to a carpathian (english or european) walnut I cut down. If it is, the light sap wood will darken some, and get some dark blotches and what looks like mineral stains.
    Brian, thanks for the response. I have some english walnut bowl and spindle blanks on my storage racks. this looks a lot lighter than that stuff. the english walnut I have is more consistently brown across the whole piece. This has pretty light wood with a darker center. I was thinking hickory but I really don't know.

    Thanks
    Ricc
    Last edited by Ricc Havens; 06-05-2018 at 2:32 PM.

  4. #4
    Not a lot to go on. Leaves and bark would be a big help but it does look a lot like Hickory.

  5. #5
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  6. #6
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    Wood I.D.

    Quote Originally Posted by daryl moses View Post
    Not a lot to go on. Leaves and bark would be a big help but it does look a lot like Hickory.
    Daryl, Here is a photo of the bark you suggested adding.

    Ricc

    IMG_1180.jpg

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by John K Jordan View Post
    thanks John. I don't have a magnifier like he recommends and I will have to see about ordering one and seeing if our library book.

    If anyone else has an opinion please feel fre to add it.

    Thanks!
    Ricc
    t

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Ricc Havens View Post
    Daryl, Here is a photo of the bark you suggested adding.

    Ricc

    IMG_1180.jpg
    Sure looks like Hickory to me.

  9. #9
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    Me too! Hickory.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ricc Havens View Post
    thanks John. I don't have a magnifier like he recommends and I will have to see about ordering one and seeing if our library book.

    If anyone else has an opinion please feel fre to add it.

    Thanks!
    Ricc
    t
    I have several magnifiers plus a low power stereo microscope which makes it easy.

    Unfortunately, it looks like my favorite hand magnifier is no longer being offered by the same seller on Amazon. I probably bought 8-10 of these at about $13 each, now some other company wants over $30 for it.

    magnifier.jpg

    Any small 10x magnifier will work. Search for loupe 10x. Some are really cheap and any will work. The only other thing needed are some single-edged razor blades and some reference photos. Wood Database has these online, Hobbithouseinc has some as well. My favorite reference is R. Bruce Hoadley's book "Identifying Wood".

    Without looking at the end grain a guess is just a guess. For some idea of the variation, look at the photos of candidate guesses on Hobbithouseinc.

    JKJ

  11. #11
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    You can tell by the smell if it,s hickory--looks like it!

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by robert baccus View Post
    You can tell by the smell if it,s hickory--looks like it!
    Certainly, assuming experience with the smell of hickory

    What would be useful is a Scratch&Sniff book for wood smells! So many woods have distinctive smells but they are useless unless you have experience with them.

    For example, I have a 8/4 plank of some kind of exotic wood with nondescript color and figure. It has a very distinctive smell when cut that I can only describe as "sweet". I can't pin down an ID with the end grain examination. That and some other pieces in my shop are currently labeled "???".

    I can instantly recognize a number of species by smell alone and I'm sure someone is familiar with that one if I can just find the right person! I'm thinking of sending a piece to wood collector Eric at the Wood Database and one to the government wood ID lab.

    JKJ

  13. #13
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    thanks for all the input and help!!

    Ricc

  14. #14
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    Hickory smells like horse pee and sweat.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by robert baccus View Post
    Hickory smells like horse pee and sweat.
    yes it definitely had that odor!

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