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Thread: So... what's this wood?

  1. #1
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    So... what's this wood?

    I bought a small lot of wood at an auction yesterday. It was 3' long pieces of 8/4 to 16/4 cherry, maybe 8bf; plus 2 bf of teak, and piece of mystery wood. I thought it was white oak, but it seemed very heavy. I weighed and measured it, and found it was 58.6 lb/cf, which is beyond any oak. Thought maybe teak, but the teak has a hint of orange in it, and was 51 lb/cf.

    Attached are photos. One has a piece of normal looking red oak next to it for color. Any ideas? The insect damage goes against it being teak.

    Paid $27 for the lot. When I found out how much teak went for, I was rather upset over not buying two small lots of teak that went for a quarter of retail, but I really have no use for teak, so maybe it doesn't matter. The big sale was 4bf of "rosewood" that went for $210. Doesn't sound like a great buy to me. Looking up the price of rosewood I found out that kingwood is $100/bf now. 10 years ago I bought 8bf of it for $10/bf. There was a large skid of it, but I only did a little because I didn't know what I would do with it.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
    The end grain shot looks a lot like Live Oak. Some one of the oaks would have been my guess for sure but seems youve ruled it out.

  3. #3
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    Looks like white oak to me. There can be a wide variation in the density within a species, so perhaps this is just a denser WO?

  4. #4
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    Cut it or sand it a bit. White oak has a very distinctive smell.

  5. #5
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    Ring porous? Check. Strong ray pattern? Check. Tyloses present? Check. Looks white oakish to me.

  6. #6
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    Another vote for WO here.

  7. #7
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    I agree. White Oak. Depending on the grain and moisture content it can be heavy.
    Ask a woodworker to "make your bed" and he/she makes a bed.

  8. #8
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    Oak has a distinctive end grain pattern in the pores. Red vs white involves length of rays and usually absence/presence of tyloses.

    red_white_oak.jpg

  9. #9
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    I don't see any rays, but if everyone is happy with exceptionally heavy white oak without rays, then that's what it is. Thanks.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    I don't see any rays, but if everyone is happy with exceptionally heavy white oak without rays, then that's what it is. Thanks.
    I dont see any rays either. Lol.. My guess was some weird slow/old growth material which may speak to the cost.

  11. #11
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    Does it smell like bourbon (or vice-versa) when you cut it? That would clinch the ID for me...

  12. #12
    Burr oak came to mind ,don't know why. But the net pics look like a possibility. Has some open pores and some closed.

  13. #13
    Some type of white oak most likely (or a related oak), and a dense piece at that. There are rays, based on the end grain; they just don't show on the flat sawn piece. Insect damage is possible if the piece wasn't milled right away or was dead when cut.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    The end grain shot looks a lot like Live Oak. Some one of the oaks would have been my guess for sure but seems youve ruled it out.
    I found https://www.wood-database.com/ that has a remarkable amount of info on every species. Live oak is 30% heavier than any other oak and similar to my piece! But the end grain is very different than live oak; it rather looks like white oak.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    I don't see any rays, but if everyone is happy with exceptionally heavy white oak without rays, then that's what it is. Thanks.
    The rays are clearly evident in the end grain shot. Perhaps you are looking for the ray fleck pattern, which typically is most prominent when the wood is quarter sawn and the cut exposes more of the ray sides.
    Last edited by Ted Calver; 02-17-2020 at 1:12 AM.

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