This section is where I put woods that I cannot identify. If you have a wood you would like to have identified, send me a picture and I'll put it here. The hope of course is that someone with knowledge of the wood will see the picture and enlighten the rest of us, by emailing me at:
I used numbers starting with 100, but there were a few holes, as noted. Those woods that have been identified can be seen in their respective pages. The pictures have been removed from this section, but an indication is left in stating what woods each one turned out to be. The pics that were removed from this page were placed in the appropriate wood pages.
my samples:
mystery wood 100 --- this number was not used
mystery wood 101 --- this number was not used
mystery wood 102 --- a light colored burl veneer that Alan Belski identified as madrone burl, which I confirmed by comparison with other madrone burl sheets.
mystery wood 103 --- a burl veneer; James Wright sent pics of a maple burl that looks somewhat like this, but not close enough for me to believe that this is maple, mostly because the maple burl has pips in the center of the bumps, which this does not. Neal Kuwabara sent a pic of a poplar burl that is VERY close and I can believe that this is poplar burl, based on Neal's pic, but I am not 100% convinced of that identification because many burls look SO similar, consisting of bumps and swirls. Brian Harrington states unequivicably that this is madrone burl, as does Scott Grandstaff, but it doesn't look like any of the wide variety of madrone burl that I have on hand, so I'm not convinced. Correspondant Jean Turner reports that it is very like a piece of elm burl she has. SO ... the opinions are all over the map, and that's just how it is with some burls --- just too indeterminant in pattern to be reliably identified. Still ... the consensus, to the extent that there IS a consensus, is that this is probably madrone burl.
mystery wood 104 --- a veneer that I eventually identified as camphor burl
mystery wood 105 --- a veneer that I eventually identified as myrtle burl
mystery wood 106 --- a veneer that I eventually identified as quilted maple
mystery wood 107 --- this number was not used
Mystery wood 108 --- finally identified by several correspondants (Carla Kelly, Bill Fink, Steve Bartocci, and Cecilia Bonvillain) and myself all at about the same time, as verawood and can now be seen on that page
mystery wood 109 --- a small piece that was identified by Keith Weaver as partridgewood. Keith also sent a larger sample and both pieces are now shown on the partridgewood page.
mystery wood 110 --- a veneer identified by Tony Kouchakji as East Indian Rosewood burl.
mystery wood 111 --- a veneer that I eventually identified as kingwood (and felt really stupid that it took me so long to figure it out)
mystery wood 112 --- a weird figured veneer identified by Tony Kouchakji as what I have now seen advertised as "special figure" etimoe.
mystery wood 113 --- a burl veneer. It might be Chilean Laurel, but I'm not sure. One correspondant suggests maple and that's also a possibility.
mystery wood 114 --- a veneer identified by Steve Amato as kelobra
mystery wood 115 --- a veneer that I eventually identified as "quilted marbled pomelle figured" sapele
mystery wood 116 --- a veneer that I eventually identified as vavona (redwood) burl
mystery wood 117 --- a veneer that I finally identified as fiddleback sapele.
mystery wood 118 --- a veneer; I don't believe this is a burl, although it has some of the swirly nature of burls. I came to believe that this is probably sapele with a loose quilt figure but Brian Harrington has identified it as definitely being either moabi or makore --- both are from the same family and they can look almost identical, so I doubt we'll get more definitive ID than moabi/makore. Bill Fink agrees that it's probably either moabi or makore (his experience also suggests sapele as a possiblity) and Bill has given me an anecdotal test for moabi but since it involves the destruction of some of my nose menbranes, I think I'll pass. :-)
mystery wood 119 --- a veneer that Brian Harrington identified this as cherry. After Brian did the ID, I had a "DOH!" moment, wondering why I had not seen that myself.
mystery wood 120 --- a veneer that I identified as louro preto
mystery wood 121 --- a veneer identified by Bill Mudry as red gum
mystery wood 122 --- some shots of the back of a fiddle that I thought might be maple (but I wasn't positive) and that was eventually identified by a helpful correspondant (guitar maker Anthony Ryder) as being European Maple (Acer Pseudoplatanus).
mystery wood 123 --- a wood from the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. Both sides and the end grain are shown and you can tell pretty clearly that I sanded one side with a finer grit than the other, both because it reflects the flashbulb more and because the color is slightly richer. This is a hard, dense wood and clearly will take a high gloss when fine sanded (the sanding here is only to 100 grit).
One correspondant suggests it might be goncalo alves, and I find that a reasonable possibility, particularly since that wood grows in mexico. However, the wood seems to me to be noticibly more dense than any goncalo alves I've ever handled and the end grain closeup (see discussion below) suggests it is NOT goncalo alves. The same person suggested granadillo as another possibility, but I do not believe that to be likely. Yet another correspondant suggests either bulletwood or sapote but I'm not familiar with either of those, so can't say. Yet another correspondant suggested Texas ebony, saying that he is very familiar with Texas ebony and this appears to be it.
end grain closeup of #123, which I took in an attempt to help determine whether or not this is ipe, as Charlie Plesums strongly believed it to be, until he sent me some ipe samples and I took end grain closeups for comparison and now he and I both agree that it is not ipe, although he says that the side-grain and face-grain are remarkably close to some ipe pieces he has seen (although not the samples he sent me --- see my ipe page).
This end grain has the color of goncalo alves, but gonacalo, like ipe, shows noticible pores in the end grain and this wood does not.
This sample was sent to the USDA lab, which identified it as belonging to the genus Rhamnus and there is a wood in that genus, Rhamnus ferreus, that looks something like this wood and that does grow in Mexico. Further, Rhamnus ferreus is an extremely dense, hard wood (two of its common names are "axe-master" and "ironwood"), which is very consistent with this sample, so I'm going with that as the correct identification of the wood, even though that is extrapolating beyond what the USDA was willing to commit to.
I now believe that this Rhamnus ferreus and is one of those woods sold by dealers in the Southwest as "desert ironwood". I seem to recall that at least one correspondant has told me that there actually is only one species that is sold as desert ironwood, but I have no confirmation of that.
Correspondant James Lopez has ID'ed this as definitely being a medium size bush called "Lotebush" which grows around San Antonio and to the South into Mexico. He found some small ones growing in Austin but he tells me they get bigger to the South and that walking-cane makers use them. Thanks for that, James.
Botanically, lotebush is listed as Ziziphus obtusifolia (syn. Condalia obtusifolia) of the family Rhamnaceae (the buckthorn family) and this is the same family as the Genus Rhamnus, which is where the USDA put it, but the fact that Jame's ID differs from the USDA to that degree does leave some room for doubt. Also, the USDA puts the growth range of Ziziphus obtusifolia as being throughout the American Southwest from Texas to California.
AAARRRRGGGGGG !!! Now there is NEW evidence that it's more like Texas ebony than lotebush. James send me some end grain pics of both TE and lotebush from his own cuttings and although his TE end grain is a bit different than my own TE samples, both are much closer to this mystery wood than are the end grain shots of lotebush that he sent.
SO ... still don't know WHAT this is, but Texas ebony is still the best bet, OR maybe desert ironwood.
mystery wood 124 --- a wood from the Rio Grande Vally region of Texas. I have a 3rd hand statement that the name includes the word "boa". This is a very light wood, although moderately strong, wood that in many respects is similar to butternut but I don't have enough experience with butternut to know whether or not this might actually BE some variant of butternut. In my limited experience, that seems unlikely. Both sides and the end grain are shown
One correspondant suggests mesquite, but the person who gave me this sample is familiar with mesquite, so I find that somewhat unlikely although it does look like mesquite to me.
Another correspondant has suggested avacado, with the statement that it's rare because the tree grows a fruit that makes it (the tree) more valuable for the fruit than for the wood and therefore isn't often seen in lumber form. I've never seen avacado wood, so can't comment, but the correspondant seems pretty sure of it. Has anyone else had experience with avacado lumber ?
Bob Konigsberg tells me he's pretty sure it's NOT avacado, so that may rule that out. Thanks for that input, Bob.
This sample was sent to the USDA lab, which identified it as belonging to the genus Lagerstroemia, which includes a large number of species that grow in Oceania and South East Asia and none of which are indiginous to the USA (as far as I am aware) but some of which could possibly have been transplanted. I've seen representative pics of a group of woods, not separately identified, that all belong to this genus, and one of them does in fact look a lot like this wood (not surprizing, since the USDA lab is knowledgeable).
mystery wood 125 --- This was purchased by a correspondent of mine from a dealer who said it is "New Zealand Canarywood" but that identification is doubtful (but could be correct). I though at first that it is what I know as "morado" (which has a page on this site) because it looks quite similar, but on closer examination, I'm now convince that I was mistaken in that. Before I sanded it, it had something of a patina and looked considerably richer than what you see here, which is sanded only down to 100 grit. It is a moderately dense wood and the 100 grit sanding brought it to a very smooth surface, although I think it is not dense enough to become really glass-like with even a much finer sanding.
One correspondant suggests jarrah or other eucalyptus variety, both of which are reasonable possibilities.
Another correspondant says he's just about positive that it's jarrah, and he has a lot of experience w/ jarrah.
Bruce Hanna from New Zealand assures me that "New Zealand Canarywood" is NOT a name known to woodworkers in NZ, so I now consider that designation to be irrelevant.
mystery wood 126 --- I have it 3rd hand that this piece came from a lumber dealer in Kerrville, Texas, and that dealer said the name is "Fhedon" and that it is from Mexico. I have not been able to find that name anywhere, nor have I been able to identify the wood as being from Mexico or anywhere else. I'm confident that it is from Earth, mainly because I don't believe in woods from outer space, but that's about all I can say. It is a moderately light wood and as you can see it has a clear demarcation between light orangish-tan heartwood and very light tan sapwood. For some reason, the color in the end grain pic is a little too golden and not quite dark enough and I just couldn't get it to come out quite right. The color in both of the side pics is quite accurate.
This sample was sent to the USDA lab, which identified it as belonging to the Leguminosae family, which is only slightly more specific than saying it is wood, as that is a HUGE family with many dozens of genera and probably thousands of species.
mystery wood 127 --- a veneer identified by Jim Johnson as oregon myrtle
mystery wood 128 --- a curly veneer that I eventually identified as paldao
mystery wood 129 --- a veneer that I identified as olive
mystery wood 130 --- a veneer that several correspondants and I all finally identified as butternut
mystery wood 131 --- a veneer that a correspondant identified as yellowheart (pau amerello). I have to dig back through my emails to get the persons name, and I will do so. I had not recognized this as yellowheart because I had not seen yellowheart with such ray flakes but just before the correspondant emailed me about this one, I got in some yellowheart veneer with ray flakes just like this (now posted on the pau amerello page), but had not looked at the mystery wood section for so long that I didn't make the connection.
mystery wood 132 --- a veneer identified by Brian Harrington as Alaskan yellow cedar
mystery wood 133 --- a plank positively identified by the USDA as honey locust
mystery wood 134 --- identified by the USDA and it is American black walnut
two planks (enlargements available)
closeup of one section
mystery wood 135 --- submitted by Jack Morefield, who bought it from a Myrtle wood dealer on the Oregon coast who called it "Squirrel oak". Jack and I have never seen anything like it before. The color is affected by the application of a clear finish and the wood is very heavy. Jack also reports that it has oak-like rays and he is confident that it IS a form of oak. Brian Harrington has positively identified this as California black oak. Another correspondant said it looks a lot like live oak he finds in Florida. I'm not sure we'll ever get a definite ID on this one.
mystery wood 136 --- This remarkable wood was submitted by Richard Furrer who assures me that while it LOOKS like a painted design, it is in fact the grain of the wood. Must be a burl of some sort, but I haven't a clue what it might be.
Thanks to Al Brown from NZ, I now know that this isn't quite a "wood", it's a VINE, which explains how it has such a strange figure. Al says "... a vine that grows on the China Myamar border area only found where it is hottest and wet wet wet.KNOWN as CHICKEN BLOOD WOOD.The huge vines are cut into section [as seen in your photo] then boiled to get the redness out [ie the sap] dried and made into teapot stands; small serving trays;bowls etc.I was given a teapot stand last time i was in CHINA.I had my friend look in the library in CHINA for the botanical name he said to me last night that he didn't have any luck with that so;;;CHICKEN BLOOD WOOD IT IS!!"
I was recently emailed by another correspondant who confirmed the "chicken blood wood" name and also provided me with the botanical name but I carelessly deleted the email before making a note of the botanical name. I do recall checking it against my database of 22,000 botanical names of "lumber" producing species and it was not there.
plank and end grain
side grain closeup
end grain closeup of both ends
mystery wood #137 --- this was cut a very heavy pallet shipped from India. My first thought was ipe, but an examination of the end grain leads me away from that idea. The sapwood is the yellow-tan seen in the lower left corner of the 2nd end grain closeup.
I sent this sample to the USDA and their response was "probably Acacia spp." and it does look somewhat like Australian blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) which grows in India. It also looks like some of the other Acacia species, so I'm still not sure what it is and their "probably" doesn't pin it down much.
mystery wood #138 --- sent from the Bahamas by a man who got it as salvage from a recent vintage freighter deck and eventually identified by Brian Harrington as weathered mahogany. After Brian identified it, I examined it and agree with him readily.
mystery wood #139 --- identified by the USDA as eucalyptus
light pieces and closeup
heavy pieces and closeup
end grain of both (one light piece on top, two heavy below)
face grain (and end grain) of a sanded piece
side grain of the same piece as directly above
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
mystery wood 140 --- I bought a batch of this as a mystery wood. It definitely looks to me to be some form of fir, but I'm not 100% positive about that. The wood had two distinct varieties, that I refer to as light and heavy because the difference was in color (very slight difference) and weight (noticible difference). The color difference is, as you can see from the pics, quite minor, but the weight was noticible enough when handling the boards that I calculated the density. Both types are quite light, the "light" being about 23 lbs/cubic foot and the "heavy" being 30lbs/cubic foot.
The grainy nature of the face surface is consistent with some fir that I've seen (and also with some cedar) and the end grain looks exactly like a couple of types of fir.
mystery wood 141 --- a veneer sheet and closeup. The sheet was submitted by Alfredo Nava. This is a very attractive red with interlocked grain. Looks a little like some sheets of kingwood I've seen, but the interlocked grain suggests it is not kingwood, although I could be wrong about that.
planks and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
mystery wood 142 --- These pieces showed up in a mixed lot I bought and I have no idea what they are. The color is a very nice honey tan. The lower piece is sanded, the upper piece is not, and as you can see from the end grain shot, these pieces are quartersawn. There are lots of small ray flakes that show more clearly in the enlargements.
The wood is fairly soft and light-weight.
Roy Servais informs me that this is almost certainly Russian olive. Thanks Roy.
plank (emphasizing side grain) and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
mystery wood 143 --- Chit Clayton (of Chitswood on eBay) sent me this in the hopes that I might be able to identify it. He's quite experienced with wood but has no idea what it might be. Sad to say, neither do I. It has a very chaytoyant surface. As you can see from the end grain shot, the face grain is perfectly quartersawn and, as you can see in the enlargements, it has lots of small ray flakes and the appearance of a light mottle and/or ribbon stripe. It's a uniform tan color, as accurately shown in the pics.
The side grain reminds me of a walnut piece that was once on this page as mystery wood 134 but the color is clearly not walnut, so I'm thinking that maybe it's a butternut relative (butternut and walnut are related) but that's a long shot.
The wood is fairly soft and light-weight.
face grain
end grain
end grain closeup
bowl from same wood --- correspondant says this pic makes it look more red than it really is. It has a coat of walnut oil that brings out the color and grain.
mystery wood 144 --- correspondant says this is a very hard, dense, brittle wood that turn turns red (although NOT as red as in the bowl pic, which he says is too red) with finishing agent (walnut oil in this case). It was identified to him as zapotillo from Peru. I suggested sapodilla, which is similar in mechanical characteristics and fairly similar in appearance, and he agrees that it could well be that, but we're not positive. The face grain looks to me to be quite similar to some eucalyptus I have seen, but the end grain is not similar to my eucalyptus samples (but given the HUGE variety of species of eucalyptus, that is hardly conclusive).
mystery wood 145 --- Send to me by Savvy Lin in Sierra Leone, this plank was identified by wood scientist Scotty Drye as Pterocarpus erinaceus, which has the common name (among others) of Senegal rosewood. It is not a true rosewood but it is a beautiful wood that looks like it SHOULD be a rosewood. You can see it now on the "rosewood, Senegal" page. My thanks to Savvy Lin for the plank --- I've gotten some nice additions to my bowls from it.
sample and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
mystery wood 146 --- sent to me by Terry O'Hearn who believes it is an extinct variety of mahogany but I do not think it is mahogany. I believe to about a 90% certainty that it belongs to the genus Shorea and is a wood that would be lumped into the common name group "dark red meranti". I base this on the grain pattern, particularly the end-grain which does not look like mahogany but does look like meranti, but also the surface grain which also looks like meranti but not like mahogany. Also, it is too heavy to float and I'm not aware of any mahogany that is even close to being that dense.
Alert correspondant Bernhard Schweitzer has suggested bongossi (which I have on this site as ekki) and I think he's right.
mystery wood 147 --- a very hard, dense, brown wood sent in by Mike the puzzlemaker. I thought it might be one of the shorea species, but it was identified, correctly I'm quite sure, by Calos as bongossi (which I have listed on this site under the more common name of ekki, where you can now see the pics that Mike send in)
mystery wood 148 --- sent to me by mistake from a vendor I buy a lot of wood from, it looked a lot like limba but I wasn't sure at first. Turns out it was indeed limba.
mystery wood 149
plank and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
The color, general grain, and end grain closeup all look somewhat like staghorn sumac, but I'm not convinced.
mystery wood 150 --- a fairly light wood with a very smooth feel. Color fades with exposure.
planks and end grain --- the top pic is of a faded, older surface and the lower pic is of a freshly sanded surface.
end grain closeup of one of the planks directly above
mystery wood 151 --- an olive-green veneer with a really nifty swirly grain that was identifed by Daniel Duelen, who sent it to me, as tropical magnolia. Thanks Daniel.
mystery wood 152 --- veneer that was identifed by Daniel Duelen, who sent it to me, as Honduran rosewood. Like mystery wood #157 below, this was a vaiety of Honduras rosewood that did not look at all like what I think of as "normal" Honduran rosewood because it had none of the purple of the "normal" variety and it had a much tighter and more uniform grain pattern. Thanks, Daniel, for this contribution and many others.
mystery wood 153 --- veneer that looks like (and might well be) curly mahogany --- identifed by Daniel Duelen, who sent it to me, as Honduran mahogany. Thanks Daniel.
mystery wood 154 --- veneer with a light curl, identifed by Daniel Duelen, who sent it to me, as Honduras mahogany.
mystery wood 155 --- tan colored veneer with a light curl that was identifed by Daniel Duelen, who sent it to me, as little bone.
mystery wood 156 --- a relatively light wood that looks a lot like morado (aka "Bolivian rosewood") but I don't think that's what it is. OK, this was identifed by Daniel Duelen, who sent it to me in the first place, as East Indian rosewood. Thanks, Daniel.
mystery wood 157 --- A wood that turned out to me Honduras rosewood, but of a variety that does not look at all like what I had always thought of as Honduras rosewood. I had none of the purple of the "normal" variety and it had a much tighter and more uniform grain pattern. The piece was contriubuted by Daniel Duelen, whom I thank.
mystery wood 158 --- A fairly hard stiff wood, weighing about 53 lbs/cubic foot. The grain is mildly suggestive of eucalyptus
plank and end grain
end grain closeup
mystery wood 159 --- Very attractive, fairly hard and heavy. Weights about 57 lbs/cubic foot. The face grain reminds me some of mimosa, but the end grain absolutely rules out mimosa.
plank and end grain
end grain closeup
mystery wood 160 --- Very hard and heavy (about 64 lbs/cubic foot) and with a pronounced mottle that looks a lot like some makore I've seen (but this wood is WAY too hard/heavy to be makore)
plank and end grain
end grain closeup
mystery wood 161 --- Nice light orange color, hard and very heavy (about 67 lbs/cubic foot) and with a light curl on the surface that you really can't see in these pics, even the enlargements.
plank and end grain
end grain closeup
mystery wood 162 --- Hard and heavy (about 62 lbs/cubic foot) --- looks like some goncalo alves I've seen, and might in fact BE goncalo alves, but I'm not sure.
plank and end grain
end grain closeup
Correspondant Gary Morrison of A&Q Hardwoods informs me that he's pretty sure this is jobillo, which in the USA is a wood that is generally considered the same as goncalo alves, but which in Guatamala is considered a different and superior wood.
A close examination of end grain comparisons leads me to believe that this is in face goncalo alves / jobillo
mystery wood 163 --- fairly hard and fairly heavy, slightly coarse grained, very nice reddish brown color with tan sapwood. Provided by Deb Birdsall who subsequently told me that she believes it has been identified as a moderately obscure Honduran rosewood, Dalbergia Tucerensa. At first I did not think it was a rosewood, but I now believe it well could be and the Dalbergia Tucerensa identification is likely correct. If anyone with experience of the wood can confirm this, I'd appreciate it.
the plank as it arrived
small plank cut off from the bigger one above and sanded down
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
another small plank and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
mystery wood 164 --- A very hard, heavy, dense wood that might be bulletwood (Manilkara bidentata).
small plank and end grain
end grain closeup of the piece directly above
a couple of small pieces
end grain closeups of the two small pieces directly above
mystery wood 165 --- A very hard, heavy, dense wood that might be cabreuva (Myocarpus spp.)
unsanded and sanded sides of a plank --- the unsanded side has been exposed to the air for over 10 years
end grain of the plank directly above
end grain closeups of both ends of the plank directly above
mystery wood 166 --- An extraordinarily lightweight wood (18lbs/cubit foot) that seems to have very good strength for its weight. This plank was found on a beach in Delaware by Gregg Rosner who is fascinated by it because he makes surfboards and this seems like an ideal wood for that purpose. More below the pics.
both sides of the plank. Gregg tells me that he's pretty sure the large swath of discoloration is water stain. Note the almost complete lack of grain characteristics
face grain closeup showing the open pores.
edge grain and part of the face grain. I believe, and Gregg agrees w/ me, that the spalting-like brown lines are part of the wood characterists, not water stain, but we are not positive about this. On the other side of plank are a few thin black-line spalting lines.
end grain closeup. As you can see, particularly in the enlargement, the early growth pores are just one thin line (and if you look carefully, you can see where these come out on the face grain) and are separated by quite a bit (about 1/2") implying a fairly fast-growing tree.
So ... it's very light (18lbs/cubic foot), fast growing, seems to be very strong for its weight, and has a very thin line of early growth pores.
In poking around to see if I could figure out what this might be, I ran across a wood that I was not previously familiar with (and for that matter, am STILL not really familiar with). This wood is "ceiba" (Ceiba pentandra) and it fits the bill on color and weight. I haven't been able to find any pics of it, so this is purely a guess at this point. Ceiba seems to be pretty common in some parts of the world, including parts of South America, but is pretty much unknown in the USA. Part of the bad news about that wood is that there are about 300 common names that are associated with species that have the common name "ceiba"
Anyone have any ideas?
LATER: well, it DOES seem to be ceiba; at least it fits the characteristics of that wood pretty much exactly, including a pic found on the Wood Explorer CD.
mystery wood 167 --- A heavy, moderately hard wood, that looks to me as though it is probably some form of pine. You can dent it with a fingernail, but just barely and it's 45 pounds per cubic foot which is pretty hefty for most pine, even when you figure that it's got a couple of large heavy knots in it.
When I got the plank, it had a very heavy patina of both dirt and age, and I think had I sanded it down a bit further it might not still look so dirty.
Eric, the fellow who sent it to me, says it came from a pallet from an overseas ship in the 1970's and he thought it might be some form of exotic. He also said the sawdust is somewhat irritating to breathe. I'm going to recommend to him that he stop breathing sawdust, but hey, you know what I mean :-)
plank and end grain
end grain closeups from both sides of the open knot area shown in the end grain pic above
Anyone have any ideas?
OK, I have the following from correspondent Drew Nyman: "mystery wood 167 Is Parana Pine. (no doubt about it) It came primarily from Brazil. It's almost impossible to find anymore. It was commonly used for cabinets and drawers until the mid 80s when it all but disappeared from the market from over use. The knotty parts of the tree were used for crates mostly while the knot free areas were used for lumber. It's well known for its red and pink streaks I used to use the large knots as coasters"
Interestingly enough, although it's CALLED "pine", and it certainly LOOKS like pine, is not part of the genus Pinus, it is Araucaria angustifolia of the family Araucariaceae, so it's not a true pine (not even in the same family).
mystery wood 168 --- Mike Stafford (the owner) tells me that these came from a torn-down structure in the Seattle area and he believes (not fully sure) that they were likely put into lumber form some 75 years ago or more. This is a very dense, hard wood.
both sides
end grain and end grain closeup
side grain closeup
mystery wood 169 --- Average density is about 60 lbs/cuft. Mike Stafford (the owner) tells me that these came from a torn-down structure in the Seattle area and he believes (not fully sure) that they were likely put into lumber form some 75 years ago or more.
faces
ends
end grain closeups
side grain closeups
Got a more recent email from Mike suggesting that it might be Borneo ironwood and linking to a reclaimed lumber outfit in the Pacific Northwest that had some Borneo ironwood for sale that did seem to be pretty similar to this wood --- but that's hardly conclusive.
mystery wood 170 --- The larger piece is rift cut and the smaller is flat cut. Average density is about 52 lbs/cuft. Mike Stafford (the owner) tells me that these came from a torn-down structure in the Seattle area and he believes (not fully sure) that they were likely put into lumber form some 75 years ago or more.
faces
ends
end grain closeups
side grain closeups
mystery wood 171 --- a very hard, dense wood (about 60 lbs/cuft), that looks a lot like katalox but does not have the same end grain. The end grain is similar to African blackwood, but I'm fairly well convinced that this is NOT African blackwood. The owner said that the purple, which is barely visible in this piece, is more heavily represented in some of the rest of what he has. It was the purple that made me think of katalox.
face grain and side grain
end grain and closeup
mystery wood 170 This is what I believe is some kind of Asian wood, fairly easy to work and moderately strong. I have found it in several pieces of medium-priced furniture, all of which I believe was made in Asia (although I don't know this for sure) and I recently cut up the seat of a chair that got heavy use for over 10 years and had a poorly constructed set of braces between the legs that I finally gave up on fixing (I had already fixed them a couple of times)
some of the small planks I cut out of the chair seat, freshly sanded on the flat side and on the curved side, still showing the finish that was on them from the chair
both sides of a small piece also cut from the same chair seat
end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above
face grain closeup
Anyone have any ideas?
If you have a wood that you'd like to have identified, send me either (1) a sample or (2) a good quality digital image and a statement of the wood's characteristics
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