Help Identifying Wood

Whistle
21

But the science!! Think of the science!! Sacrifices must be made in the name of progress…

I mean, where would we be without Archimedes? He didn’t want to get wet either, but you just don’t get those ‘Eureka!’ moments without taking the plunge… :smiley:

22

As of this moment it is NOT my whistle!!! :cry:

Now, if Simon should have a change of heart… :smiling_imp:

23

Perhaps is you were to suggest that you’d “accidentally” floated the whistle, say in the commode, Simon would change his mind rather quickly… :devil:

Eric

24

North East Lincolnshire, close to Hull that was and still is a major importer of timber. The barn was in a coastal region but not actually on the coast.

My experience of teak is that it has a more yellow/brown colouration with little redness. But I suppose that there are varieties of teak as there are varieties of most trees.

We’ll get there in the end!

25

American Red Oak mebbe? (Quercus coccinea or Q.sanguinea) Or is that only the foliage that is red?

26

Red oak can be extremely red. I’ll bring along a couple of red oak bokken (wooden swords–one from Taiwan, one from Japan, with dissimilar grain) with me tomorrow for comparison.

27

Here’s a fun web site about very dense woods. And some specific gravities:

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plsept99.htm

Lignum Vitae        1.37
Snakewood           1.35
Leadwood            1.31
Burma Ironwood      1.29
Quebracho           1.28
Womara              1.28
Billian             1.20
Pau d'Arco          1.20
Knob-thorn          1.19
Brazil Ironwood     1.15
Desert Ironwood     1.15
Ceylon Ironwood     1.12
Ebony               1.12
Mountain Mahogany   1.12
Black Ironwood      1.11
28

I am reliably informed by an importer of hardwoods that this wood is SAPELE. Which is an African hardwood for those who have never heard of it before.

Sorry to have mis-led y’all

29

Was that wood being harvested and used for construction in that locale and during that time period?

30

Sapele:

Aftican Mahogany:

Pretty similar looking, huh?



from this website:
http://www.exotichardwoods-africa.com/sapele.htm
http://www.exotichardwoods-africa.com/mahoganyafrican.htm

Steven, the wood would have been imported.

wood would…

31

Here’s a darker version of Sapele:




from here: http://www.woodworking.org/WC/Woods/245.html

32

Hm! I was playing Sapele bones at the gathering, oil-finished (no stain). Here they are (click to expand):

33

I think that the wood would would wood wood would definitely have been imported, the last stand of sapele in the UK died out sometime around the Jurassic period. :smiley: :laughing:

I am assured that African lumber was imported into europe from the time of the Dutch colonisation in the 17th century. This piece could well have come into the UK via the Continent. Like I said, there is evidence that it was used as something else before it was used in the barn. It might have even been used in a ship and salvaged when it got broken up. Bunch of scavengers these yellow-bellies in Lincolnshire!! :laughing:

34

Tony, that darker sample looks a lot like the whistle I have from Simon. I need to get off my butt and take a picture of it with my fancy-dancy camera and post it for y’all. Sheesh on me. :roll:

35

Quint’s bones have a different grain/pore configuration from the dark photo. I would be interested to see comparison photos of edge-grain (I believe that’s what the dark photo is) vs. plainsawed (which I believe the bones are) versions of that wood.

The bones look very much like American pecan wood. Much the same pore structure as American black walnut, but honey colored. The dark photo looks nothing at all like walnut/pecan.

Best wishes,
Jerry

36

Yes, honey-colored is a good description. The end grain is quite porous and veiny, giving a distinctive “speckly” look that I’ve heard Sapele is known for.

Let’s take a few snaps from the raw board:



37

Hi, Quint.

You’ve shown plainsawed and endgrain. Edge grain (quartersawn) would be the grain along the long edge of the plank.

Best wishes,
Jerry

38

Ah, I’ve added an edge shot, but it’s finished a little rough on the board I have. The bone above is actually edge grain on the flat side (the wide side facing the camera in the bottom bone).

39

Now I can see what I was looking for.

See the ribbon grain on the wide surface of the third photo? That’s characteristic of some mahoganies and other tropical woods, but you don’t get that with North American hardwoods such as walnut, pecan, etc.

Thanks for posting the photos. I enjoy this.

Best wishes,
Jerry

40

I have the whistle in hand, and was going to take pictures, but there is too much finish on it to show what it really looks like. I could take a piece of sandpaper to it, or a knife… :astonished:

Don’t worry, Simon, your whistle is safe!!! :laughing:

Ah, heck, I decided to post a picture anyway:

I do not know if this is quartersawn or plainsawn. I do know it is not the end grain.

Have fun.