What wood is this?

[mowog]

Found an 'interesting' log (i.e. very heavy and hard) so I turned it into some usable pieces. Can anyone tell me what it is? I'm afraid my ability to identify wood that I haven't bought out of a labelled rack is pretty poor! I'll add pictures of it before and after oiling.

Thanks!

 

[ED65]

Wood identification is very difficult to impossible from photos excepting in a few cases with species that are uniquely distinctive. I'm afraid this isn't one of those.

If you could polish up some of the end grain that can help get closer to a definitive ID. But wood varies so much it might be that "tropical hardwood" or "one of the rosewoods" are the closest guesses you'll get.

Gorgeous piece of wood though so congrats on your find whatever it might be!

 

[mowog]

Ah, I see, well thanks for the reply all the same. Henceforth I shall refer to it as 'The Wood of Mystery'...

Guess I'll just have to satisfy myself with having discovered some nice wood in a very manky looking log!

 

[Claymore]

I'd love to have a few feet of that! beautiful grain and colour

 

[adidat]

When you say log do you mean fre wood e.g. A British species?

Looks like Lignum vitea maybe or ironwood?

Adidat

 

[mowog]

Hi Adidat,

It was part of a bunch of wood that came from my Grandad's place after he died. He would have known exactly what it was. It looked infested with woodworm, which is why my Dad had cut it up for burning. I realised it was too heavy to have been eaten, and it turned out the woodworm hadn't got deeper than about an inch, if that. Most likely it was something my Grandad had found on the beach, so I guess it could have come from anywhere.

 

[adidat]

Was It surrounded by very pale sapwood almost beige? As this is typical of laburnum, for some reason the little bar stewards only eat the Sap wood and don't touch the heart wood.

Adidat

 

[LancsRick]

Also, if I recall the education I've been given on here correctly, if the holes are old burrows then the woodworm have left and you're ok. It's fresh sawdust you need to be wary of (not to be confused with sawdust trapped inside that then falls out when you cut it!)

 

[jpt]

Any wood I dont know the name of gets labeled as YGIAGAM


in other words Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

john

 

[mowog]

No sapwood really, it was pretty much like that right to the edge of the log. Here is a picture of it after being diced. As I say, I think it may have come out of the sea (which would explain why it looks so battered).

 

[Harbo]

Looks like an old pile - perhaps Greenheart?

Rod

 

[mowog]

Just looked up some pictures of Greenheart on the interwebs. That does look very much like it!

One thing I don't get, though - it's so HARD. Not at all like a softwood. Can pine be that hard? Sorry - rank amateur, should probably know this stuff.

 

[custard]

Adidat thought Lignum, I can see where he's coming from. Another possibility might have been Bocote.

This is the original Lignum on the left (unobtainable now) and Bocote on the right.

When you work Lignum there's a very distinctive smell, sort of refreshing but slightly medicinal, and the waxiness of the surface is a dead give away, not even the very best Rosewoods have that degree of oiliness. And of course they're both very heavy, Lignum slightly more so (it sinks in fresh water) but you'd be heard pressed to tell the difference simply by hefting a lump.

But it's difficult to see how or why either of those two timbers would ever be kicking around a British beach!

Greenheart is an interesting one. Given it was used in massive quantities all around the coast for groynes, piers, docks, and other marine installations it's easy to see why some might fetch up abandoned. But your sample looks more variated in colour than the Greenheart I've seen. A couple of years ago a pier was restored in the town where I live and I bought up a load of the salvaged Greenheart. I turned it into garden furniture and it sold well locally given its history. Unfortunately it's all gone now but I don't remember those warmer tones in the wood, it's called "Greenheart" for a good reason!

Hey, it's all a guessing game, so your "Mystery Wood" label is as good a name as any and more honest than most!

Good luck!

 

[clk230]

My money is on Greenheart , the colour isn't always very green , Lignum would still look 'oily / shiny ' plus the grain doesn't look tight enough.
Could you weigh a known size and compare the weight on the wood data base ?

 

[mowog]

That's a really good idea - I do have some bits left over, so potentially I could calculate the density.

 

[mowog]

Am slightly hoping it isn't Greenheart having read about it. Sounds like it's slightly toxic, but I've used it for the centre of a kitchen cutting board! Oh dear...

 

[n0legs]

Nice material .
Given Bristol's port and dock history I wonder if it was a bit of stillage from one of the visiting ships?
Over the years I've found all kinds of timbers wrapped around imported plant and equipment.

 

[custard]

Thinking about it again I bet Mowog's right and it is Greenheart. There's bound to be some colour variation from tree to tree, so just because it's predominantly green doesn't preclude the odd warm tone streak, and the photo of the log sure looks like the salvaged pier components that I was working with. The weight's right, the way the sap is attacked but not the heartwood is right, and most of all that's the timber species you'd most expect to find around the coast.

There are stories about it's toxicity, I heard a Greenheart splinter injury turns septic, but for years they were used for fishing rods and if it was that dodgy I guess they'd have used a different timber.

Good luck!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Dunno ... I expect anyone eating a fishing rod might well die. :lol:

 

[custard]

When I was at school it was taken as gospel that if you got a paper cut in the web of flesh between your thumb and index finger, then you'd get lock jaw and die.

I suspect the "Greenheart splinters turn septic" story is something similar.