Balsa??

[woody67]

Jason - hope these pics help! As you said, the wood is easily marked hence the bite-mark to test!







Mark

 

[jasonB]

Well its definatly not tulipwood/poplar or cedar and looks too open grain for obeche. Does look very much like balsa but an unusual choice for draws.

Jason

 

[engineer one]

actually i think it is too coarse grained for balsa, and i wonder whether it is actually something like basswood which modellers also use.

paul :wink:

 

[jasonB]

Basswood / linden is the same as lime and it certainly does not look like that, I have some balsa and that looks very similar.

Jason

 

[engineer one]

jason i bow to your superior knowledge, but like you i am bemused that anyone would use balsa for drawer sides. actually looking at it, you wonder whether the look and feel is due to it having been soaked, and then gone rotten and crumbly :roll:

paul :wink:

 

[woodbloke]

These sort of 'what wood is this' threads make interesting reading for sure, but it's often IMO, a bit of a futile and ultimately ](*,) exercise as with about 30000 to 40000 different species of tree on the planet, the chances of a correct identification are very slim indeed. We can all 'hum' and 'ha' and surmise that it might be this or that timber but a simple pic of the grain pattern falls a long way short of evidence for identification unless it's something that we are pretty much all familiar with, such as oak (but then there are huge varieties of different types of oak itself :?)
To identify an unassuming and bland timber such as this accurately calls for an expert analysis of the growth rings on the end grain. Even better is a botanical identification of the leaf (the most accurate way to distinguish the type of species) together with the bark and growth patterns of the leaves on the tree.
Incidently, I started on of these sorts of threads after a recent visit to Chisel........- Rob

 

[RayUK]

Interesting - certainly looks soft although it doesnt look like balsa. What gets me is why anyone would be using a very soft wood like this and cutting dovetails out of it.

I'm mystified.

 

[woody67]

Could it be alien chipboard ??

 

[woodworm]

All this talk of balsa and no one's mentioned it's classed as a hardwood!
:?

 

[DomValente]

The colour is reminiscent of a yellowish Meranti

Dom