Which wood is this....?

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Distinterior

Established Member
Joined
8 Mar 2014
Messages
1,897
Reaction score
1,104
Location
Colchester, Essex.
I rescued this from a skip at my customers house this morning ( with their permission, of course .....)It was the lowest part/ sill of a tall full height window that was removed and replaced with a set of painted alluminium doors. I checked the rest of the parts of the wooden frame, but it was all softwood.
I believe the original window was fitted in about 1991 when the original barn to house conversion was done.

The door guys cut it up into the smaller lengths you can see in the pictures.

I think its probably Iroko in my opinion, but further opinions would be appreciated.

First & second picture show a freshly cut end with a wipe of Denatured Alcohol on them.....

20240727_173931.jpg


20240727_173901.jpg


20240727_173911.jpg


20240727_173852.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sapelle has a defined stripe that Iroko usually doesn’t have. Iroko usually has golden / orange hints which I don’t see in the sample.
The easiest for me is the smell when it’s cut. Sapelle has a definite smell a bit like cedar, Iroko doesn’t have any real smell, just irritating!
 
I’d have said the red wood sample was possible Meranti. Can’t really see enough of it. Would need to see the end grain which in meranti has big pores
 
If it was sold for sills around the 1990's then it could possibly be Keruing. All Jewson's sills used this at that time. It often oozes a bit of stickiness from the end grain and has a bit of weight to it. If it feels light then I would guess Meranti.

Edit. It also has quite a distinct rosin type smell when you cut into it.
 
Last edited:
It definitely has more weight to it compared to the "redder" wood.

I'll make a fresh cross cut on both woods tomorrow and show the end grain of each side by side.
 
If it was sold for sills around the 1990's then it could possibly be Keruing. All Jewson's sills used this at that time. It often oozes a bit of stickiness from the end grain and has a bit of weight to it. If it feels light then I would guess Meranti.

Edit. It also has quite a distinct rosin type smell when you cut into it.
I picked out a piece of keruing from my 'collection' of ex-conservatory-timber, the other day, but it was too heavy for the job. I found a piece of tulip (I think), which felt like balsa weightwise, in comparison.
 
I rescued this from a skip at my customers house this morning ( with their permission, of course .....)It was the lowest part/ sill of a tall full height window that was removed and replaced with a set of painted alluminium doors. I checked the rest of the parts of the wooden frame, but it was all softwood.
I believe the original window was fitted in about 1991 when the original barn to house conversion was done.

The door guys cut it up into the smaller lengths you can see in the pictures.

I think its probably Iroko in my opinion, but further opinions would be appreciated.

First & second picture show a freshly cut end with a wipe of Denatured Alcohol on them.....

View attachment 185123

View attachment 185124

View attachment 185125

View attachment 185126
I've got a shed-load of this, all ex-conservatory timber. All species of mahogamy -- oops! mahogany.
 
Here are a couple of photos showing both freshly cross cut ends and freshly planed faces....

20240728_093815.jpg


20240728_093834.jpg


The redder timber is what I had always assumed was Sapele......I also rescued it from a skip more than 10 years ago and I have loads of it....👍
 
Last edited:
The redder timber is what I had always assumed was Sapele......I also rescued it from a skip more than 10 years ago and I have loads of it....👍
I have something similar (to the 'light brown' sample) again as a doorframe base and I'm voting for it being Keruing. It's HEAVY and HARD and plays havoc with any tool!

If you can weigh a small piece it would tell you more, a 25mm cube of Keruing should weigh about 12g. Mahogany/Sapele about 8 - 9g.

This of course is a very rough guide.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top