Wood I.D...

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Hello folks,

Quick wood I.D please, got these F.O.C, 4 of 36", 4"x2"'s. I'm thinking Iroko, what d'ust reckon? Here's a small piece planed:

Cheers _Dan

 

[Chrispy]

My guess Sapele.

 

[Mark A]

It looks like my sapele (which is still for sale :wink: )

Mark

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

Ok, cheers guys.

Mark, you wanna add to your collection?

Ta. _Dan.

 

[Mark A]

Mark, you wanna add to your collection?

Nope. Do you?

 

[Ollie78]

Sapele or Maybe Meranti.

 

[Shultzy]

Or even Luan?

 

[mn pete]

I'm also thinking Sapele. I have a few boards (pack away in storage, or I could go grab one) and the look is very similar. It looks like it has the same open grain.

 

[adidat]

Sapele or Maybe Meranti.

deffo


adidat

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

So we've got Sapele as the favourite, followed by Meranti and then Luan (is Luan a type of mahogany?) Cheers _Dan.

 

[bosshogg]

My guess would be mahogany...bosshogg

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

My first thought was meranti but most of the African woods look to similar to me.

 

[woodbloke]

My first thought was meranti but most of the African woods look to similar to me.

...and therein lies the difficulty, but I'd go for sapele as well - Rob

 

[Benchwayze]

Well I'll throw in Utile or Mahogany. More likely Utile, looking at the open grain in the one photo.
Does the end grain have very marked alternate stripes of dark and light fibres. If so it's 99% Utile. Good stuff and works well as a mahogany substitute.

If it is Luan (Philippine Mahogany) it will be quite soft, and have a pesky, rowed grain.

John

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

I'm not sure where it is on the 'soft scale' as I don't use many hardwoods. I mainly work with Oak, Ash and the dreaded Redwood. If you press your thumbnail HARD down against the 90° arris then it does dent a tiny bit.

Cheers _Dan

 

[woodbloke]

I'm not sure where it is on the 'soft scale' as I don't use many hardwoods. I mainly work with Oak, Ash

Now there's a contradiction...if you work mainly with oak and ash, both are classified as 'hardwoods' (as is balsa btw) whilst yew (which is harder than either oak or ash) is a 'softwood'. The classification of timbers has nothing to do with the physiacal characteristics but is entirely governed by the botanical nature of the tree - Rob

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

I know they're hardwoods Rob, I was merely pointing out that these are the only two hardwoods I have any experience of as I don't work with any others at the mo. I was just saying the 'soft scale' to indicate how soft it felt, it could as easily have been the 'dense scale'. I know that some hardwoods are indeed soft, and softwoods hard, but isn't it a general rule of thumb that most hardwoods are harder than most softwoods? - I really don't know, so can you enlighten me?

Cheers _Dan

 

[woodbloke]

I know that some hardwoods are indeed soft, and softwoods hard, but isn't it a general rule of thumb that most hardwoods are harder than most softwoods? - I really don't know, so can you enlighten me?

Cheers _Dan

As a general rule Dan, that's the case, but when I was teaching it was a point that many of the kids found puzzling :? ..'but sir, how can you have a hard softwood and a soft hardwood?' It is worth keeping in mind when you're assessing timbers and I use the 'thumbnail' trick like you. If it only makes a tiny depression in the wood then it's pretty hard and if it leaves a damn great depression then it's dead soft - Rob

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

As a general rule Dan, that's the case, but when I was teaching it was a point that many of the kids found puzzling :? ..'but sir, how can you have a hard softwood and a soft hardwood?' It is worth keeping in mind when you're assessing timbers and I use the 'thumbnail' trick like you. If it only makes a tiny depression in the wood then it's pretty hard and if it leaves a damn great depression then it's dead soft - Rob

Cheers mate _Dan.

 

[Benchwayze]

That end grain looks like utile, but it shows better if you rub some meths across it.
I rate Luan on the 'soft scale' as equal to deal or pine, the average soft stuff from B&Q.
Nowhere near as hard as Ask or Oak.

HTH
John