Wood Id?

[JakeS]

My dear parents, knowing that I'm interested in taking large bits of wood and turning them into progressively smaller (and occasionally more attractive/functional) bits of wood, recently gave me a few lumps they acquired off some chap who was going to set fire to them. He described them as English oak, having apparently inherited them from a retiring joiner, and for most of them I'd agree. Well, I don't know my oak well enough to tell whether it was English, Welsh, French or whatever, but I'm fairly sure it's oak! ;-)

One of the largest bits, though, I really don't think is - but I also have little idea what it could be:

At a very rough estimate, without carefully working out the volume and weighing it, it feels about two-thirds the weight of oak (which was the first thing that gave it away for me). It's rough-sawn in that photo, I haven't had the time to plane a bit up. The end-grain has a texture that I can only describe as "like MDF"... it's a little more resistant than MDF would be to a fingernail pressed into it, but not much - nowhere near the hardness of oak or ash or something. It smells... like nothing in particular (although of course, this may change once it's cut).

My vague guess based on what I've read, what I've heard of and what I'm sure it isn't, is meranti; which - I've never seen any in person - I'm sure I recall being described as a relatively soft hardwood... the colour seems similar to pictures online, the long grain isn't too dissimilar, but the end-grain doesn't look that similar to pictures I've seen, so I'm still fairly unsure. Anybody here got any idea?

 

[Kalimna]

Sapele? Unspecified-mahogany-type? Pretty sure it isnt oak though

Adam

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Looks like Meranti to me.

 

[JakeS]

Sapele?

Does look similar in the long-grain, but it's really not hard enough!

Looks like Meranti to me.

Thanks - I'll work on this basis, then; I wonder what meranti is good for! ;-)

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Doors, windows and other outdoor applications.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Definately browny red tree wood.
Use it for something other than firewood!

 

[frosties]

ye thats a real bit of tree wood right there. I agree with Phil. Technical term is redish type of tree wood I'd say its meranti too.

 

[woodbloke]

Another one for meranti - Rob

 

[kevin dwyer]

without confusing the issue it's mahogany and when polished it will look like mahogany, it's just not brazilian mahogany. it's a very nice timber to work with. no idea why people gat all into it.

 

[woodbloke]

Very difficult to say really, but if you click on the pic to enlarge it, it certainly doesn't look like any mahogany I've ever used...but it does look like meranti or something similar. The only 100% accurate way to determine the type of timber is by botanical analysis of the leaf/twig structure or examination of an end grain slice through a microscope...anything else is a shot in the dark. So if it's not meranti then I'll go for cocobolo or greenheart :mrgreen: - Rob

 

[JakeS]

without confusing the issue it's mahogany and when polished it will look like mahogany, it's just not brazilian mahogany.

I presume you mean "meranti is one of the various species which are all often described as mahogany"? Presumably due to appearance rather than any other qualities in this case...

Still, if it looks nice when polished up, it's still nice. ;-)

 

[PETERG]

Might be my laptop but the colour looks more yellow to me especially in the 2nd picture could be iroko what does it smell like :lol:

 

[JakeS]

Might also be my camera - or rather, the crappy indoor lighting I have to use to photograph stuff lately. I did pay lip-service to white-balance with a bit of white paper in-shot that I could get Photoshop to correct against, but I have no idea how accurate that is...!

what does it smell like :lol:

Basically nothing at the moment - except maybe dust. But I've not had a chance to cut into it, so maybe it'll be more noticeable when I do... and I have a bit of a cold. ;-)

Is iroko soft enough to push a fingernail into, though? I got the impression it was harder than that.

 

[PETERG]

well if its more yellow in colour and you can push your finger nail in it i bet its Idigbo :wink: is it quite light in weight too?

 

[JakeS]

well if its more yellow in colour and you can push your finger nail in it i bet its Idigbo :wink: is it quite light in weight too?

I have some idigbo elsewhere in the stack, and this is definitely far more red than that - and I think heavier.

 

[Ollie78]

+1 meranti.