Wood Identification?

[paulrockliffe]

Can anyone identify this wood for me?

It's freshly cut, so still very wet, and has gone a deep orange where exposed to the air:

20171216_144915 by Paul Rockliffe, on Flickr

On the left is the oranged face, the right hand board I've planed to a very light creamy wood:

20171216_144908 by Paul Rockliffe, on Flickr

The bark looks like this:

20171216_144926 by Paul Rockliffe, on Flickr

The two bits are from the pith of some logs I sawed up for bowl blanks, so it would be hand y to know what they are.

Thanks

 

[andersonec]

Cherry.

 

[Clwydianrange]

With the contrasting colours it looks like yew

 

[paulrockliffe]

This is what the outside of the tree looks like:

20171216_194238 by Paul Rockliffe, on Flickr

I don't think it's a Cherry is it from the bark?

 

[Woodmonkey]

Could be Alder, it goes orange when freshly cut

 

[nabs]

no idea about timber, but that bit of log looks like hawthorn

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It ain't yew, babe.

 

[Beau]

This is what the outside of the tree looks like:

20171216_194238 by Paul Rockliffe, on Flickr

I don't think it's a Cherry is it from the bark?

That says Hornbeam to me. It looks like you also have a few medullary rays visible which again I have seen on honnbeam. Is it very heavy

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - looks very like alder (the bark, grain and especially the orange colour are all pretty indicative) - do you know where it was growing? (alder likes damp places) - cheers, W2S

Aaargh - I've looked at it again - the orange is part of the bark - not the wood itself - I've now placed my bet on lime (lime has a distinctive nutty sort of smell) - the bark looks quite stringy (which is why the Americans call it basswood i.e. bast-wood)....

 

[pitch pine]

Another vote for lime. Smells unpleasant to me as I had a load of this drying in my firewood shed. It had that orange colour when fresh too.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Lime is poor firewood - it used to be used for the brake blocks of wooden carts as it wouldn't catch fire from the friction.

 

[paulrockliffe]

Thanks all, to answer a few questions; it doesn't have any particular smell, but I just smells like wet wood to me. Is it heavy? Well it felt pretty heavy when I was lifting it into the car in 5 foot lengths, but now it's sawn up it doesn't feel dead heavy or dead light. To be honest, I don't have the experience of wet wood to judge whether it's heavy or not.

The orange isn't just in the bark, the side by side picture doesn't do it justice really, think the flash has faded it out a bit. If you look at the chainsaw mark on the bark picture that's much closer to the orange that the whole of the wood is. That cut is deeper than the bark. The unplaned board seems to be fading a bit now.

I looked at Alder last night, it seems a good fit, but it's from somewhere quite dry, so raised up and well drained. Does it only grow in wet places?

Will have a look at lime and hornbeam next....

 

[paulrockliffe]

Looking at hornbeam I think that could be the most likely option. The pics look a lot closer to the larger length I had before I sawed it up, it's quite an uneven round shape if that makes sense.

Hope it turns well as I've got 30 blanks drying.....

 

[paulrockliffe]

Second page I looked at for turning Hornbeam says, but I "Often mistaken for Beech", given I've already written Beech all over the blanks it's looking more likely!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I would suggest its unlikely to be Hornbeam. My experience with freshly cut Hornbeam is 2 things which are counter to your evidence which are: it doesn't go orange when freshly cut, in fact it's quite a ghostly pale colour, rather uninteresting and washed out as woods go and (being extremely dense) it's bloody heavy when handled in almost any size, especially long log lengths. Which is of course why it's used in applications that are going to be hit with a hammer and/or require durability like chisel handles.

My experience of woods that go a very deep orange when cut include both cherry and Alder. This doesn't look much like cherry from the bark, not enough of those classic tell tale pippy bits and thus on a basis of elimination I'd lean towards Alder which is common, round every corner and frequently grows on road verges near ditches where its very happy with the moisture levels. Even happier on river banks but as you say this wasn't from a location like that. In fact, its a right bugger for snagging your float!! But, in truth, these are nowhere near conclusive and it could be a great many other species.

 

[Beau]

It is a tricky one. I have never seen that reddish colour when cutting hornbeam. On the other hand the bark and undulations on the outside are exactly as you would expect. Also the creamy colour of the planed face looks right as does the thick band of sapwood. Just the red that throws a spanner in the works.

If it's between alder and hornbeam you could cut of a piece and oven dry it. Then measure it's volume carefully and weigh it. Alder would be pretty light at around 400-450kg/3 when hornbeam would be much heavier at around 700-750 kg/m3

 

[paulrockliffe]

Thanks, the bit I planed has now gone a lovely pink colour as well. So it sounds like Alder is most likely. I might dry some in the oven and do some maths if I get chance.

Is the pink/orange something that'll stop when it's dry?

 

[Ttrees]

I don't have any knowledge of timbers, but that piccy looks like the tree was grafted. by the V-shape in it.
Could it be a hazel, or some other tree that is normally grafted ?
(I don't know if hazel is normally grafted)
But I found some hazel that looked like that.

If it is indeed a graft, Is the wood the same on both ends ?

 

[Deadeye]

Portuguese laurel?

 

[AndyT]

If you want some pictures of alder in use, I made a bread bin from it here

bread-bin-wip-t102773.html

It's really nice wood to use. Easy to cut and plane but without the soft/hard layers you get with pine.
A bit bland at first but exposure to light soon darkens it and makes the grain more interesting.

Hornbeam on the other hand is tough as old boots and you'd be sharpening your tools every few minutes.