Jump to content

What kind of wood?


Recommended Posts

I'm making a challenge coin display board for my son and I cleaned up this piece of what I thought was black walnut? Now that I look closely at it I'm thinking it might be chestnut? It's really hard, much harder than black walnut and it has grains similar to oak.  Does anyone know by looking at the pictures what kind of wood it is? This is 2 pieces glued together.

IMG_20181224_105004377.jpg

IMG_20181224_105042330.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks like red oak with discoleration, and like dbHunterNY said above probably from the center of the log.  You can see the “rays” in the grain, if the lumber was harder sawn, than rays would be more visible.

We have lots of cherry trees on our property and had several made into lumber.  The cabinet maker would not take them because they were very discolored from growing in soil that had shale in it.  Lots of black steaks in the lumber, it all ended up in the wood stove.  

Depending on what you are making, you could always trim that part out. Do you have any other pieces to use?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best way to ID wood is from looking at the end grain cell structure; this also allows one to differentiate species specific in class.....scrub oak vs red oak for example. A tangential cut also helps....google that.

For scroungers looking at picking up non ID'd wood a terrific book is Bruce Hoadleys "Identifying Wood with Simple Tools" put out by the folks who publish Fine Woodworking.

Other good resources are Forest Products Laboratory at University of Wisconsin.

Get a chance also pick up "Understanding Wood" also by Hoadley.

Can find used copies on Amazon at reasonable prices.

Get a chance to meet Bruce he a interesting guy to talk too; he used to guest lecture years ago, but not sure if he does that anymore. (professor at U. Mass Amherst)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oak for sure.I also see that you had 1 board and cut it nearly in half and spliced them.The darkening and color difference is where a limb or hole was and allowed water to enter the trunk of the tree.Not sure what a challenge coin display.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What charade? I was hoping that someone might know what type of hardwood it is. I didn't think it looked like oak but i suppose it could be, there are so many different types of oak and the dark areas could just be some of the heart wood? It was stored in an old barn on Ayer rd that was torn down. 

I can post some pics of the end grain if that would help? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...