Wood ID help


Gixxerjoe04

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Anyone have any thoughts as to what kind of wood this is?  The pics are from a table a woman has, she wants a bench made but I'm not sure what kind of wood it is to either find the same or not sure what a good alternative would be to make a bench top(she wants metal legs) out of.  These are pics she sent, haven't seen it in person.

9FAA5626-0957-47E7-B55D-30B113429E13_zps

8D3EA8A7-0C75-436A-8343-7BAA173BD42D_zps

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Not the greatest pics, Joe...

I don't see walnut there.  If I had a gun to my head I'd say hickory or pecan.  Could be slabs of desert ironwood.  Could be some exotic I don't recognize.  Honestly I have no idea.  I'd need to get up close and personal to give any kind of meaningful opinion.

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I have a table that looks just like that.  Indian Rosewood.   Which is not rosewood at all.   Look up sheesham or sissoo rosewood.   I don't think the lumber is imported into the US in board form.  It is a weed tree that grows in Northern India and used for cheap, but solid, exported furniture.   We have a coffee table made from it in our vacation house, the stuff is industructable   

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_sissoo

Hickory would be a good substitute.  

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20 minutes ago, Mike. said:

I have a table that looks just like that.  Indian Rosewood.   Which is not rosewood at all.   Look up sheesham or sissoo rosewood.   I don't think the lumber is imported into the US in board form.  It is a weed tree that grows in Northern India and used for cheap, but solid, exported furniture.   We have a coffee table made from it in our vacation house, the stuff is industructable   

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_sissoo

Hickory would be a good substitute.  

I was thinking that as well actually because I turned a bowl from it not too long ago.  Apparently the stuff grows in Florida from what I was told.  

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On 2/10/2017 at 8:43 AM, Mike. said:

I have a table that looks just like that.  Indian Rosewood.   Which is not rosewood at all.   Look up sheesham or sissoo rosewood.   I don't think the lumber is imported into the US in board form.  It is a weed tree that grows in Northern India and used for cheap, but solid, exported furniture.   We have a coffee table made from it in our vacation house, the stuff is industructable   

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_sissoo

Hickory would be a good substitute.  

Not sure what you mean. There are half a dozen rosewoods that use the name "India rosewood", including Dalbergia sissoo (which is also known as Florida rosewood). They are all rosewoods so I don't know what it is that you are saying is not a rosewood.

 

The wood pictured at the top of this thread looks exactly like Dalbergia sissoo so I think we're in agreement on that.

 

 

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Its like Mahogany.   The real stuff is from Cuba and Genuine/Honduran is a close cousin.   Then all these other species (kyaha, shorea, etc) come along and call themselves mahogany to jump on the gravy train.  

I believe the valuable rosewood comes from brazil, but is highly protected.  Historically, that is Rosewood with a capital R.  

Sissoo seems to be one of those species that is marketed as rosewood to capitalize on the historical value of Rio Rosewood.   

I might be wrong on that.  If they are all part of the same genus than I will certainly agree that they are rosewood, but if you have to go to the family level than I think it is a stretch.  

I will agree a lot of this is subjective.   Cuban Mahogany might have historic value but I can't say that it is objectively better than Honduran or even Utile.  

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9 minutes ago, phinds said:

Not sure what you mean. There are half a dozen rosewoods that use the name "India rosewood", including Dalbergia sissoo (which is also known as Florida rosewood). They are all rosewoods so I don't know what it is that you are saying is not a rosewood.

 

The wood pictured at the top of this thread looks exactly like Dalbergia sissoo so I think we're in agreement on that.

 

 

Question is, does any place mill, dry and sell the stuff.

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Hickory or pecan.  They both have that starkly contrasting heart/sapwood.  That's why I mentioned them even though in hindsight it was clearly a poor guess.  I never assume that some random person owns any kind of crazy exotic.  I usually default to domestics until proven otherwise.  Occam's Razor kind of thing.

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