Tpt life Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 100 years old. Came over on a boat from Ireland. Chopped down from a tall hall table to a short coffe one by my grandmother. I believe it was refinished at that time. Some severe finish damage led me to strip. The figure was obvious after stripping so I am working to bare wood for a new take on the finish. Fairly light, it works beautifully with hand tools. It is not a specie I am familiar with. The dark blotching is just water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 If you hadn't thrown in the Ireland curveball, I would have said sycamore. But I'm not very familiar with European species, so who knows. It looks like sycamore, though. Edit: Then again, maybe it is. I gargled "european sycamore" and the images look close. However, wiki states that European sycamore is not closely related to other sycamores, but was named that because of the similar bark and round fruitballs. It's gonna remain my guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Looks like mahogany to me. Old light colored mahogany that got bleached out a bit by the stripper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 + 1 on mahogany Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 I dunno, I don't see mahogany there. The color is too yellow, stripper or no stripper. And you can see ray fleck in the quartersawn pieces that mahogany doesn't get...at least I've never seen it in mahogany. But it's typical in sycamore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 I am willing to concede that I am the fourth generation and the history I was given may be off. I have been reading in the wood database and think you may have nailed it Eric. I cannot see Sycamore being shipped over east. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 color looks too amber to me to be sycamore. it is usually yellow/white with streaks of brown. like poplar without the green cast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted February 28, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 What is step two in resolving if you narrow back to two options? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 PM Shannon Rogers?He who dies with the most tools ... leaves a great estate sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Divetta Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 That's very exotic to be 100 years old and Irish ..... There wasn't a lot available in wood back then but that doesn't mean much I don't want to throw another curve ball at you but initially I was thinking mahogany aswel but here's a picture of steamed beech with the fleck .. The only thing throwing me off is the color, steamed beech is pink but I've never seen an old piece in steamed beech Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post wdwerker Posted February 28, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 I knew a "steamed beech" once, she divorced me! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 it might be easier to tell once it is dry and sanded a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 It looks like a mixture of timbers to me and I can see what Steve means with mahogany by that darker looking board in the middle. However I'm leaning towards European sycamore, that I am very familiar with, for some of the other boards considering those medullary rays although I'm not 100% sure. Post some pictures when it is dry as those water marks are muddling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Good call Marco! That could be it...the beech and sycamore appear to have very similar grain. The color is a wild card...who knows what its real color was before it was tortured with that finish and then the stripper. If Carus could resaw one of those boards the mystery might be unlocked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 It's Beech C, 99% sure. Looks like my wooden hand planes, worktops and cabinets fascia we have made wit it . The colour and medulary rays are the give away. No wild card on colour Eric, euro beech does than when it gets old. Sycamore looks more like maple, very white, 90% sure it does not have rays. Now I'm really going to look a fool if I'm wrong! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 You may not be wrong about the table being beech, but you're wrong about sycamore not having rays. It has heavy but "small" flecks. Gargle it if you don't believe me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 It's Beech C, 99% sure. Looks like my wooden hand planes, worktops and cabinets fascia we have made wit it . The colour and medulary rays are the give away. No wild card on colour Eric, euro beech does than when it gets old. Sycamore looks more like maple, very white, 90% sure it does not have rays. Now I'm really going to look a fool if I'm wrong! quartersawn american sycamore is white like maple but does have rays. here is a picture of some QS sycamore I have in my shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Ha, G is wrong :-). It's still beech bro, or is it....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Still not sure on Sycamore rays on the basis I'm talking about UK stuff, I would agree after a gargle that US Syc is full of it. My parents kitchen is sycamore fascia so I should be paying more attention! http://aolbroadband.search.aol.co.uk/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=sycamore+wood&img=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hearnehardwoods.com%2Fhardwoods%2Fexotic_hardwoods%2Fexotic_wood%2Fenglish_sycamore_lumber%2Fenglish_sycamore_title.jpg&s_chn=wm&v_t=aolbb-webmail3&host=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hearnehardwoods.com%2Fhardwoods%2Fexotic_hardwoods%2Fexotic_wood%2Fenglish_sycamore_lumber%2Fenglish_sycamore_wood.html&width=181&height=72&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ft3.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcSXxLtdox6ClWxUdP05tPJIn8DQlQlAwapuk8iJ8MtRz8KYCNMJ7y9PErw%3Awww.hearnehardwoods.com%2Fhardwoods%2Fexotic_hardwoods%2Fexotic_wood%2Fenglish_sycamore_lumber%2Fenglish_sycamore_title.jpg&b=image%3Fs_it%3DimageResultsBack%26s_chn%3Dwm%26v_t%3Daolbb-webmail3%26q%3Dsycamore%2Bwood%26oreq%3D4167d74a89e143d8a315902252b29a2c&imgHeight=220&imgWidth=546&imgTitle=English+Sycamore+title&imgSize=144533&hostName=www.hearnehardwoods.com Please post your gargle links for me to browse Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Here's one I made earlier. The sycamore bits are the outer wings of the body of this guitar. I can confirm it's European as it came from a syc in my garden. Rays are quite clear on this one Although I'm still not 100% convinced about the original query. Could be beech too as you say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Thanks Terry, I now hang my head in shame . Fingers crossed it's still beech or I might have to give away the mentor badge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric. Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 It has to be quartersawn to get the rays just like any other species...your parents cabinets may be flat sawn. White oak bores me when flat sawn, but turn it sideways and I'm in love. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Divetta Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 It looks like a mixture of timbers to me and I can see what Steve means with mahogany by that darker looking board in the middle. However I'm leaning towards European sycamore, that I am very familiar with, for some of the other boards considering those medullary rays although I'm not 100% sure. Post some pictures when it is dry as those water marks are muddling it. That's actualy a very good point it could be a mixture of woods ..... The original table could have been painted and they wouldn't care about matching Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted February 28, 2014 Report Share Posted February 28, 2014 Agreed Eric, I have been weeding out the odd few boards of QS Euro oak from of stacks over the months so I've now got some nice material for a some keepsake boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted March 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 This is for better color analysis. I have planed, sanded and scraped to correct for some warp so I do not think stripper bleaching is a concern. Further support would be that I did not chemically strip the bottom and its tones are similar. However, I am shooting with my phone so I sought better light. I included a piece of ash and a well known product logo for color comparison. With regard to mixing species, this is certainly evidenced in the under carriage. The center post that joins the legs I believe the wood to be something other and the table support appears to be oak. I cannot say with certainty that I believe this top to all be the same so the paint grade argument has merit. I believe I may have to move as dark as I removed to blend the tones the way the original finish did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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