tjfreeman Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Hello wood people, I am a designer and fabricator in california and I have a project in which I must match existing specs on a job but, nobody knows what the wood is. Please help. We're not amateurs and this one is stumping us. I am hoping someone out there can look at these pics and say, "you idiot, it is ____wood, dummy". It looks to be decking similar to cumaru, cambara, or angelim but the knots are throwing me off. Somebody come to the rescue! Thanks, Tommy Freeman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjfreeman Posted December 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Also, the color is a bit more "Rosie" than some of the brazilian Teaks. The color in the pictures is pretty accurate depending on your monitor of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjfreeman Posted December 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 I have some cumaru and ipe here in my office and the more I look at it, the ipe looks pretty close but, again, those knots are a bit unusual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardnesd Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Looks familiar but it's not coming to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RenaissanceWW Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 I agree with your Ipe assumption. I too have some samples in my office and the swirling grain and slight tinge of rose color seems to be Ipe. I definitely don't think it is Cumaru but then again there is so much variance between localities in South America so it's possible. I have always compared Ipe to a denser, somewhat redder version of Walnut and that is what springs to mind here. I shared with my South American buyer and she agrees that it is Ipe. She spends most of her time down there buying the stuff so I trust her judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjfreeman Posted December 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 Thanks so much for the responses. So far this morning I have had multiple local experts, a distributor in Vancouver BC, and the kind people here on this forum give me some good info. The cumaru I have is simply too red. The Ipe I have looks similar to a lot of the planks in my pictures but the sapwood and knots in the picture seem strange to me. Like RenaissanceWW said, there is a great deal of variance in the specie's range and maybe this accounts for the anomalies. Thanks for taking the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardnesd Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 My best guess is Brazillian Cherry. FWIW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trace Posted December 13, 2010 Report Share Posted December 13, 2010 I have some walnut that came from the wood left in the barn/shop when we bought the farm here. It looks like the wood pictured, every bit as purple. I haqve seen a lot of walnut this color, mostly from Indiana and Pennsylvania. There is a sawmill in Leesburg, In. where I bought some very purple walnut several years ago. I don't know if they are still there, but it may be worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnie Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 I have some walnut that came from the wood left in the barn/shop when we bought the farm here. It looks like the wood pictured, every bit as purple. I haqve seen a lot of walnut this color, mostly from Indiana and Pennsylvania. There is a sawmill in Leesburg, In. where I bought some very purple walnut several years ago. I don't know if they are still there, but it may be worth a try. Is it because the wood has age on it? Or is it just the species of walnut it is? Some times wood tends to brown up if left in the weather/elements............... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Trace Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 I have to answer that I really do not know how old the walnut I found is. I do know it was in the barn/shop when we bought the place. That makes it at minimum 12 years old. My guess is about 25 to 30. When I planed it the color showed a lot of purple and some pink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptFerd Posted December 15, 2010 Report Share Posted December 15, 2010 Looks like the walnut I built my living room furniture with. Has the sap wood in it just like mine. Still have a bunch left over. I'm in southwest Ohio and the wood was cut local. If the wood is still bare wipe back and forth a few times with a white rag and Ill bet it turns the rag dark brown like it does my fingers. CaptFerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grixxly Posted December 17, 2010 Report Share Posted December 17, 2010 It looks like curly walnut to me. Especially with the sap wood there and the knot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjfreeman Posted December 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2010 Thanks to everyone who replied. As it turns out, it was indeed walnut with a white wash finish. I had our finisher try several different clear coats on a few different woods samples and bam, when he decided to hit one with a white wash it was identical to my photos. Pretty cool finding all of you here and I'm sure I'll come calling again in the future. They great thing is that it looks like we won the project! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.