Coyote Jim Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 I got my hands on some rough lumber that I do not know what it is. Here is what I know about it. I have a lot of it. It's WAY harder than pine, almost as hard as oak (maybe equal too?). It is just about 5/4 thick. Most of the boards are 6' wide and a few are about 9" wide. The boards are very heavy. I found them by a dumpster as crates. According to a packing slip on the crates they were used to ship hard maple blanks. The blanks in the crates are being used by a local company that makes baseball bats. If I think of anything else I will post it. I did a quick planing to reveal the grain. By accident I grabbed this one that looks to have both heartwood and sapwood. These pictures were taken by my cell phone, if they are not good enough I can break out the SLR and take better pics in better light. What other photo's or info might you need to help identify this wood? I am very excited by this find because hard wood is expensive and even though this is low quality pallet grade wood it is still free hardwood that a beginner like me can make stuff with. Thank you for any help you are able to give! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Could be maple. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 You said experts but Ill guess anyway. Looks like maple to me also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 My first guess is birch grain looks to coarse for maple imo. The smell would give it away when you get a burnign cut maple and birch will smell very different. If it's not birch ... check hobbit house wood id. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Better pictures will help. A very cleanly cut endgrain section very well sanded & a close up picture is what you need to look at the hobbithouse site. http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marmotjr Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 From the grain and color, looks a lot like alder to me. But then again, woods are funny like that, I've had a piece here that people swore was Cherry, but was actually maple. Tough to tell without getting clean close ups of both the cross gain and end grain. Regardless of what it is. It's kinda purty, and if you clean it up well enough, It should make for some nice projects, as long as you can keep that flat sawn stuff flat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Jim Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Thank you all for the insights! I'll get some cleaner pics in the next day or two. I'll also look into this hobbit thing. 1 hour ago, wdwerker said: A very cleanly cut endgrain section very well sanded & a close up picture is what you need to look at the hobbithouse site. How well sanded? 220 grit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 My guess is birch... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 5 hours ago, Coyote Jim said: Thank you all for the insights! I'll get some cleaner pics in the next day or two. I'll also look into this hobbit thing. How well sanded? 220 grit? Sand fine enough that the scratches arent visible under close magnification. Probably higher than 220. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Sand as high of a grit as you can. 400 or higher if you've got some. The goal is being able to see the plant structures that actually make up the wood . Differences can help identify or eliminate certain types of wood. Like red oak having cross connective tissue. Your trying to get a wickedly sharp focused view of the end grain. Im probably either using the wrong terms or stating this a bit wrong but the general idea is correct. In botany a lot of plant identification is done with characteristics of the leaves, but those usually aren't handy when the tree has long since been cut down. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Someone should come up with DNA testing for wood. Only instead of Twenty Three and Me it would be: What's Your Tree for Free . 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdwerker Posted January 19, 2018 Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 Or more like " What's your tree for Three (hundred& fifty)" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Jim Posted January 19, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2018 3 hours ago, wtnhighlander said: Sand fine enough that the scratches arent visible under close magnification. Probably higher than 220. 3 hours ago, wdwerker said: Sand as high of a grit as you can. 400 or higher if you've got some. I'll break out my water stones and my strop. That was a joke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Jim Posted January 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 I sanded the end grain to 600 and got some really close shots. If it would help to zoom in the full size versions of these images can be found here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YgUGQ7rwJppLIYmu1 Oh, and that white line is a crack that got filled with dust. Are there any other shots or something else I should be looking for? Other than the color this does seem to look a lot like birch. Link from Hobbit: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/birch.htm Especially the end grain: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/birch/birch 3 end grain closeup 2 s50 plh.htm Any other potential matches I could dig deeper into at the Hobbit House. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chestnut Posted January 20, 2018 Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 There are a few different types of birch but I'd for sure say that birch. Color looks pretty par for the birch I've used. Now is it paper birch, yellow birch, or river birch .... i don't know between those. I'd say it's more than likely yellow just because i think that's most likely to be made into lumber. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted January 20, 2018 Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 I changed my mind. I think Chestnut has it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted January 20, 2018 Report Share Posted January 20, 2018 I guessed birch yesterday.... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coyote Jim Posted January 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 4 hours ago, curlyoak said: I guessed birch yesterday.... And I was just confirming your guess.... Anyway. Thank all of your for your input on this and for introducing me to Hobbit House. I actually learned quite a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Coop Posted January 21, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 6 hours ago, mat60 said: I changed my mind. I think Chestnut has it. No, I don’t think it’s chestnut. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chestnut Posted January 21, 2018 Popular Post Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 This is chestnut. Can't use it as a nickname and not have a few pieces laying around. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted January 21, 2018 Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 I'll toss in Alder as a guess. I have some that looks a bit like that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondhockey Posted January 21, 2018 Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Chestnut said: This is chestnut. Can't use it as a nickname and not have a few pieces laying around. You're really sure that's chestnut? Hard to tell from the pictures; maybe you could include a very sharp photo of the endgrain, sanded, say to 400 or so...;-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted January 21, 2018 Report Share Posted January 21, 2018 On 1/20/2018 at 1:39 PM, Coyote Jim said: Any other potential matches I could dig deeper into at the Hobbit House. I think birch is the correct ID. You could send me a sample for confirmation. The guess of chestnut is WAYYYY off. This wood is diffuse porous and chestnut is ring porous. Not even close to being similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pondhockey Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 2 hours ago, phinds said: I think birch is the correct ID. You could send me a sample for confirmation. The guess of chestnut is WAYYYY off. This wood is diffuse porous and chestnut is ring porous. Not even close to being similar. Arghhh!!! Nobody said that Coyote's sample was chestnut; the chestnut discussion was a lighthearted side comment about Chestnut's guesses. I was being tongue in cheek with my "serious" reply. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat60 Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 OH my god..LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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