Help ID my Mystery Burl

[deeceedub]

A nice gentleman at church heard we were turning pens and brought me some pieces he'd had stashed in his wood shop for 20-30 years. I have NO clue what species it is, but it did make a pretty pen. My first burl. But what is it?

 

[1080Wayne]

Very nice burl ! No idea what it is , but I think you owe him a pen . Is it very hard , or soft ?

 

[deeceedub]

He gave us a different slab of a gorgeous burl, but it's pretty thin, just about 1/2 inch. I glued some popsicle sticks to it to help stabilize so we could get it drilled safely and we did turn a beautiful Creekline pen for him, which we gave to him tonight but forgot to photograph first. He was tickled pink.

The other burl I used for the pen in the pic made a little larger blank. I still have one more. It's pretty soft, I think, but I'm new to all this so I don't have much experience.

 

[mrburls]

Could it be Spanish Oak Burl? I turned some that looked similar.
Keith

 

[Dieseldoc]

Could be olive burl as it has some of the olive look in color.

 

[Dehn0045]

My guess is spalted maple of some kind. Hard to say though. For wood IDs, sometimes end-grain pics can help (not always with burls), also relative hardness and weight/density can be help (compare to known common woods).

Here are a few from IAP that I think look similar:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/stabilized-spalted-ambrosia-maple-153842/
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/few-more-134936/
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/busy-day-cigar-pens-nh-115026/ (see pen #9)
http://www.penturners.org/forum/f13/simple-maple-clicker-82500/

 

[deeceedub]

Thanks for the input! I thought if I had a few ideas to toss around with him it might jog his memory.

Those pens are beautiful and mine is definitely not in the same class. I do think it looks like mine is similar to the maple ones, maybe.

 

[gimpy]

I have no idea, but it sure turned out nice. Great job

 

[OZturner]

Excellent Pen Donna,
I can't help you, with your question "What is it?" other than to say, "Beautiful".
Nicely Turned, Fitted and Finished.
Congratulations,
Brian.

 

[1080Wayne]

My questions weren`t as precise as they should have been . Is there a difference in hardness between the light and dark areas in hardness , as measured by pushing on it with a fingernail ? Very soft wood will dent easily with minimal pressure , hard wood will show very little , even with high pressure . Not a very scientific test but it does provide some information .

Is the black line around the `tooth` area a void , a bark inclusion line , or a spalt line ? If a void , you did very well to keep it all together . Doesn`t really look like spalt when I blow the picture up , and certainly not like any maple I have , but I don`t have it all . Bark might be a bit softer than the adjacent wood .

Good idea to jog his memory any way you can . Delighted you were able to use the half inch material . Many wouldn`t even try .