Help ID Wood

[Tom McMillan]

My Brother brought me a hunk of wood a number of years ago. He lives in upper Northwest Washington State, and I don't think he knew what the wood was. Well, a few months ago I sawed a few blanks off of it, but haven't really worked it yet, as I was hoping to know what it was first. Would appreciate input and thoughts as to what it might be. Sseems like a farily mid to lightweight wood with somewhat open grain (maybe a little similar to some walnuts--but I'm fairly sure this isn't walnut) and looks like some curl in the grain. It's pretty solid and seems to turn pretty well. Photo below---I turned the one end and finished the end with CA.

 

[mrcook4570]

If you had not mentioned Washington, I would have said koa. The color streaks, open grain, even the chip out makes me think koa.

Here's some koa that I have.

 

[Tom McMillan]

Thanks Stan!! I'm really not sure that my Brother knew if it was native to where he got it---I think he did get it from a woodshop of some sort. I thought of Koa too---I do have a small piece---but the piece I had seemed a little more brittle than this--although the tearout does show a little brittleness. I'll likely go with Koa if I don't hear other ideas.

 

[vick]

tooks to red for koa to me reminds me of Bubinga.

 

[low_48]

I think I will vote for Madrone. Definitely a California wood. Here's a link to some Madrone flooring.

http://www.oldgrowth.com/images/DanCherysFloors011.jpg

 

[alamocdc]

Both the unturned and turned and finished sides of this look just like my curly Bubinga, so I'm with Mike...first thing I thought when I saw it.

 

[thetalbott4]

I would have thought Bubinga too, but if it is fairly light wood, then Bubinga is out of the question.

 

[Tom McMillan]

Wow, thanks all!! In person it doesn't look as reddish as it seems to look here in my photo. I have worked some Bubinga and I don't think it's that. The grain looks a little similar, but it's not nearly as heavy and works differently. I may have a piece of madrone so will have to take a look at that---I'm still thinking it might be koa, but I'm still wondering??

 

[DCBluesman]

Curly, but not quite musical-grade, koa. (Most categorize musical grade as 6 curls or more per inch.) There are three distinct looks to koa...traditional brown, blonde and red. The red is not deep red, but a reddish cast, particularly when finished. I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I'd bet my ex-'s. [8D]

 

[Tom McMillan]

Wow, Lou thanks & interesting about the curls per inch. Well, gollee I've got a few of them thar ex-s I'd bet too---have to remember that one!![]

 

[wdcav1952]

Originally posted by DCBluesman
<br />Curly, but not quite musical-grade, koa. (Most categorize musical grade as 6 curls or more per inch.) There are three distinct looks to koa...traditional brown, blonde and red. The red is not deep red, but a reddish cast, particularly when finished. I wouldn't bet my life on it, but I'd bet my ex-'s. [8D]

Lou,

You owe me a keyboard cleaning!!! [][]

 

[BigRob777]

Tom,
Absolutely, no question in my mind, this is bubinga. It looks like nice stuff too.
Enjoy it. If you want to do a trade, I'm open to it. If it is old, then it may have "lost some weight", though not much. Bubinga is heavier than koa and the like, but this looks exactly like bubinga, both the unfinished and the finished portions. The weight is confusing though. Weight is a relative thing though. This texture looks a little like Jatoba, but it isn't brown enough.

A good way to tell, is to see the end grain. That's how the pros do it. I have a friend's college books on identification, along with some other books on the subject and the most reliable method, is looking at the end grain at 10X.
Rob

 

[rglinks]

Tom,

I live in Hawaii and work with koa a lot. Koa has a golden tone to the wood and the sample dose not seemto have that. I also work with a wood called Monkey Pod which is a tree that there is a lot of here. The monkey pod sometimes can pass for koa when finished but from my experience does not have the golden glow of koa so my guess that it is monkey pod.

If you want me to I can take pics of pcs monkey pod and koa side by side and E-Mail it to you

Ron.....