Help identifying wood

[cmiller]

Hi friends,

I don't know about you, but I don't like making things and not knowing what wood was used. What do you think about these blanks, I found them at a garage sale. I live in the land of the Oregon big leaf maple, and the white/red pieces have some bird's eye features, so that's my first guess, but the red parts make me think it might be something else.

I think the darker pieces are a different species. They smell different.

Let me know what you think, thanks for looking.

 

[1080Wayne]

You have some very nice pieces there . The red ones look as though they might be amboyna . They should have a kind of spicy smell when sanded . The others are darker than any big leaf maple I have , but the surfaces may be oxidized . Try sanding a face or two and see if it lightens up . Big leaf maple frequently has wider growth rings than I see there , so I suspect they are something else , but have no idea what . Is there a significant weight/density difference between the two types ? How do they compare in weight to some other common wood you have ? Relative hardness of non -punky areas ?

 

[GaryMGg]

My first thought is Amboyna burl. When turning, it smells like roses to me.

 

[Dehn0045]

The two on the right I would call amboyna with a reasonable degree of confidence based on appearance only.

The other three I'm not so sure. My first thought was black locust burl, but that tends to be lighter, I have seen some darker pieces though. Another guess is russian olive burl. Nothing is really jumping out at me though, so it is probably something else.

Either way, those are some nice looking blanks

 

[southernclay]

I agree on Amboyna. The other if it is very dense may be Desert Ironwood Burl, black locust burl is a possibility as well.

 

[1080Wayne]

The easiest definitive test for black locust is its strong yellow fluorescence under UV light . Failing that , sand the area shown in the right hand piece in the last picture and let us see a new picture .

 

[Jplupercio_CSUSA]

i would say that the 3 on the left are Thuya Burl and the 2 on the left are Amboyna.

 

[bertha]

subscribed, this seems like a very interesting thread

 

[jcm71]

The two on the right are definitely Amboyna. I'll go with Mesquite on the other three.

 

[Dehn0045]

I hadn't thought of thuya, but it's a good idea. Mesquite was on my mind, another good guess IMHO. I always forget about flourescence with wood ID, good call 1080Wayne

 

[cmiller]

Thanks for all your thoughts, everyone. Looks like the white/red ones are amboyna, though they don't really smell spicy or aromatic, more like a basic forest fire.

The darker pieces are the same color under the surface. Of the options people suggested, I think Black Locust burl hits the mark. Pictures of that species online match the pieces I have really well, both the figure and the color.

I'll make a couple pens out of this wood sometime soon and post the results here. Thanks, and stay tuned...

 

[cmiller]

Hi, here's the first result. Looks like amboyna burl to me.

 

[cmiller]

Hi friends, I hope people are still watching this thread. I started turning the darker piece, it's very unusual. It smells very spicy/aromatic to me, almost medicinal. My wife said it smells like a "mint pencil."

It turns like butter, very smooth and easy, though the wood feels hard and medium weight. The sawdust feels almost wet, but I believe the blank has had plenty of time to dry.

So I'm very curious what this might be, do those hints help anyone identify it? I plan on finishing with CA, but don't want to put it on the wrong kind of wood, so I'm hoping someone can help ID it.

Thanks for reading!

 

[cmiller]

Maybe it's camphor.

 

[1080Wayne]

Is it the same shade inside or is it lighter or more reddish ?


Look at the camphor burl in this thread and other earlier lots sold by Joe

http://www.penturners.org/forum/f163/pen-blank-sale-35-a-156381/

 

[cmiller]

It's a pretty uniform color, it doesn't go red at all.

The blanks in the link you sent are sort of close. I did a google search and there are others that look very close.