Help Needed to Identify this FIG Wood

[Edgar]

I love wood with a story & here's one that I need help with. I call it FIG wood because it was Found In the Gulf of Mexico a little over 30 years ago.

Some of you may remember that truck load of wood that a co-worker gave me about a year ago. This was wood that from his father-in-law's place in Port Arthur, TX. His FIL worked at one of the chemical plants in Port Arthur but was also a wood worker and fisherman. On one of his fishing trips, he and his wife found a huge block of wood floating in the gulf, so they attached a tow line to it and hauled it home. It was so large & heavy that they almost swamped their little boat several times, but they finally managed to get it home.

The block of wood was 8" wide by 3" thick and at least 24 feet long. After letting it dry a while, he used 16' of it to build a full-wall mantle for their house and also used several pieces to build the braces for the mantle. A 3-foot section was left over and was part of the wood that I got last year.

I finally got around to cutting off a couple of bowl blanks from this block and I've turned the bottom & sides of one of those blanks. Here's some pictures of the remaining 20" long block plus some views of the bowl blanks & end grain of the block.

The bowl bottom has been sanded & a coat of Feed 'n' Wax has been applied. The side of the bowl has been sanded, but no finish has yet been applied. I don't have a photo of the shavings, but they are a dark reddish-brown color.

Any suggestions on what this wood might be would be appreciated.

Edgar

 

[lhowell]

That endgrain looks a lot like mahogany and the overall color is similar but i've never seen rings like that on a piece of mahogany either.

 

[woodcutter199]

Looking at the bottom of the turning, based on the many lines in the grain, I have to say it looks very much like redwood.
Is it soft or easy to turn?

 

[Jim Smith]

It also looks a bit like fir. Is there any smell when you turn it?

Jim Smith

 

[monophoto]

The prominent grain looks more like a redwood than a mahogany

My grandfather was a carpenter/house builder in his early years and in fact had build the quaint craftsman-style home that my mother grew up in. When he got older he worked as a carpenter at a port facility in Florida. About 60 years ago he showed me some rough cut mahogany planks that had come in on a ship from somewhere in Central America and that were destined for the landfill/burn pit until he rescued them. They had to have been 2" thick by perhaps 8" wide - I couldn't judge the length because they were in the attic of his garage. And I suspect that they were still there when the family sold that house. Really too bad!

 

[Curly]

You can add Red Cedar to the other two softwoods possibilities.

You know as an American you can send up to 5 samples to the Forest Products Laboratory for identification.

 

[lhowell]

The prominent grain looks more like a redwood than a mahogany

My grandfather was a carpenter/house builder in his early years and in fact had build the quaint craftsman-style home that my mother grew up in. When he got older he worked as a carpenter at a port facility in Florida. About 60 years ago he showed me some rough cut mahogany planks that had come in on a ship from somewhere in Central America and that were destined for the landfill/burn pit until he rescued them. They had to have been 2" thick by perhaps 8" wide - I couldn't judge the length because they were in the attic of his garage. And I suspect that they were still there when the family sold that house. Really too bad!

Looking at examples of redwood boards and bowls I am changing my vote to redwood! That's a shame about that mahogany! I hope the owners of that house found them and put them to good use!

 

[D.Oliver]

D*$n it, Edgar, you only get to torture us with this contest during the Bash or the Summer Extravaganza. You can't just throw a Wood ID contest together whenever you feel like it!:biggrin::tongue:

 

[Edgar]

There's no aroma to this wood at all. It is fairly soft and does turn & cut very easily. The grain ends tend to fray when you crosscut saw the board.

Thanks for the reminder about the Forestry Service, Pete. They request a 1x3x6 piece of wood & I can spare that much off the end. I have a few other woods that I should probably send at the same time.

 

[Edgar]

My friend's MIL sold the house to a nearby chemical plant. Because of its nearness to the plant, the old subdivision was no longer viable for residential resale. However, the chem plant purchased this house and all others in that subdivision as people moved out. They will use it for future plant expansion.

A friend of theirs salvaged that large mantle for use in their own home before the chem plant tore the house down. If someone else hadn't already spoken for it, I certainly would have taken that too.

 

[Cwalker935]

I was thinking teak was a possibility, but if it's soft I agree with redwood.

 

[Skie_M]

I'll agree with redwood too, that looks to be a very nice old-growth piece. I have some redwood sequoia here ... it tends towards splintering as well. I would think that the beautifully dark wood color is due to the ocean salts soaking into the wood, which is what made it very heavy in the first place.

 

[Herb G]

If it sinks in water, it's Cuban Mahogany.

 

[Lucky2]

If it sinks in water, it's Cuban Mahogany.

If it sinks in water they would never had gotten it, it would have sunk before they found it, wouldn't it?
Len

 

[Edgar]

If it sinks in water, it's Cuban Mahogany.

If it sinks in water they would never had gotten it, it would have sunk before they found it, wouldn't it?
Len

I think Herb's tongue was firmly planted in his cheek when he wrote that.

 

[robutacion]

Well, I would thing that is almost impossible it to be what it looks to me, the closest thing I have and that I saw from your samples, is my new "Tree of Haven" as seen on post #26 here

and here

however, I doubt it could be that I don't think this wood would survive that well in water.

These "old" woods always fascinates me, particularly how well some of them do in some very hard conditions.

Great find my friend,

Cheers
George

 

[1080Wayne]

Looks like a softwood to me . Guatemalan fir ?