Wood ID - Grenadillo or Chechen?

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jrista

jrista

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I have some blanks here that I've been turning, and some of them didn't seem to be labelled. I'm pretty sure that this small ornament was turned out of either a grenadillo or chechen blank, but I'm not real sure which. Both are darker woods, I just can't quite tell from the grain which it may be.
Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A - 7 - 20231122.jpg

You can see the endgrain here.

Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A - 5 - 20231122.jpg


And this should give you a good idea of the side grain. This has been finished with a coat of wipe on poly, which darkened it a bit.
 
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That's pretty cool looking. Wire burn?

The wood ID is a tough call, but looking at the pores in the grain, I'm going with Granadillo. Chechen usually has reddish streaks in it, but not always, and seems to have a tighter grain in my experience. Granadillo often has some chatoyance to it, though. They are both favorites of mine, not that that helps any. :)
 
sorcerertd said:
That's pretty cool looking. Wire burn?

The wood ID is a tough call, but looking at the pores in the grain, I'm going with Granadillo. Chechen usually has reddish streaks in it, but not always, and seems to have a tighter grain in my experience. Granadillo often has some chatoyance to it, though. They are both favorites of mine, not that that helps any. :)
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Thanks for the id! I'm so far inclined to agree with you. Magnified the grain a bit, and based on what I'm finding online, it seems to be missing some aspects of the chechen grain. I've checked all the receipts I have for when I bought bottle stopper blanks, and there was only one chechen in just one order. I am not sure if I even still have that chechen blank... I may have lost it. :\

And thanks! Yes, wire burn! I did each of them with a variety of wire burn patterns. I really like how that looks in the end. Never did much before, but those dark lines look so nice when finished.
 
It definitely is not Chechen and I do not think it is Granadillo either. I have seen this wood before but it escapes me now. The side view is the telling view. Have to ponder that one. Leaning toward Macawood. Maybe even Bubinga the more I look at it.
 
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It looks like Paduak that's been left to soak up some UV rays to my eye, but don't listen to me. 60% of the time, I'm wrong… every time.

If it's been recently turned most Paduak wouldn't be that dark, nor would the seasonal layering of the rings have such consistent contrast. Eh, whoever ends up being right, I agree with them.

See? I helped.
 
jttheclockman said:
It definitely is not Chechen and I do not think it is Granadillo either. I have seen this wood before but it escapes me now. The side view is the telling view. Have to ponder that one. Leaning toward Macawood. Maybe even Bubinga the more I look at it.
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Yeah, it doesn't look like Chechen, Granadillo, or Bubinga to me.

At least it doesn't look like any of the pieces of those woods I currently have. I've not run across Macawood so I wouldn't know it if I saw it. But like @ZanderPommo I've been known to be wrong frequently.

Cool piece though, @jrista . Good luck with the ID.
 
ZanderPommo said:
It looks like Paduak that's been left to soak up some UV rays to my eye, but don't listen to me. 60% of the time, I'm wrong… every time.

If it's been recently turned most Paduak wouldn't be that dark, nor would the seasonal layering of the rings have such consistent contrast. Eh, whoever ends up being right, I agree with them.

See? I helped.
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I am pretty sure its not padauk. I have a lot of that floating around, and its definitely a reddish color. This started out pretty dark, and darkened a bit more with the oil poly finish. That said, I see why you say that, as Padauk has a similar grain...


===============

So, some more details:

I have not purchased any Bubinga bottlestopper blanks. I have Macacauba (is that the same as macawood? seems to be what comes up when I search for it) in various blanks, although not bottle stoppers. Macacauba is one of my favorite woods...BEAUTIFUL grain, turns well, good hardness. Macacauba though, is more reddish orange and lighter than this stuff.

This particular bell was turned out of a decidedly darker, brown wood, even before the finish. The blanks that I know I have bought are as follows:

USED:
Maple (Turned a couple of these into something else a long time ago, I may have 1 left, but this is a light colored wood)
Gaboon Ebony (part of a pack of 5 assorted; STUNNING. Turned into a small finial a couple years ago)
Marblewood (part of a pack of 5 assorted; tan and brown, turned into a bell ornament (see below))
Bocote (part of a pack of 5 assorted; turned into a little ring cup that ended up breaking 😢 )
Birds-Eye Maple (part of a pack of 5 assorted; turned into something...I think I sold it long ago)

Purnambuco (bright orange, I know which one this is, turned it into a bell (see below))
Bacote (know which one this is as well, turned this, its finish is drying...taking forever for some reason (see below))
Bolivian Rosewood (know which one this is, its finish is also drying and taking forever (see below))

UNTURNED:
Figured Asian Satinwood (part of a pack of 5 assorted; still have it, light colored)
Myrtle (Bought 5 of these, also a light colored wood)
Bilhwara (bought 5 of these, still have 5...this is a medium darkish wood though, brown)
Red Ironbark (bought 5 of these, still have 5, reddish in color, lighter)
Ziricote (bought 2 of these, still have 2, very dark in color)
Tasmanian Blackwood (bought 1, have 1)
Kirandy (bright yellow! awesome, bought 2, have 2)


The last two that I know I've bought are these two:

Chechen (bought 1...)
Grenadillo (bought 2... Had one that I may have turned here...not sure what happened to the other)

I have one of these, unturned, and I turned the other. All of these except the pack of 5, were from Cook Woods. They usually, usually...label each blank with a number. Which makes it easy to look up the receipt and figure out which is which if I forget. For some reason, these two blanks weren't labeled. Hence the thread. :p


The Purnambuco, so, so nice! Love this wood! Only thing I've turned out of it, but I NEED MOAR!! Such a nice grain:
Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A - 6 - 20231122.jpg



The marblewood (wow, this stuff was rock hard, might turn into bottle stoppers in the future, but not another bell):
Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A - 4 - 20231122.jpg


The Bocote:
Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A.1 - Prelim - 2 - 20231123.jpg


The Bolivian Rosewood:
Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A.1 - Prelim - 1 - 20231123.jpg


The "unknown" .... Its gotta be either Chechen or Grenadillo, right?
Ornaments - Batch 1 - Wooden Bells - Group A - 5 - 20231122.jpg



I have the other darker wood blank here. I'm gonna grab a photo of that...maybe it will help with the id. Beware, its still sealed in wax (Cook Woods likes to slather everything in copious amounts of wax...)
 
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Remaining blank from teh order that had grenadillo and chechen. Not sure what this is. Tried to scrape off some of the wax, but that just ruined the grain so I can't id it.

Stopper Blank Samples - 1 - 20231123.jpg


Stopper Blank Samples - 2 - 20231123.jpg



Stopper Blank Samples - 3 - 20231123.jpg


Stopper Blank Samples - 4 - 20231123.jpg
 
That bell, I know I have seen that wood before and it is in my turning pile of woods but a pain to dig them out. Satine has that look too. Even though they call it bloodwood it is not even close to red.

You need to try the heart woods. yellowheart, redheart, purpleheart and if you can find greenheart. Would look great. then I see lots of segmenting possibilities in there.
 
Ok, this may explain why the bell looks like Macacauba or Macawood (from West Penn Hardwoods, one of the places I shop):

GRANADILLO

LATIN: PLATYMISCIUM SPP. ORIGIN: CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

Granadillo is referred to by many names. It is actually from the commonly known species of Macacauba but is often referred to as Hormigo or Orange Agate depending on which country it is imported from. Many of the lesser known species that have become popular for woodworking have had different names depending on where they have come from.
 
jttheclockman said:
yes. Chechen has distinctive black and dark brown grain lines running through it. That bell has none.
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Thank you! Based on that, and your previous comment about macawood, and the post I just shared, I am pretty sure the bell is the Granadillo.
 
jrista said:
Ok, this may explain why the bell looks like Macacauba or Macawood (from West Penn Hardwoods, one of the places I shop):

GRANADILLO

LATIN: PLATYMISCIUM SPP. ORIGIN: CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

Granadillo is referred to by many names. It is actually from the commonly known species of Macacauba but is often referred to as Hormigo or Orange Agate depending on which country it is imported from. Many of the lesser known species that have become popular for woodworking have had different names depending on where they have come from.
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Yes, tell me that bell does not look like this wood.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/hormigo-negro-1-5-x-1-5-x-12
 
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jrista said:
Ok, this may explain why the bell looks like Macacauba or Macawood (from West Penn Hardwoods, one of the places I shop):

GRANADILLO

LATIN: PLATYMISCIUM SPP. ORIGIN: CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA

Granadillo is referred to by many names. It is actually from the commonly known species of Macacauba but is often referred to as Hormigo or Orange Agate depending on which country it is imported from. Many of the lesser known species that have become popular for woodworking have had different names depending on where they have come from.
Click to expand...
Yes, a lot of woods are pretty much lumped into "Granadillo". The owner of West Penn HW (IIRC), said that Hormigo is the female of the species and Granadillo is the male. Heck if I know.
 
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