Wood ID

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keithbyrd

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I was given this piece of wood to make a pen for a customer. He said the wood is from Australia and very hard but didn't know what kind. Does any one recognize? The picture has a reddish tint to it but the wood is more brownish red but when I cut it the newly exposed has more of the red in it. He was right - it is very hard! Any help?
 

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Tim'sTurnings said:
Could it be Padauk? I looks like it has opened grain like padauk but the pic kinda looks purplish like Purpleheart. Those are my two guesses.
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Fresh cut purpleheart would not show a "reddish" tone, it would be "mousy brown".
hunter-27 said:
I have some that is well aged that looks very similar so I tossed it out there.
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keithbyrd said:
I was given this piece of wood to make a pen for a customer. He said the wood is from Australia and very hard but didn't know what kind. Does any one recognize? The picture has a reddish tint to it but the wood is more brownish red but when I cut it the newly exposed has more of the red in it. He was right - it is very hard! Any help?
Click to expand...

Jarrah.
 
sjt said:
Looks 'too' purple to be Jarrah but it's definitely Purple Gidgee (Acacia crombiei), which grows in our warmer/desert environments. Hope this helps :)

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/10927-conservation-advice.pdf
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While I can not confirm or deny that sjt is correct, as I never had anything to do with Purple Gidgee, Padauk and Purpleheart as far as I know, are not Australian timbers...!

I don't know the size of that block/blank but, it looks of fair size and all the Gidgee trees I know from my time in centre Queensland do not produce a clean piece of wood that size without cracks/flaws/sap and all common stuff from Gidgee, one think I can confirm, no one likes to work with very dry Gidgee wood, is just a blade "destroyer"...!:mad:

Cheers
George
 
robutacion said:
While I can not confirm or deny that sjt is correct, as I never had anything to do with Purple Gidgee, Padauk and Purpleheart as far as I know, are not Australian timbers...!

I don't know the size of that block/blank but, it looks of fair size and all the Gidgee trees I know from my time in centre Queensland do not produce a clean piece of wood that size without cracks/flaws/sap and all common stuff from Gidgee, one think I can confirm, no one likes to work with very dry Gidgee wood, is just a blade "destroyer"...!:mad:
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I didn't think of that George (size of blank) therefore I'd be interested to know what the size of the blank is. I have a few purple gidgee pen blanks in the shed and have turned a bowl with it. I can confirm that it is HARD! If it is an Australian timber then the colour and straight grain suggests it's closer to gidgee than anything else. At the end of the day I dare say is looks too much like purple heart than anything else and purple heart isn't grown in Aus.

Are you sure it came from Aus keithbyrd?

Cheers,
Scott.
 
Timber Ident,

There is a rare Australian Purpleheart I have lots of it in pen blanks it goes under names such as Waddy Wood, Acacia carneorum, Acacia Carneii. Unlike other timbers in other parts of the world it does not fade making it unique, the sapwood is beautiful can be exquisite in swirly contrast. The timber is prized by plane makers over here. It is dense and heavy.

I agree the sample timber looks very much like Jarrah a common timber from Australia it has a great range of colours from pinks, browns to reds. Also dense, heavy, Jarrah Burl is very special.

Pink Gidgee is possible Purple Gidgee is spectacular rarish harder than easily seen strong colour in it.

Australia is a vast continent check my Avatar to compare with part of the USA.

We could play guesses for ever swap Google talk or lets face it timber identification is a science not a guessing game.

If ever you have done any family Genealogy you realise possibilities abound but nothing suffices like real facts.

If you can first really establish it is an Australian timber, who supplied it etc that is the way to go the rest as they say is history.

With some of the above timbers in my arsenal I am tempted to take some pics of them but beware the reason I aquire timber because it is different from the norm means it is not necessarily typical much like the suppliers of pen blanks who wet the timber, lightly laquer it mine will be as is au natural.

Always a pleasure to share have fun I do.

Kind regards Peter.
 
it sure looks like the purple heart that i have worked with. have had several pieces from different sources and they all look like this.
 
robutacion said:
sjt said:
Looks 'too' purple to be Jarrah but it's definitely Purple Gidgee (Acacia crombiei), which grows in our warmer/desert environments. Hope this helps :)

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/10927-conservation-advice.pdf
Click to expand...

While I can not confirm or deny that sjt is correct, as I never had anything to do with Purple Gidgee, Padauk and Purpleheart as far as I know, are not Australian timbers...!

I don't know the size of that block/blank but, it looks of fair size and all the Gidgee trees I know from my time in centre Queensland do not produce a clean piece of wood that size without cracks/flaws/sap and all common stuff from Gidgee, one think I can confirm, no one likes to work with very dry Gidgee wood, is just a blade "destroyer"...!:mad:

Cheers
George
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This piece is 1 3/4" x 8" x 10" - there are no defects or sapwood - I was told that it came from Aus and that this is what was left of the board after he cut it for another project - so it must have been a fairly large piece.
 
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As I though Keith, the blank size could never had come from any tree from the Gidgee Family as looking at the end-grain and now being confirmed of its size, at 8" wide, you can see that the growth rings on that piece, are only about 1/3 or less than the diameter of the tree the slab was cut from so, and after having another look, I'm inclined to believe that is Australian Jarrah...!

Cheers
George
 
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robutacion said:
As I though Keith, the blank size could never had come from any tree from the Gidgee Family as looking at the end-grain and now being confirmed of its size, at 8" wide, you can see that the growth rings on that piece, are only about 1/3 or less than the diameter of the tree the slab was cut from so, and after having another look, I'm inclined to believe that is Australian Jarrah...!

Cheers
George
Click to expand...

Thanks George and all! I appreciate to help in ID. I think George and a few others are right - I'm going with Jarrah!
 
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