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Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=30258		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  Chris aka Sniggly [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I'm a wood hound...constantly looking. I found this board at a local garage sale. Paid 20 bucks for it....but I have NO idea what it is.

When you smell it the first thing that comes to mind is chocolate. Here are some pics...some with flash...some without.
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Author:  windsurfer [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:42 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
spicey, chocolate, like Imbuia ?

-jd
Author:  Corky Long [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Hmmm - Okay - I'll bite. :D

Looks like some kind of figured walnut??, but not black walnut. How heavy is it? Could probably narrow it down by doing some measurement - weight per volume. (I like grams per cubic inch, but receive hoots of derision for mixing apples and oranges... Oh well, [uncle] laughing6-hehe )

Better send it over here for a closer look... :D
Author:  Link Van Cleave [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 11:50 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Chris, That's a cool looking piece of wood but I don't have a guess. I am impressed with carpet in a shop though !! On a second look is that carpet ?
On another note I would suggest you glue a big block of wood to the back of your sled so your blade is buried when you finish a cut and put a stop in the runner slot to limit how far you can push the sled. This is to keep the blade buried in the block of wood.
FWIW When I build a sled I set the main cross fence in a few inches. I never completely cut through the deck in the back that way.
Anyway nice wood, nice shop.
L.
Author:  Chris aka Sniggly [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Yeah....like a spicey chocolate.....and it is heavy and really really hard. I resawed a small cutoff of it and had to push it pretty hard to get it to go through blade (woodmaster ct).

I should weigh some of it.

Link thanks for that observation on the sled...I've got the piece cut out for it. Just gotta put it on. And yes...that's carpet! It works you just have to vacuum a lot.
Author:  Bailey [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Looks illegal to me. So, to keep from getting prosecuted, please send it immediately to:
Illegally Purchased Garage Sale Extict Wood Rescue Inc..better known as: IPGSEWR.Inc.... PM for address and shipping instructions.


:-) KB
Author:  Michael Smith [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 12:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
It looks like one of the iron woods they sell for decking. Mostly called Ipe.
Author:  DennisK [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 1:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I think Michael's got it. Looks like ipe, aka Brazilian walnut, super hard and heavy. That figure is amazing, when I saw the first pic I thought ancient kauri whitebait figure, but in the others I can see it's definitely too dark to be kauri.

I've been wanting a back/side set of ipe to see how one of the hardest woods in the world would sound in guitar form. If you feel like selling any of that stuff (if you can even slice it), let me know :)
How wide is it? 5-6 inches? Looks like enough for 3 piece backs.
Author:  Bobc [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 1:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
It's Bubinga
Author:  Edward Taylor [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 1:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Yeah looks more like bubinga than ipe to me, at least from the ipe I have seen.
Author:  Howard Klepper [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
If I had to guess, imbuia.
Author:  Bobc [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Howard Klepper wrote:
If I had to guess, imbuia.


Howard
It does resemble imbuia but the color in the 4th picture from the top where the wood is wet in conjunction with the statement that it is very hard and heavy makes me think it's bubinga.
Author:  WaddyThomson [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I would agree that the reddish picture does look like Bubinga. Don't know if the brownish color is a good representation of the actual color or the reddish is.
Author:  Zach Ehley [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I would have guessed Imbuia as well, but I would think Bob knows better than I.
Author:  Tom West [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 3:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I'll side with Howard. Imbuia
Author:  Stuart Gort [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Wait a second there.....just HOLD ON!

Do you actually have carpet on the floor of your shop?
Author:  Mitch Johnson [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
The Ipe I've seen oozes with pitch when it's cut. That was even some 50-60 year old stuff. I don't know what it might be but I doubt Ipe.
Author:  Bobc [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 5:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
The problem with it being Imbuia is the heavy and very hard part. Both of which Imbuia are not !
Also Imbuia cuts like butter. Especially with a carbide tip blade.
Waddy I would like to know what color is correct too. The dry pic's look a bit too brown for bubinga.
Author:  Chris aka Sniggly [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 6:30 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Thanks for the input everyone.

The most color accurate pictures are the browner pics....not the red one....I used a flash on that photo.

I've not cut Imbuia before but I've cut about 50 sets of Bubinga and this stuff is certainly harder than that. I run a Woodmaster CT (which is coming up on needing a sharpening). All that Brazilian I've been processing has taken it's toll. In addition, it more brown than Bubinga...no pink cast whatsoever. I don't know what I'd use it for because the board is perfectly flatsawn.

In tapping the piece that I cut off....it's very loud and very glassy.
Author:  Ken Franklin [ Thu Dec 09, 2010 9:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Could be shedua which is related to bubinga but browner. I have some bubinga that is very hard and heavy.
Author:  jmanter [ Fri Dec 10, 2010 9:48 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
could it be peruvian walnut?
Author:  windsurfer [ Fri Dec 10, 2010 11:12 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
If it is too hard and heavy to be Imbuia, How about Apitong ?

Apitong also has a chocolate small, but more subtle and less spicy than Imbuia. Apitong is very tough abrasive stuff that eats saw blades even faster than Teak. Main use in US is lining the floors or trucks and railroad cars.

-jd
Author:  chinito [ Sat Dec 11, 2010 2:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I agree with Filippo that it looks like shedua. However it also kinda looks like bocote to me. But then again I'm red/green colour blind so no one else here might see the resemblance... idunno

Jake.Image
Author:  Tom West [ Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:34 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
Ovangkol is a heavy wood.
Author:  Ken Franklin [ Sat Dec 11, 2010 10:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mystery wood - please look and help I.D.
I believe ovangkol and shedua are the same wood.
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