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The wood is very hard and dense and the endgrain is solid black with wiggly white lines across it. Planes and works relatively easily. This picture is about 4x1 inches. I have some bits that I'd like to make into headstock veneers and it would be nice to know what it is!

Thanks.

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flat-sawn Zebra?
Sure is pretty.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

There are some palms that look a little like that.

It does have some similarities to black palm, but according to The Wood Database, "Growth rings, sapwood, and rays are completely absent. Endgrain exhibits a dotted pattern unique to palm trees."
Here's a scan of the endgrain:


It looks to me like it does have growth rings.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

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Just found this wood panga panga - http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-ide ... nga-panga/. A relative of wenge. It is darker than mine, but it says it gets lighter with light.
What do you think?

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

not panga-panga (also called djambir) - it´s almost indistinguishable from wenge; it doesn´t have any creamy/light-ish part. mine didn´t get lighter.

sorry, don´t know what it is.

cheers,
miguel.

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Not a palm. How heavy is it? I have seen old growth fir with similar grain patterns.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

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As close as I can measure on my kitchen scales, it is about 875kg/m3. It's funny that it has almost exactly the same grain pattern as wenge, in a different colour.

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

All species can be found in lighter or darker colors. Don't assume just because your wood is a different color from "normal" Wenge that it can't be Wenge.
The color you see as normal in exotic wood species is determined by what the exporters select and ship and that is based on what their customers want.
Perhaps light or "off" color Wenge is discarded as non commercial in favor of darker wood.
Looking at the pattern of cells in the end grain and the density will give the best clues to id.

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Lance Peck

wenge was my first thought, though I've never seen such a stark contrast between light and dark.

I think wenge is the most likely.
This picture of iroko looks almost exactly like it, but the end grain is dotted rather than striped.
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... %20plh.htm
Just shows how confusing wood identification is! This is wenge:
http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/ ... %20plh.htm

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

just to re-state my self, not like any panga-panga that i know of. my parents lived in mozambique for a long time and panga was a rather common furniture wood there at the time. it was not expensive (neither was african blackwood!!!) and i don´t think they would have got the finest grades (life was hard). in their home most of the furniture was (some of it still is) panga-panga and all of it is very dark (some of it almost black), but maybe it´s jst the wood from mozambique that´s like that. funny thing is, they also have a lot of iroko (also called kambala) and it´s also very different from that pic... that´s wood i guess!

cheers,
miguel.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

Goncalo Alves perhaps?

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Peter, i've got stacks of stuff that looks the same as yours. i salvaged it from science lab benches. i've always assumed mine was iroko but from your links I'm also thinking wenge. Very oiley and quite often when cut it warps like hell.
Last thing i did with it was make a floor for my hall way.
Anyway, whatever it is, some bookmatched pieces would look fine as a headstock veneer.

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