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I've been given a piece of what I was told was Oak in the hope that it can be used for guitars. It lived for more than 75 years in a local church and has the odd hole in it but it's quite a nice piece of wood. I think it was a shelf but it looks identical to the pews.

214cm x 20cm (24cm or so actually but chamfered on one edge) x 3 cm
or
84in x 7.8in x 1.18in



I know Oak isn't traditionally a beloved tonewood but I'd be happy to build at least one with it, and this is my first piece of "reclaimed" wood!

I don't even know where it came from? (Were we still using English Oak for churches in the 1920s/1930s? Or was it all imported?)

I'm not holding out too much hope, I know it isn't perfectly quartered or anything, but I'd love to hear from those with more experience in these matters.

Thanks in advance,
Nick


EDIT: Consensus seems to be that it is not Oak, so if anyone thinks of a likely suspect that isn't mentioned, I'd love to hear from you!

So far, all of the following woods have been offered as suggestions...

Meranti
Mahogany
Sapele
Locust
Hickory
Walnut
Cherry
Luan Mahogany
Teak
and Pine

If you can rule one out, that's useful too! Thanks!

EDIT 2:

OK, I was out most of the day but I just ran a bit of sand paper over it and took some more photos....

Good news: It goes a nice colour with a bit of naptha wiped over it...





Not so good news: The end grain suggests I may not get much out of it to my eye, and bending may well be an issue....



As to identifying it: My inexperienced nose didn't recognise the smell, but it didn't remind me of the khaya I've been working with recently, and obviously didn't smell like the rosewood I used before.

The sanding dust started greenish (75 years of whatever) but is actually yellowish, as seen here...



And a photo of the cloth after wiping down a little....



Any further thoughts as to whether it's usable or how much I could get from it?

This is another pic with templates for a small guitar...





Thanks again in advance, and hopefully someone may have a better idea of what it is now.
Nick

Yes you can use it but it doesn't look like oak to me.
L.

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That's fantastic news, thanks so much the reply!

I'll have to compare it to the pews again, I know they're Oak. What do you think it could be?

I've only built with wood bought from luthier suppliers, any chance you could give me a two sentence run-through of what I need to do with it? I wish I could build with it ASAP but I suppose it will be ages before I could think of using it?

I'm not sure where I can get access to a band saw. I don't expect to get more than two guitars from it really. I've just whacked a couple of templates for a small guitar in this pic.

I also don't believe that it is oak. Could it be Meranti?

To be honest, I barely thought about it. They said it was Oak and I just thought it looked like the pews... Now I think about it, I guess it doesn't look like Oak. Whoops.

Meranti? That's not quite as exciting, but still usable I suppose. Any advances on Maranti?

Looks like it should make a nice guitar whatever the wood might be.

Step #1 - Pull Nails

Haha! Indeed :)

But I'm really glad you think it'll be ok! I just need to work out how to get it cut up.

Looks to me like it could be mahogany or sapele, but identifying wood from a photo is a guess at best.
The species doesn't really matter anyway, what are it's physical properties? The density and stiffness are the most important, you can get a pretty good estimate of the density as it is, but stiffness measurements before it's resawn probably won't have much meaning.

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Thanks, Rodger. Would be nice if it is Mahogany. I'll weigh it and do some tests once it's resawn.
Last time I went to a timber yard to get something cut they wanted a small fortune for it! I need to find cheaper way.

If it's not quarter sawn or even close then bending can be an issue. I could believe that the one bench pic might be oak but I agree the rest of it does not look like oak. Having said that IMO oak is a fine 'tone' wood for guitar.

Thanks, I'm sure I'd like an Oak guitar, I'm no snob. I was just trying to answer that question before it was asked. And I used tonewood for want of a better word, I'm aware of the controversy.

Are those lines in the end grain not grain lines? Or at least lined up with them? If they are, then it doesn't seem too bad. Hopefully it'll bend.

Definitely not oak. Doesn't look like mahogany or sapele to me either. I think it looks more like locust or hickory.

And yes you can use it. Sand it down to see what it looks like under the finish. I think that your board is likely stained. That would help determine what it is.

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I don't think the lines in the top picture are grain lines, they look like saw marks to me. If they are grain lines, that's not too far off quarter and that was a really big tree. I sometimes have a hard time telling saw marks from grain lines on endgrain. Sand the endgrain smooth and wipe it with naptha, that should bring it out.

I had not considered it probably has some kind of stain on it, a little sand/planeing will answer that.
After looking at it again, it could be walnut. It's not zebra wood, maple, or any kind of rosewood..

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Looks like cherry

As others have stated sanding the wood would probably give you a better idea of what it is. It could be stained or aged/weathered.

I can't tell from the pics on the screen I'm viewing but what are the pores like? Are they closed like cherry and maple (Acer), or are they open?

Any discernible smell when the wood is cut/scraped/sanded?

Rodger, Walnut would be nice! And I did think those may be saw marks. I'll check properly tomorrow. I'll get it resawn no matter what and I'll try to bend the sides first and see how it goes.

Mark, I'd love it if it were as I've been planning on building a few with cherry.

Steve, I'll sand and scrape a section tomorrow and see, it's certainly stained/varnished in some way. The pores seem to be long and deep but I'll take close up photos once I've sanded it.

At 30mm thick, in an ideal world, it would be nice to get 6 x 4mm slices... Is that realistic? Or should I only expect 4? I'm going to be building a thickness sander in the next few weeks, I've already got the parts. So that should help.

Also, can someone suggest how long do I need to store and dry the plates once resawn?

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice! This is a fantastic community!

Let me think. It's over 75 years old. Hmmm. . . . about 2 minutes, should be fine.

Michael, you don't know how pleased I am to hear you say that!!!
Thanks, mate. Looks like my next guitar will be made of *insert guess here*!

Who cares what it is...just build with it and in time someone will identify it for you and if not...so what?

Me build with all kinds of woods that me don't gotts a clue what they is or were they came from and me really don't care ether they sound good or they don't. Simple eh!


blessing
?adma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

Me like your thinking

Looks like pine to me. Planing or sanding some patina off may reveal the species.
-Take it back - looks like Oak to me after viewing a larger image.
Watch out for nails!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I'd be surprised (and disappointed) if it's pine. I'll sand it tomorrow and show some more pics.

Just saw your edit... They were only drawing pins, thankfully. Managed to get them all out. A couple of the heads broke off as a pulled them, but the headless pins came out easily. It has got two holes, drilled 3/4 of the way through, slap bang in the middle of the plank, but I don't think they'll be an issue.

Cheers,
Nick

OK, I was out most of the day but I just ran a bit of sand paper over it and took some more photos....

Good news: It goes a nice colour with a bit of naptha wiped over it...





Not so good news: The end grain suggests I may not get much out of it to my eye, and bending may well be an issue....



As to identifying it: My inexperienced nose didn't recognise the smell, but it didn't remind me of the khaya I've been working with recently, and obviously didn't smell like the rosewood I used before.

The sanding dust started greenish (75 years of whatever) but is actually yellowish, as seen here...



And a photo of the cloth after wiping down a little....



Any further thoughts as to whether it's usable or how much I could get from it?

This is another pic of the whole thing from yesterday.



Thanks again in advance, and hopefully someone may have a better idea of what it is now.
Nick

It kind of looks like luan mahogany, to me.

Alex

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Thanks for the suggestion, Alex.

This is it with a couple of templates on it for a small (460mm body length) guitar.





Would be nice if I could get it cut into 6 x 4mm slices, but I guess 4 x 6mm slices will be the best I can hope for.