Official Luthiers Forum!

Looks like it could be Teak. Is the wood a little waxy feeling? Sawdust would feel that way as well.
Teak has a distinctive smell but that doesn't help much if you don't know what that smell is.
L.

_________________
Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

I wouldn't say it feels waxy, no. I'll check the dust tomorrow.
It definitely had a smell but it didn't ring any bells. Thanks for the help!

My problem is getting it cut cheaply enough to make it worth attempting to use it for my next build.
If the sides don't bend well, then it will have been an experiment that costs.

I'd love to use it but guitar making funds are limited and I can get some nice Khaya pretty cheap.

Where in the UK are you? There may be forum users here that may be willing to bandsaw it for you. If not see if the local school can help or if there are any woodworking shops (joiners, cabinet makers, bespoke kitchen makers etc) that you could ask.

Cheers, Bob

Now that the color has been revealed, it does look quite like teak or Indian mahogany. If that's the case, that's quite a nice find my friend. All the teak I've seen for sale looks like garbage and is sold for a premium. Could be some other mahogany though, I'm not sure.

I've found some flamed maple and an incredible board of quilted cherry on a shipping pallet once. I also found on a pallet a very nicely quartersawn board of rock maple that was just thick enough to make a neck, and that's exactly what I did with it. Matter of fact I put that quilty cherry on there for the fretboard. Search for my build called Angel Fish. It was an electric baritone with all reclaimed wood. It's amazing what you can find if you keep your eyes open.

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Hi Bob, Thanks for the comment! I'm in North-west London. A couple of years back, I did find a place near Watford that cut an electric body for me on a band saw but, frankly, based on what they charged me for that, I fear it would be an expensive experiment if I get it cut there and the sides don't bend well. I'd love if someone local had a band saw I could use! If not, I may as well do as you suggest and phone everyone, from schools to cabinet-makers!

Mark, I checked out Angel Fish, very nice build! And demonstrates perfectly that elusive charm of a guitar made from reclaimed wood! I hope to build many. I'm currently looking for some maple for necks and trying to work out how I can get access to more planks... They could reduce their capacity and give me a pew? lol

Thanks, here's hoping! I'm keeping my expectations low as it could be one of the many inferior "mahoganies". If i can get it cut cheap, then it's well worth using it, but if it isn't great, and it costs too much to cut it, then, really, I'd be better off right now going and buying "tonewood".

Looks like teak to me.

I wouldn't build a guitar out of teak.

Why not?

UPDATE: I'm pretty sure it is teak. Well done to all of those who guessed correctly.

Spoke to someone from the church today and they said everything in the church is oak or teak. The sanding dust is yellow, and, although I mistakenly said to Link that it didn't, it does feel waxy.

I'm gonna get it cut as cheaply as I possibly can, and try to bend the sides (they do bend teak for boats all the time). If that works, then I'll make the guitar and see how it sounds. Apparently, it's difficult to glue due to high oil content and is hard on tools (same could be said for rosewood, surely?). It's not quite as dense as Rosewood can be but it is known for being very strong and resistant to humidity changes, which will be good for a boat. In fact, what better wood for a guitar destined to live on a boat than the wood commonly used for boat decks! If Torres's paper mache guitar worked.... Superior stability could be a big plus for a travel guitar.

They said they might have some oak for me too. English Oak I think... Would love to make an English guitar.

Figured it was teak from the get go but your yellow/greenish sawdust was the tell tale sign. Plus that smell, remember that smell. English brown oak would make a fine guitar, teak would be interesting. I have never taped it with sound in mind. Just guessing but it might tap like cardboard with all the oil but maybe not. Some mahogany taps like cardboard and makes really great sounding guitars. Give it a go and let us know.
L.

_________________
Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Thanks, Link! You were right! I don't think a tap means much at the moment but it sounded ok. And, yes, I will definitely try to file away that smell under "teak".

I will give it a go and report back, for sure, as long as I find someone who can cut it for me... I'm thinking, if anyone fairly local has a bandsaw and a fox bender, we could cut a slice off and try to bend some sides to see if it will work... There's at least one set of back and sides for whoever can help! (Depending on how much Oak I get. I'll be lucky to get 2 - 4 guitars from the teak.)

Well done. Quite a find my friend.

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Thankya kindly, mate. Can't wait till I can get it cut!
Can't wait till I find out how much 100+ year old English Oak I can get! (from an older church)

If it's 75+ years old and inside a church... and it looks kinda like Mahogany... 95% chance it's Mahogany.... Remember that 75+ years ago - Mahogany was an inexpensive substitute for Walnut..... It was dark and pretty and easy to work - so people liked it...

Whatever it is - it's likely fine stuff for a guitar....

and about Oak... Oak makes a great guitar... So far, my favorite guitar is Oak....

Thanks

Hello Nick....I have not visited the OLF for a good while so I thought that I would take a look through some of the posts from the previous few months and came across yours. I am going to add a timber that I dont think anyone has mentioned yet....It looks surprisingly like Australian Red Cedar (toona australia/ciliata)...it could be also a close relative of it as the Toona species also are from SE Asia and India. In Se Asia and India it is called Toon, Surian and Kalantas amongst probably other things. When you consider Britain's long association with both India and Australia a lot of Australian Cedar and its Indian counterpart must have been shipped back to Blighty over the years. Australian cedar is very like mahogany but much more open grained very like the picture that you have posted above.

Some links for you to look at...
http://www.monarotimber.com.au/sp_aust_red_cedar.htm

http://www.woodsolutions.com.au/Wood-Species/red-cedar

http://www.forestnursery.com/pricelist.html#Anchor-THESPESIA-47897

http://finevintagedesign.com/sites/default/files/styles/uc_product_full/public/af008cc_jpg.jpg

I hope this helps....(ie I hope I am correct! LOL)

Regards

John

PS. this being a forum where most of the participants are from North America many people there would never have come across Toonas as it was commercially "cut out" by the 1950s in Australia. That means that it is not readily available here in Australia as well. Most of what I have I got from a small milling operator. You cannot get it at a hardware store for instance and only specialist timber suppliers would have it and that would mainly be Surian or Kalantas from SE Asia or the islands of the Pacific where it has been planted as a plantation tree. There have been attempts to grow it in plantations in Hawaii as well.

PPS Also it is softer than both Teak and Mahogany.

Thanks for the suggestion, John! There certainly is a likeness there. I suppose I could do some deflection testing on it once it's resawn and Ill be able to compare my findings to the likely suspects. Sure would be nice if it was Australian Red Cedar, I could probably even use it for the top(?). I notice on one page it being called something like it being a "national treasure", so if I can use it, I'll make sure to fly the Aussie colours!

Could you give me an idea of its sonic characteristics? And, if I can use it for the top, could I also use it for the neck? I'd get fewer guitars from the plank (maybe only one) but if it can be a guitar all of one wood, that could be cool. The way it looks, I'll be able to get one set that is near as dang it quartered and a set that's practically slab. Doesn't seem like a big tree, which in itself could rule out teak(?).

It would be nice to know for sure what it is because, for the last few weeks, a friend and I have been planning his "teak" guitar. If it isn't teak, that project may have hit a bump. Why can't nature nicely label these woods for us?

Hi Nick, Yes Red Cedar is a bit of a national treasure but at the time they logged the huge 10 - 12 foot through old growth trees they were more thinking about the other name they had for it...."Red Gold" ...sadly it was logged with such intensity that it was commercially extinct in the early 20th century. It was the timber that they used in all the high class joinery in the banks and other institutions of the colony in Sydney. Also the NSW government railways used to line their carriages with it in the early days. The best colonial era furniture was made from red cedar.

Sonically I dont know but I do know that a few here have built with it....I think it would make a lovely sounding classical...

http://www.anzlf.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5625&hilit=australian+cedar+top

Hard to say what it is, maybe African mahogany? Or cherry or hickory? The older it is the more I'm thinking domestic. Looks to me like it was milled as a stair tread originally. I believe I would dub it 'Church Wood'

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

My guess would be mahogany. Remember, 75 yrs ago, there was a place called British Honduras (now Belize). I used to know an a retired guy who was a 'joiner'(sp) in London before moving to Canada. He told me much of the wood used for double hung windows, staircases and such was mahogany because it was so cheap and easy to work with

Brent

I know from bitter experience that you can waste a lot of wood by trying to get "one extra set" when re-sawing. How good your yield will be depends on the saw, the blade and the operator. One misstep while cutting can dig a substantial groove in the wood. A dull blade will wander in the cut. A slightly bent tooth will leave a deep groove, every time it passes through the cut. Trying to feed too fast will make for a crooked cut. Too slow will sometimes cause "washboard"... There are lots of things that can go wrong when you start re-sawing.
Practice with an inexpensive chunk of 2X8 & don't try cutting your nice hardwood until you get consistent results.
Have fun!

i don't think any mention of hardness has been made: mahogany is soft, teak quite hard. looks a little bit like cherry to me but i'm not a wood ID expert
oh, and cherry is quite a bit harder than mahogany also.

You can call it " Mystery Wood??"
On the other hand, you can tell them "The Tree".
Just kidding of course but it looks to me like Walnut??.

That doesn't look like any cherry I've ever seen. That is MOST definitely an open pore wood. And the pores are not very large. I won't speculate about what it might be, except to say it resembles mahogany. If it were mine, I would test-bend a piece or two. If it bent okay for me, I'd most likely use it. I would avoid using pieces from the board where the annular rings show close proximity to some pith (left edge of the cross cut end in photo #3 of your second picture batch). See where the rings look real small and tight? I'd avoid that part. If ripping that section out will cause a problem with back width, then go for a three or four piece back. Or I'd build a smaller instrument--parlor, uke, mandolin, etc. But I'd figure out away to use it.

Thanks to all! This thread has right come back to life

Brent, That was my first guess (after I was told/realised it wasn't the oak I was promised ) for the same reason your joiner friend gave, but the yellow dust and waxy feel seems(?) to points toward teak.

cphanna, Totally agreed. I'm thinking just like you regarding its use. One I've got it resawn, I'll know better.

Churchwood or Mysterywood will be good names if my deflection testing doesn't point to one species in particular!

Daniel, Thanks for the words of warning! I'll make sure greed doesn't ruin a set in the hope on an extra one.

Nick, do you think that the yellowish 'waxy' stuff might be pore filler ? My experience with teak is that it's more 'oily' and brown. It also weighs a ton.

My vote would be for teak or iroko (a cheaper substitute), but given the age and provenance, I'd lean towards teak. In my opinion, I would feel relatively safe in ruling out walnut, cherry, hickory, mahogany, meranti or sapele.

check out (if you haven't already) the Wood Database for useful indicators on both (and other species):

http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-ide ... oods/teak/
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-ide ... ods/iroko/

Depending on it's weight I might be tempted to use some of the less than quartered timber in a laminated neck.

_________________
http://lovanen.tumblr.com/