Identify this?

SawDust_Studios · October 24, 2006, 12:51:26 PM

Ok, we had some logs that where "seasoned" a bit too long. There where in with a pile of logs that included cherry and maple. They had no bark, the wood is spalted rather well, but no rot, etc. I thought that the logs where cherry, but when we sawed them, they appeared rather light and they were spalted, so we figured maple. But now I'm really not sure. Here is a pic, I've put a little alchohol on them to pop the color a bit.

Furby · October 24, 2006, 01:10:42 PM

Sycamore, see the rays on the lower right hand side?

bad_boards · October 24, 2006, 01:14:31 PM

syacmore for sure
i have been cutting up one huge sycamore tree cut in my back yard
same stuff

SawDust_Studios · October 24, 2006, 01:20:47 PM

Hmm, in that case, probably should have q-sawed it. The rays are only in the spalted sections though.

bad_boards · October 24, 2006, 04:19:27 PM

been cutting alot of sycamore in last month and i think it looks great sawn just bout anyway

Tom · October 24, 2006, 06:59:36 PM

Spoken like a true admirer of wood. 8) :D

VA-Sawyer · October 24, 2006, 07:28:36 PM

Beech can have fleck as well. I have a few boards of spalted beech in my shop that look a lot like your picture.
VA-Sawyer

SawDust_Studios · October 24, 2006, 07:45:51 PM

Thought I only had maple, cherry, and some birch in that load. I'm at a loss at this point. Cherry wouldn't lose that much color, would it? A little to much figure in the grain for maple, but that was my first inclination.

ohsoloco · October 25, 2006, 02:41:40 PM

I think VA-sawyer might me onto something. The rays look much too wide to be sycamore. I have a beech mallet that has wide rays like that.

Part_Timer · October 25, 2006, 02:59:15 PM

It's cool no matter what it is. If ya had a 100 bf it would make a nice hope chest.

tcsmpsi · October 25, 2006, 03:17:50 PM

I've seen quite a bit of birch with the rays as your picture has.

These are not the best examples I've seen, but they are close for short notice.
Ain't spalted, though. ;D

SawDust_Studios · October 25, 2006, 07:10:04 PM

Well, we had about 150bdft in those 2 trees and they where almost identical. I have some maple and birch in the pile behind it. "Well seasoned" :

At least I thought they where, again, no bark. So, maybe I'll get some more spalted.

Maybe I have my own personal spalting spot. Do I smell early retirement? :D

Actually, we thought the logs where junk until I cut one open. No punk, but some beautiful wood.

Quote from: Part_Timer on October 25, 2006, 02:59:15 PM
It's cool no matter what it is. If ya had a 100 bf it would make a nice hope chest.

king-plantation · October 25, 2006, 07:15:11 PM

That looks just exactly like some European Beech pieces that I sawed out of my firewood stack......

Is it just as hard as it can be?

Matt

low_48 · October 25, 2006, 10:33:50 PM

I'm not sure those are rays in the bottom right. I think those are pink/white speckle that I have seen in spalted soft maple. If those were rays it would have a lot more consistant pattern and usually the length of the board. I have never seen rays that close to a bullseye pattern seen near that pattern in the center of the board. I've also never seen a color change in spalted sycamore. It usually just have the black lines and maybe a general change in hue to the entire board. I would put in a strong vote for maple.

SawDust_Studios · October 25, 2006, 11:02:55 PM

I looked at the pile again, there isn't many rays, only in some spots. I'm still thinking its maple, but somehow that wood is stained or something to get the streaks. But, I've been known to be wrong.

Can cherry discolor and lighten that much? Is has grain similar and some pinkish color to it.

pigman · October 25, 2006, 11:07:58 PM

I hve sawed a lot of cherry with some being down a long time. That is not cherry. Looks like maple to me.
Bob

tcsmpsi · October 26, 2006, 10:26:54 AM

Still looks like birch to me. ;)

This piece isn't exact and doesn't have the 'rays', but I have handled plenty that has almost exactly characteristics, degree, of the piece you display, except for the degree of spalt.
Now, if I could taste it, I could tell for certain. ;D

SwampDonkey · October 26, 2006, 07:33:25 PM

Looks like spalted birch to me. Rays travel from pith to the outside, perpendicular to annual rings. Look at the end grain of the board. Sycamore and beech rays are twice as wide as the largest pores. Sycamore generally has interlocked grain. With birch, the pores appear as white dots and the largest pores are larger than the wood rays. With hard maple the broadest rays are separated by scarcely visible narrow rays, broadest rays are generally the same width as largest pores.

ARKANSAWYER · October 26, 2006, 07:57:05 PM

Looks like junk to me so you had better just ship it down here with all these low grade logs I got so I can get rid of it for you. Hey this is what Buddies are for!

If it is soft it is either silver maple or sickymore. Hard it can be hard maple or birch. Just send it south either way.

wiam · October 27, 2006, 09:37:52 PM

My vote is maple. I have let cherry sit for a couple of years and not seen much change.

Will

SwampDonkey · October 28, 2006, 07:01:52 AM

Take one of them razor sharp utility knifes and scrape a fresh cut on the end of the board. You can't see too good on the end if it's been chainsawed. A utility knife will cut it smooth. Then refer to my former post. Don't jab your thumb with the knife. ;)

Ron Wenrich · October 28, 2006, 07:49:20 AM

The only problem I have with the birch theory is the area from where its sawn. There isn't a whole lot of birch in that area, and most of it is black birch. You do get some ornamental paper birch, but that doesn't get real big and most of that has died.

We do have a lot of soft maple. Sycamore gets to good size and grows along creek banks and is used for ornamentals. Beech is also in the area.

metalspinner · October 28, 2006, 04:12:45 PM

My guess is soft maple.

SD,
Is there a websight that has a good inventory of micrographs we can use to compare the end grain magnifications?
I have a couple of books with common samples, but not a large collection. What do you recommend?

SwampDonkey · October 28, 2006, 04:38:25 PM

I don't know of any. But, if you had an up to to (1980) 'Textbook of Wood Technology', they have the photos of end grain and keys to identify wood by minute (microscope) and gross (naked eye) features.

Amazon Link

I could try and get some samples in the next couple days. It's hard to get the clarity out of jpg images, but I'll give it a try. I can show maple, birch, cherry and ash. Just gotta get the handsaw out and a utiliy knife.

metalspinner · October 28, 2006, 08:51:36 PM

Thanks SD. I will order one of those.

We seem to come across lots of different species of things here and it would be nice to make a firm decision as to what we are looking at. I have Hoadley's book, but he only has the basics in there. We can all identify those woods in many other ways. But looking at red oak boards from three or four different species and figuring out which is which is impossible for me.