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Chunk of wood ID

Started by Dave Shepard, March 16, 2010, 11:27:29 PM

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Dave Shepard

I've been chiselling away at a timber off and on for the last week. Section is about 6"x7" Trying to figure out what it is. It's dense, hard, mean, probably slow growing, has a really severe case of interlocking grain, it's DanG hard, laughs at edge tools, looks a lot like black locust, although without the yellow tint, and in general completely lacks any outwards signs of cooperation. Here are a couple of bad photos. Good luck. :D



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pigman

 I am not good at IDing wood, but I happened to be on at the right time so I get to have the first guess. I guess notsweetgum. ;D
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Dave Shepard

This chunk of wood most likely started growing in Fulton County, New York, probably in the late 1600's. It's present excellent condition leads me to believe that this species of wood must possess a resistance, if not total immunity, to any saprophyte living then or now in it's original habitat. Whatever it's green working properties are, they are a mystery long hidden by nearly a quarter of a millennium of brooding meanness and obstinacy.
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blaze83

my vote is for Red elm,   just because it fits the above description 8)
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Dana

American Chestnut? Looks like it's a reclaimed beam or railroad tie with creosote treatment.
Grass-fed beef farmer, part time sawyer

Dave Shepard

Elm is not a bad guess, we are leaning in that direction as well. Definitely not a railroad tie, this timber is from a barn built in 1801, and it is recycled from a hay barrack that could be much earlier. To heavy and mean natured for chestnut.
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SwampDonkey

My guess is ship mast quality black locust, which is darker heart. Also has some banding of late wood pores similar to pattern in elms, but not as densely spaced. Baring that, Osage if you can get the extractives to leach out of shavings in hot water.  ;D
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1 Thessalonians 5:21

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rambo

I have not a clue. But I think it is cool that we are so awe struck by that piece. thanks for sharing.

WDH

I am with Dana on the chestnut.
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SwampDonkey

Chestnut would be my second guess, but doesn't sound like it so much with all the grief tooling it. Chestnut is not very hard and heavy either, but rot resistance is pretty good. The wood does look oak-like on that side shot. I'm still leaning hard on locust though. ;D
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Dana

Dave if it came out of a barn, it's possible manure stained the wood a deep walnut color. I would be surprised if it would go that deep into a timber. But, you never know. This is a photo of what I was told is old growth chestnut. My Uncle made a bench out of it the black staining from nails in the wood. The lumber was reclaimed from a barn. No manure though. :)

NOTE:  This is not Chestnut. It has been identified as an oak (for those of you who don't read all of the thread)




Grass-fed beef farmer, part time sawyer

SwampDonkey

Looks like red oak Dana, because those wood rays on the end would be almost impossible to see with a hand lens if it were American chestnut.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

woodtroll

Looks like old osage to me.

WDH

Dana,

What you have is definitely positively not chestnut because of the wide rays like SD points out.  It is an oak.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Dana

We darn it, you guys have sure spoiled my heirloom and the story that went with it. :-\ On the plus side, at least now I know for sure what it is.
Grass-fed beef farmer, part time sawyer

Tom

Dave Shepard's first post.

When I opened this thread a little while ago, and saw that picture in post #1, I said to myself,  "Dang!, that's pine!".   It sure looks like a piece of resin impregnated SYP (fat lighter) to me.   That stuff is harder'n Chinese arithmetic.

SwampDonkey

The grain isn't pine though Tom, if you look at the second picture. It's ring porous.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

LeeB

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Ron Wenrich

Quote from: SwampDonkey on March 19, 2010, 03:25:02 AM
The grain isn't pine though Tom, if you look at the second picture. It's ring porous.

The end cut doesn't look to be very ring porous.  I'm assuming that the side cut is a very old and not a freshly cut piece.  How much of the old wood would slough off over the years and give the appearance of ring porous?  Just a thought.

My first impression of the side cut is chestnut.  But, the end cut doesn't look quite right.  I like Tom's direction with SYP, but point more to NYP.  Pitch pine could fit that bill, as it would be in the range of NY.  Some of that stuff was pretty heavy, and it didn't rot much.  Add the slow growth factor in there and you get some pretty dense stuff.
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SwampDonkey

The end cut is hard to tell for truths sake because it's too grainy to see detail. But the side shot is very porous in texture. I still don't think it's chestnut either, I will still say mast grade locust just to be different. ;)  :D

I guess as far as knowing how wood would behave after 150 years in a barn you'd have to have some experience dealing with it. Of course this assumes you know what your dealing with in the first place. ;) But, I have my doubts pine would have a porous texture over time without disintegrating. Something would have to break down. ;)

Chestnut I believe has really large early wood pores and invisible rays.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Dave Shepard

The architect I'm working with is a good wood ID guy. He uses Hoadley's books as well as his own experience. The side shot is from a block that I split some off of. It is very locust like. There is some bark on one piece, and it looks a lot like elm. Wouldn't pitch pine smell like turpentine? This doesn't have any pine smell. It does have a smell, I can't place it. Pitch pine (pinus rigida) was used in New World Dutch Barns, in fact we drove through a stand of it last week on the Thruway on the way out to look at another Dutch barn. This barn was also mostly white pine, but had some oak and the long purlin braces were of the same wood that we are discussing here. I took some shots of the barn when they unloaded it on Wednesday. Here is a shot of one of those long braces. I'll be at work tomorrow, so I'll try to get some better bark shots.

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Chuck White

I would say that the wood is HEMLOCK.

Especially going by the first photo.
~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
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Dave Shepard

I was able to get a fair close-up of the wood in question. First is the uncropped photo. The piece is 1/2" thick and has 8 rings. That is the largest spacing on rings I could find. There are some bands in the wood that are just the holes, with no apparent individual rings. I'm guessing there was a pattern of suppression and release over the course of the trees life. Second shot is a crop of the first. I hope the image quality holds up. Hopefully this well shed some light on the situation. :)



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SwampDonkey

Looks ash-like, fine rays and solitary late wood pores, tyloses in early wood pores. Kind of dark though, should be more grayish brown for white ash. Not very rot resistant. Was thinking sassafras, but the pore pattern is not right in the latewood. Ash is quite tough stuff in my experience.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

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