Chunk of wood ID

[SwampDonkey]

Closeup view. ;D

[Dave Shepard]

I think you may have it SD. I compared my photo to the Hoadley photos for white and black ash. Looks like white to me. Early on I had compared the tangential section to white ash, but wasn't sure. Now, I am more confident. I tried to look at a piece of white ash here, but couldn't see it as well as the photo. I may try to get another photo of some known white ash at work where I have my "laboratory" equipment, i.e. a sharp chisel and a tripod for my camera. :D

[LeeB]

Ash maybe?

Somebody already mentioned ash.  :

[SwampDonkey]

Leeb, I'll give ya credit.  ;D But, the comparison photos help. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

Dave, those rays are hard to see without a little moisture and a hand lens.

[LeeB]

Leeb, I'll give ya credit.  ;D But, the comparison photos help. ;)

That they do, I based my guess on the original photo though. It looks like red oak but it ain't, so to me that leaves poor man's oak, Ash.

[SwampDonkey]

Was that a wild ash guess or a serious one? ;) :D

[LeeB]

I wouldn't call it wild, I did put a little thought into it and put forward what I thought was a good posibilty, but it weren't any where near serious.

[SwampDonkey]

Well you did good, how ever you approached it.  ;)

[SwampDonkey]

I don't know if you can see the luster on the strips in the bed of the sled, but it shines pretty good after planing.

[Ironwood]

Those tyloses are curious. Ash? I dunno.

Ironwood

[WDH]

I am with Lee on the ash.  The color says chestnut, but the density and pore pattern says ash.  In ash, there are usually parenchyma cells that circle the latewood pores, and I think that I see that in the close up photo.

[Tom]

that's a cool looking sled.  We don't use them around here, so I'm no judge as to whether it is built well or not, but It sure is pretty.  It looks like it would work too.  Do you wax the runners?  Do you paint the rest?

Is that one like the dogs pull?  What kind of load will it carry?  What would be the dollar value of one, if it were store-bought?

[Dave Shepard]

WDH, is this any better? I should have soaked the sample before I sliced the end, I think it would have cut better.

[LeeB]

I can't help it, I'm a redneck at heart. I wat to know if you can pull the sled with a four wheeler?  ;D

[LeeB]

I wonder if the beam where soaked with some kind of oil such as coal oil or deisel that turned it so dark? After this many years surely the voc's would be long since evaporated and not leave a scent as a clue.

[Dave Shepard]

I would be surprised if they were Lee. We have two Dutch barns from two different counties in New York state, and they both have this wood in them. The black ash photo in Hoadley's book is darker than the white ash photo. I'm getting another lens for the camera I think this week. It may allow me to get close enough to see those parenchyma.

[LeeB]

I don't really know much about ash as I have never been around any. I'm just throwing out guesses and trying to get answers to better educate myself.

[SwampDonkey]

It's ash alright, nothing else fits. But, black ash is light like American elm when dry. White ash is heavy and hard and lustrous, black is dull when worked, no luster. There are parenchyma joining some pores in the white ash and they don't usually do that in black. If you look close to my picture, some looked linked in a chain of pores in the late wood by the parenchyma. Dave's are more solitary, so I would say he has black ash there along with the brown heartwood. White ash would have light yellow streaks in the heartwood, not as dark as black ash.

[SwampDonkey]

that's a cool looking sled.  We don't use them around here, so I'm no judge as to whether it is built well or not, but It sure is pretty.  It looks like it would work too.  Do you wax the runners?  Do you paint the rest?

Is that one like the dogs pull?  What kind of load will it carry?  What would be the dollar value of one, if it were store-bought?

Tom your a champion. :D

Building an Arctic Slow Sled for some winter fun.  ;D  It's not a dogsled, but dogs could well haul it as a team. You'll have to submerge yourself in the thread to answer some of your other questions. ;)

[Tom]

I'm already up to my blub...blub....blub.......           :D

[Dave Shepard]

It's black ash. Confirmed by R. Bruce Hoadley.

[SwampDonkey]

Also, note that hardwood rays are made entirely of parenchyma cells except an aggregate ray (combination of closely spaced rays, fibers and vessels).