Millers Falls Seat material?

[Brad_bb]

A guy selling a Millers Falls boring machine has a base that he says is oak.  It looks like either oak or ash in the pic.  Did Millers Falls make bases from anything other than maple?
I have four Millers Falls machines now(that need total resto).  Two of them had the original seat/base.  Two had ones clearly made by subsequent owners.  The originals look like they are probably hard maple.  He is trying to figure out if his is original or not.  Thanks.

[Jim_Rogers]

All see Tom, in a few minutes and get an answer for you.

Jim

PS. Tom said he's not sure, he'll cut an old one in half and look at the grain and see if he can figure it out.
I'll ask Jack Sobon today when I see him, and let you know.

[Brad_bb]

I just haven't seen any that were oak.  Oak is readily identify-able looking at the end grain.  I suspect that his is a replacement.  After all, those who used these machines were woodworkers and probably had the skills to do so, and well if they wanted to.  It's only got 10 hours left, but he's selling it on ebay item # 200591306294  and you can see the base. 

[Jim_Rogers]

Brad:
Ok, so I asked Jack, and he said that several of the machines that he has, have American Chestnut wood for the seats.
As you know, Tom has made several replacement bases for these machines. He has made them out of red oak, cherry and walnut.
He currently has asked me to make up some pieces out of white oak. He figures that the white oak made stay straighter longer as it is less likely to absorb moisture. Don't know for sure, but that is his plan.

Jim