Any wood experts here who can tell me what this is?

Steve Smith

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I thought I had some mahogany from am old piece of furniture but now that I have cut it and sanded off the old finish, I don't know what it is. What do you think?



it looks a bit like chestnut but I don't think it is.


Steve.
 

onepuff

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It looks like African Mahogany to me from the colour and grain pattern. Can you see pores in the grain? It isn't easy to tell from the picture.
 

bdial

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Teak, cherry and walnut come to mind.
Roughly how old was the piece of furnature, and do you know where it originated? What was cutting it like?
 

Hatchetman

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Could be a lot of things. Can we get a closer shot of the grain? Could be chestnut.
 

Mustafa Umut Sarac

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If it smells sweet , if there are pores and resin inside , if its going darker ,it could be mahagony , there are 48 different types of mahagony and only a cut wood seller or antique shop can tell. I thought it was ash but ash is yellow and white and darker strip is wider. With varnish , it will be beatiful , I liked it.
 

Worker 11811

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Does the wood ring when you tap on it?

Marimba keys are made of rosewood. Even when are not shaped, rosewood makes a characteristic sound when struck.
It could still be mahogany but rosewood just has a certain sound to it.
 
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Steve Smith

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wildbill said:
It's a board with box joints cut into both ends.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I wondered what those funny ends were!

bdial said:
Roughly how old was the piece of furnature, and do you know where it originated? What was cutting it like?
Click to expand...

It's probably about sixty years old. Due to its finish, I thought it was mahogany but it doesn't look like any mahogany I have ever seen. It's not teak or cedar. Walnut is a possibility. I cut it with a CNC machine but from the sound the cutter made, it's more dense than I would have expected from mahogany.

Whatever it is, it's going to have a new life as 'The Steve Smith Triple Convertible Field Camera' !!


Steve.
 

johnnywalker

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I don't think anyone can tell you definitively from the picture. If it's important to know, I'd send a shaving off to the wood technology/science department of a forestry university and ask if someone could help. Oxford, Bangor in Wales for instance, but a quick google will find others.
 

Ian Grant

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When I rebuilt my Speed Graphic wide angle special the so called Mahoganey looked quite similar in colour etc but I was surprised how soft it was, it was more like a cheap box wood. There's definitely quite a variation in the quality of mahogany.

Ian
 

Mustafa Umut Sarac

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I built a bass guitar from central west african mahagony KHAYA. If you hold it from nodal point and tap it , it rings metallic and deep , loud. But other friend is right , it looks like rosewood. Mahagony tends to wrap with moisture like crazy.
 

snederhiser

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Hello Steve;
Looks like Phillipine Mahogany to me. Used alot of this wood in the cabinet business before the import restrictions. Usually stained dark to even out the wide variation of color prevelant with mahogany. Hope this helps, Steven.
 

Dinesh

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If it is very dense it could be Ipe.
 
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Steve Smith

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Thanks to answers here and on Facebook, I now know that it is every species of wood imaginable including three from other planets.

Having finished a piece with teak oil, I don't care what it is as it looks good!



Steve.
 

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lxdude

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Well, I can say with confidence it's not oak. So there's one down.
 
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